2 Dead, 3 Injured In Shooting At West Palm Beach Wendy’s
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — A gunman opened fire Monday in a Wendy’s restaurant in West Palm Beach, killing one person and injuring at least three others before killing himself, police said. A shooter reportedly entered the restaurant at Cherry Road and Military Trail and shot several individuals around 12:18 p.m. Monday, Palm Beach County Fire-Rescue spokesman Don Delucia told WPBF News 25. The shooter then reportedly shot and killed himself, Delucia said. Delucia told WPBF that at least three people have been reported injured and two have been killed. He said that the shooter is one of the fatalities.
I by no means want to be seen as making light of such a senseless tragedy, but how else can we reasonably be expected to cope with this rampant and seemingly random violence? What would possess an individual to walk into a fast-food restaurant and begin indiscriminately spraying bullets hither and yon? No matter how angry and trod-upon one feels, surely there must be ways to address your particular perceived injustice short of killing and wounding innocent people? These are people whose only crime was in eating a Triple Artery-Clogger Burger with extra bacon, hydrogenatetd coconut oil, and cheese at the wrong place and time.
I’ve lived and worked in three different war zones, and I felt safer in each of those place than I do at times in my own country. Even wandering through Croatian villages knowing that Serb snipers were less than 100 meters away in the surrounding hills didn’t frighten me. At least I knew where the threat was. Now, something as simple and innocuous as going to a mall, a restaurant, or even to work could turn out to be one’s last mortal act.
When a senseless massacre such as this occurs, we cluck disapprovingly about the senseless of it, and yet nothing seems to change. I’m not certain that there’s even anything that can be done to prevent this sort of senseless, random violence…but shouldn’t the effort to do so be at least a minimal priority? Or is it not a big deal until you or someone you love is caught in the crossfire?
