It’s understandable that a victim of the Safeway shooting might be having a rough time still, but threatening someone’s life is never going to go over well.
A victim of the shooting spree here that killed six people and wounded 13, including Representative Gabrielle Giffords, was arrested Saturday after he spoke threateningly at a televised forum intended to help this stricken city heal, the police and witnesses said.
The man, J. Eric Fuller, 63, a military veteran who supports Ms. Giffords, was involuntarily committed for a 72-hour mental health evaluation, said Jason Ogan, a spokesman for the Pima County sheriff’s office.
Mr. Fuller was charged with threats and intimidation and disorderly conduct, both misdemeanors, Mr. Ogan said.
[…]
Mr. Fuller, who was shot in the left knee and back on Jan. 8, was among several victims, medical personnel and others who attended a special forum at St. Odilia Catholic Church hosted by Christiane Amanpour to be televised Sunday on ABC.
[…]
Ms. Proud said she spoke up to clarify the bill’s language. Trent Humphries, the founder of the Tucson Tea Party, who was sitting one row behind her, rose to speak and suggested that discussion about gun legislation be postponed until after the funerals. He started to say that he had also been affected by the tragedy because a neighbor was a victim.
At that point, Ms. Proud said, Mr. Fuller blurted out to Mr. Humphries, “You’re dead.”
Mr. Fuller then began to “behave in a very odd manner,” she said. “He was making inappropriate comments.”
[NYT]
This article appears in Jan 13-19, 2011.
Mr. Gibson,
Eric Fuller wasn’t having an understandably “rough” time.
He was quite simply angry, after having been gunned down while attemptimg to peaceably assemble and participate in his government.
And beyond that very simple fact, it seems that he is possessed of enough common sense to know where the hate speech came from that turned loose his attacker.
Really? One of the shooting victims is arrested and held involuntarily for a phsyciatric evaluation and you as a “journalist”” fail to question it? Even a little?
Just shoot me in the head right now.
Robert Alexander Dumas
From what I understand Mr. Fuller was also at the Kent state shootings and lost friends there as he did on Saturday. Not to defend a threat on any life, there is no knowing if/what form of PTSD Mr. Fuller is dealing with and how that contributes to his inappropriate response on Saturday. Thankfully he is getting the help he needs now.
An inquiring Mind,
( not quite inquiring enough to stand up and post an opinion attached to your actual name; as in unashamedely , like you lived in a free society, a democracy even):
My father is a genuine WWll hero. His Ptsd has Ptsd. I know from where I speak.
What we are discussing is a form of propaganda called stochastic terrorism. Whereby the violent imagery spoken gives permission to those poor souls on the fringes to act upon their paranoia. It was perfected by the Nazi’s and well implemented. As in, Sarah Palin’s “Blood Libel” comment was by no means accidental. That very distinct racial slur couldn’t have possibly been directed at Jews, or been a “dog whistle” to her rascist base constituency. Clearly the 8 incidents of lone gunman violence that have occrred since Obama’s election are coincidental.
Sadly, it is becoming apparent that , though we may have evolved enough as a society to actually have elected a black man as president; we have not yet evolved sufficiently enough to allow him to govern once elected.
But, please, by all means, rationalize the crap out of this. Evil could not possibly exist in this perfect world. Fascism could never overtake the great U.S.A..
Robert Alexander Dumas
I am not condoning Mr. Fuller’s actions. However, ABC News shares some responsibility in setting up this situation.
This event (which I attended) was billed as an attempt to start “healing” after this tragedy. Instead, ABC News used the occasion to raise questions about gun control, an incendiary topic at the best of times.
It seems common sense that you do not gather people who have been traumatized by a mass shooting, under the guise of “healing,” and then bring up guns and gun laws. This was not the proper forum for that discussion, never mind that the timing couldn’t be worse. On that, I can agree with Trent Humphries.
Treschuchos,
Yet another anonymous contributor.
Yes, you are right, treschuchos.
The network talking heads cannot be trusted. What information that can be garnered from their infotainment performance must be taken from between the lines, you must discern what it is that their corporate masters would not allow them to say; and thereby
guess at the truth.
As for your pledge of allegiance to the know nothing Tea Party, well; God help you.
Robert Alexander Dumas
Ahhh, yes. We don’t want to draw any conclusions, but we will gladly make excuses for this guy.
Hopefully, we have all heard his interview on Democracy Now! blaming everybody but the shooter (whose name does not deserve to be mentioned). He blames Palin, Beck, Limbaugh and every other right-wing entity. He says on his webpage that he tries to persuade voters whom he insinuates to be dumb. One of my favorite quotes is “we are all to blame for George W. Bush” (as if there is something to blame). So this man’s politial connections are clear, unlike the shooter’s.
However, we want to make sure no conclusions are drawn. Instead, we just want to make sure we treat him as some sort of “hero” and continue to blame the right, even for his wacky behavior.
Nice. Oh, and props to the TW for not even mentioning this story on their Facebook page. They are completely willing to put criticisms of everyone from McCain to Megyn Kelly, post meaningless stories about street food vendors, but apparently, this story doesn’t rank as important enough. Journalistic integrity to the max, boys. Well done!
James Joseph Maumus (that is for Mr Dumas)
James: We don’t post every story from the Range on Facebook. We haven’t as long as I’ve been in the web producer position, and assuming there’s some sinister plot behind which posts get mentioned on Facebook is a stretch, to say the least. It was Sunday, a day I generally have off, and I didn’t get around to reposting it.
Also, I don’t recall ever referring to Mr. Fuller as a “hero”, nor have we ever, to my knowledge, blamed “the right” for the shooting. I think I’m pretty clear in this post that threatening to kill people is wrong, regardless of what someone has gone through.
Also, if you don’t recognize the value of street food vendors to the overall culture of Tucson, I really feel sorry for you. No joke.
Thanks for the input!
My two cents is that this was supposedly a “Town Hall Meeting” and not a carefully choreographed soap box for the tea party to complain about being to blame for the shooting because they just happen to be the party preaching hatred and gun violence. Being the only victim of the Safeway massacre to speak out against the T-Party and the violent people that they nominate I take great pride in having been a dissenting voice while everyone else at the meeting was compliantly silent.