A Touch of Evil

What the HELL was THAT all about?!?! The shootings at Dawson College have made national and, to a lesser extent, international news but for those who aren’t caught up on the story, here’s the basic rundown: some lunatic in a black trench coat went down to the campus and opened fire on the students in and around the school’s cafeteria. Police arrived on the scene and neutralized him. For those not familiar with the terminology, neutralized means killed.

Details continue to roll out as each hour progresses, but at this point one of the 20 or so victims has died with several others listed in critical condition. What makes a person do something like this? The whole concept is so foreign to me that I can’t even begin to wrap my head around it. According to the CBC website, the shooter kept a blog with pictures of him holding various weapons. I could very easily post a link to his blog, but I refuse to do so because I don’t wish to feed his twisted need for attention. I also refuse to feed the public’s equally morbid curiosity into what makes this wacko tick. Leave the psychological analysis to the professionals.

What he did was horrible. There is absolutely no justification or rationalization that could ever make this act seem remotely reasonable. While I understand the need to take him down, it’s unfortunate that he died. Not so that he could explain himself. Not so he could apologize or be rehabilitated. But so that he could be forced to live out his days paying for what he did. At this point, he’s gotten away with no real consequences, save whatever fate may befall him if there’s an afterlife. As far as I’m concerned, he can rot in hell. Pointe finale.