In Salt Lake City, a gunman killed 5 people before being shot to death by police. His motive is still unclear, as he appeared to have been randomly shooting at people. And surprise: in the opening paragraph (sentence, really), the shooter was specifically mentioned wearing a trench coat. I suppose this tidbit adds to the setting of the news story, but it seems hardly important. I doubt his outerwear would have been noted if he was wearing a Utah Jazz jacket or something otherwise nondescript. This is a whole other rant that I could expound on, but won’t at this time.
This is yet another story that seems to have jumped from a Clancy novel, specifically Teeth of the Tiger, where terrorists choose malls across the US as targets.
Update: The gunman was a survivor of a massacre of more than 8,000 Muslims in Serbia during the 1992-95 war.
Subtle references like that leave me wondering what we are supposed to do about trench coats. Clearly, trench coats lead to massacres, so do we need a waiting period for all purchases of trench coats? Maybe a Trench-Coat Owner’s Identification Card? I can just see the lawyers bragging about their T-COID Cards in the attorney’s lounge.