COPS: SHOOTING EYEWITNESSES NOT HELPFUL

Sunday's blurb about a shooting at the Hotel 7 has a folo, courtesy of reporting from Michelle Sherwood and Laurie Patton at KYTV. They note the lack of cooperation from people who were at a party when a shooter walked in and opened fire, wounding nine.

More than 100 people were at the party, but not many want to help cops. From the story:

“Nobody can point a finger at a certain individual and say this is definitely the person,” said Officer Matt Brown, a spokesman for the Springfield Police Department, on Sunday.

Investigators have not established a motive and said Monday that the people at the party have not been much help other than in a general description. Some people at the party even have been hostile to detectives.

"It's a little difficult right now because some of the individuals we've tried to contact don't want to to speak with police for whatever reason, so that's an obstacle we're running in to. It tends to slow down an investigation but our detectives are trying to do everything they can to get past that obstacle," Brown said on Monday.

We still don't know much about the party, which drew guests "from Tennessee, Atlanta and outlying areas in Missouri," according to the News-Leader. A birthday celebration, someone told the newspaper, and up to 35 rooms had been booked in anticipation of the event.

The police-issued description of the shooter is a marvel of vagueness: a black man with gold teeth, cornrows and a goatee. Cops aren't saying what sort of weapon was used; we'd bet on a .22 or a 9mm, with a nod to the latter. Given the lack of deadly mayhem, we wouldn't be surprised if the shooter was aiming sideways to look like a bad-ass.

Really, we still don't know enough about what's being called the biggest single shooting in recent local history (we say "recent" because six cops shot dead in 1932 remains a bigger deal, for many reasons). Clearly the shooter didn't just happen to stumble into the party. When we know more about the party and its participants, we'll know why nine people were shot.

Our earlier blurb started a small conversation that's worth your input. Some anonymous commenter accused local media of ignoring the Real Story:

[W]as this a gathering of white folks or black folks ... or was it perhaps a glorious mosaic of the races ...????? Who the hell was at this shindig?

A question worth asking, sure. But is race the story? Not unless this was a gathering of white supremacists and a black man came it to pop caps in a few racist asses.

We're also amused by this comment from a well-intentioned heart:

Nine human beings suffer gunshot wounds, and to you this makes a "perfect story for the hard-news addict with a soul."

How could ANYONE with a soul consider such violence to be a "perfect" story?

To get in on that conversation, click here. Or leave a comment at the beep.