This is typical of the coverage I’ve seen of this tragic incident. 45-year-old Michael Paul Brown of Anaconda, MT is the subject of the manhunt. He’s suspected of shooting to death four persons, a female bartender and three male patrons. He is said to have been acquainted with all four, but “didn’t have any running dispute with any of them,” according to the bar’s owner, who was not present.
The victims, all local residents (like Brown), have been identified as Nancy Lauretta Kelley, 64; Daniel Edwin Baillie, 59; David Allen Leach, 70; and Tony Wayne Palm, 74.
Much of the coverage includes remarks from people acquainted with Brown, characterizing him as an individual with mental issues.
But also typical of the coverage is identifying Brown as a “veteran” or “former soldier.” Most every news story about the shootings seems to label him thusly. Brown served in the U.S. Army for more than 4 years and served in Iraq from February 2004 to March 2005. He also served as a sergeant in the Montana National Guard from 2006 to 2009.
D’ya see a subtext, an agenda here? The guy was in the Army twenty years ago; he hasn’t been in the military for 16 years. Who knows what sort of things might have happened during those years to make him go nuts? Why imply that his military service is the source of his mental issues? For some people, military service can bring direction, order, and stability to their lives.
Color me cynical, but this strikes me as an attempt to broadly smear all Iraq/Afghanistan war veterans as potentially unstable, as was done to all Vietnam veterans decades earlier.
We know that most of our current crop of “journalists” are not fans of the military. There are precious few Ernie Pyles or Tim O’Briens out there anymore; in today’s newsrooms those names probably don’t mean nuthin’.
This photo of the suspect was supplied by the Granite County (MT) Sheriff’s Office. Please note that, in that part of Montana (as elsewhere in rural America) there are plenty of perfectly-adjusted people who project a similar appearance:
Image provided by Granite County Sheriff’s Office
I don’t know if this photo was taken at The Owl bar in Anaconda where the shootings took place, but I’ll bet it was a similar establishment. The shootings took place at 10:30 a.m. Why would anyone be in a bar at 10:30 in the morning? I doubt it’s because they serve a really great Mimosa or Bellini.
Long before I gave up alcohol I had decided a good rule to follow was that “Nothing good happens in a bar after midnight.” This incident gives me another reason to simply avoid bars altogether, regardless of the time of day.
(On another note: A friend once observed that “Lots of guys go to bars to meet women; they fail to consider that the only women they’re gonna meet are women who hang out in bars.” And what kind of women hang out in bars at 10:30 a.m.?)
Whatever their reasons for being there, the four middle-aged and elderly victims certainly didn’t deserve to be murdered. Let’s hope the manhunt is successful and Michael Paul Brown is apprehended and brought to justice. And maybe he can reveal just what was going through his troubled mind.
Author’s Note: Stu Tarlowe, 77, has been contributing to American Thinker since 2010. He also posts on Stu’s Stack o’ Stuff (the name is an homage to Rush Limbaugh), subscriptions to which are currently free.