I never claimed that anyone HERE did. Why are you accusing me of something I did not do?
A Republican Representative made the foolish and childish remarks. Which I think is a bit worse than some anonymous person on a message board doing this.
And at least Rangel had the common sense to preface his stupid comments with “this was my first thought”… He didn’t tweet his first thought all over the tweetosphere.
The Capitol Police responding to the incident were working without pay. Capitol Police Who Responded To Shooting Are Not Being Paid Due To Government Shutdown
Cops stop cars all the time with spike strips. Machine guns really aren’t necessary.
“Reports are”? The media outlets also reported that she was the “shooter”, until it was discovered that the media outlets were wrong. Again.
Has there been any word on the child?
Okay, morning now here, and the news picture is a little clearer. The video of the perp playing bumper cars with the cops is pretty telling. How were they to know she didn’t have a car bomb? And then there was that tragic shooting a couple of weeks ago. I am not going to second-guess the cops on this one and will assume they acted appropriately. If I had been there as a cop, I can see myself blasting away too.
Bolding mine-
“How were they to know she didn’t have a …”
I don’t think that’s how it’s supposed to work. Geez, what a world what a world.
Look, it’s a tragic occurrence, but if I get in a car and act like that, particularly in that neighborhood, I have only myself to blame if I get my head shot off. Dunno, maybe all the cops had to do was give her a hug, but she wouldn’t stop playing bumper cars long enough to let them do that.
Hmmm…
My first report of the incident indicated shots were fired on Capitol Hill. I have a friend who works there who posted the status and reported that because of the shots fired, the building (and presumably everything else) was on lock-down.
So did the woman (or someone) shoot, or were the shots only fired in response to a woman in a car?
I am unable to form an opinion until then.
she didn’t fire any shots.
That’s not exactly cops with machine guns* patrolling the streets. That’s cops with machine guns guarding the Capitol and White House. Here in Midtown Atlanta we have cops with machine guns* guarding the Federal Reserve Bank. Try and bust through their gate and see what happens.
She was driving a car and had already demonstrated that she was willing to hit people with it. That counts as armed in my book.
I was wondering if this was related to the shutdown? But if she owned a Lexus, I don’t think she was short of money.
Her car was her weapon and the whole think happened in just a few minutes. No one knew what her intentions were, all they knew was that an apparent lunatic tried to ram into her car past a White House barrier, ran down a uniformed secret service officer; then drove like a lunatic through city streets and tried the same thing at the Capitol. The Capitol Police (who are working without pay) and MPD have seconds to decide how to stop all this chaos.
Actually, that is how it’s supposed to work. A car bomb is a real possibility, and it’s sad for the woman if she had mental problems. But that’s the reaction I want in places like the White House and the Capital.
Way back when, there was a fire in the parking lot of my apartment building, a BMW. The owner, a well-dressed woman, was weeping; someone said “dealing with insurance is going to be a bitch”, she said “it wasn’t insured!”
…
“It wasn’t insured?”
“No!”
“You got a Beemer and it wasn’t insured?”
“No! I didn’t have the money for the insurance!”
OK…
I’m wondering why, when standing next to the her with guns drawn, they didn’t shoot at the tires - seems like a reasonably low-risk action that’s likely to make it much harder to flee effectively.
I’d guess the cops are in the clear. Since they are calling the vehicle a weapon.
I’m just surprised they didn’t use spike strips to stop the car. Seems like a logical defense in an area where people might try ramming their way into the White House or Capital building. Stop the car, stop the threat.
I’m just glad the baby in the car wasn’t injured.
Er, in post #98, change “the her” to “her car”.