COLUMBIA JOURNALISM REVIEW – 03/09/2019
Jon Allsop
ON SATURDAY, there was yet another tragedy in America. A gunman opened fire on state troopers as they attempted to stop his vehicle near Midland, in the Permian Basin of West Texas. A high-speed chase ensued along 15 miles of highway linking Midland and Odessa; it lasted nearly two hours, during which time the shooter killed seven people, including a 15-year-old, and wounded others, including a 17-month-old child. As usual, reporters flocked to the scene. “We’re left where we always are after these conversations,” Garrett Haake told Chuck Todd on Meet the Press, “wondering what, if anything, will come from this, other than further discussion.”