Back at a crime scene one more time

Four years removed from running a newsroom, I found myself back at a crime scene Monday, standing behind the yellow tape and enduring the heat and boredom of waiting for law enforcement to reveal what had happened. I was there today near the corner of Forest Hills Road and Ward Boulevard where an apparent abduction and murder had ended tragically. My role was to provide water and nourishment to dozens of police and fire personnel who were investigating the shooting that ended with one death, closing a major highway and attracting hundreds of curious onlookers.

News helicopters flew overhead, and TV news trucks were parked all along the streets by Cavalier Park. The curious competed for shade from the trees at the edge of the park while in the distance police walked to and fro, and investigators took pictures and measurements from every possible angle. The basics of the situation were reported by a number of unofficial sources, bystanders and news people: Neighbors reported shots fired in the 600 block of Whitehead Avenue, and police either followed or chased the alleged gunman to the Forest Hills intersection, where his car ran into two other vehicles. Shots were fired near the scene of the wreck, but no one was saying officially who the suspect was, who the second shooting victim was or who shot the man who allegedly started the whole thing. You didn't need 33 years of news experience to surmise that a police officer shot someone. Domestic shootings just don't get this kind of attention, which even included a visit from a Fire Department ladder truck to get "aerial" views of the scene. Laser devices took precise measurements of every angle. This investigation would be thorough with nothing left to dispute.

It had to be an expensive operation. I was told around 50 personnel were involved. Figure an average of $20 an hour for more than four hours, and you're talking about some substantial spending. That doesn't include the fancy mobile command posts with their own generators, two police forensics vehicles, one or more SBI agents, at least one fire truck and other vehicles. Your tax dollars at work. TV stations were dropping some coins, too. Those choppers are expensive to keep in the air, those big trucks with satellite dishes cost money, and there were more than enough reporters and cameramen to stage a talk show.

I've perused, via the Internet, the area news organizations with reports on the incident. The best I've seen at this hour is WRAL's coverage, which included interviews with witnesses at both shooting scenes. When the cops are keeping the facts to themselves, you have to look elsewhere. Events like today's bring out TV reporters from all over — "If it bleeds, it leads," the cliche goes. But good news — the daily sacrifices of volunteers, the triumphs of children thought to be beyond hope, the goodness of ordinary people living ordinary lives, a park built around an old man's fascination with windmills or an old school or home saved from demolition and brought back to vitality — attract no helicopters and scant news coverage.