In a press briefing Friday morning, Indianapolis Mayor Joe Hogsett, Police Chief Randal Taylor, and others gave an update of the shooting that left eight victims and one gunman dead. But rather than shed any new light on the events of the shooting, Hogsett used the press briefing as an opportunity to politicize the shooting even before much of the details are known.
In a press briefing that could be summarized with the phrase, “We don’t know, yet,” Mayor Hogsett wasted no time at all in capitalizing on the tragedy of the shooting for his own political purposes. Upon stepping up to the podium, Hogsett straightened his tie, removed his COVID mask, thanked the press for “joining us this morning,” and immediately said, “Indianapolis was revisited by the scourge of gun violence that has killed far too many in our community, and in our country.” That simple — and politically simplistic — phrase was a precursor of what was to come later in the briefing.
After spending several minutes discussing the difficult “days and weeks to come” as residents of his city deal with the tragedy, Hogsett turned the podium over to Police Chief Randal Taylor who began by saying, “This morning, for the third time since January, our community woke up to news of a senseless crime that will not soon leave our memory.” He added that such a crime is “unacceptable.” And truly it is. Taylor expressed condolences and compassion for the victims, their friends and family, and for the city that now finds itself in the national and international spotlight as a result of this tragic and senseless crime. He then explained that the “crime scene remains active” and so, as police continue to process the evidence, not much is being shared at this time.
That is understandable. It is considerably too early to discuss things such as motive while police investigators are still tagging and bagging evidence. The most honest answer to almost any question at this point — whether it is what people want to hear or not — is “We don’t know, yet.”
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Next at the podium was special agent in charge at the FBI’s field office, Paul Keenan. Keenan’s time was brief as he simply stated that the FBI will be assisting in the investigation. One important point Keenan made in keeping with the we-don’t-know-yet theme was, “Many of you have already asked what the motive of this shooting was, and with less than 12 hours since the shooting, it would be premature to speculate on that motivation.”
Next, Deputy Chief Craig McCartt spent about 20 minutes answering questions form the media. Again, in prudence, his answers can mostly be summed up as, “We don’t know, yet.” One notable difference was a question that Mayor Hogsett stepped up to the podium to answer.
That question was not picked up by the microphone, but Hogsett’s answer was. He said, “I would point out that just last week I signed on to a letter from over 150 mayors around the country, asking for the United States Senate to consider legislation that would expand background checks to be required when firearms are transferred between private citizens and to close the Charleston loophole which allows federally licensed firearm dealers to transfer guns to customers before an adequate background check is completed.” Hogsett went on to say, “The fact that I joined with 150 other mayors in asking the federal legislature to do that at least indicates what I would like to see be done legislatively.”
So, even as the crime scene was still being investigated and before any details could even be made public (if they are even known to investigators), Mayor Hogsett seized the tragic moment and opted not to let a crisis go to waste. While the rest of the speakers made it clear over and over again that there is much that is not known, Hogsett wanted to make it clear that he knows that infringing on the right of the people to keep and bear arms will somehow help avoid such tragedies in the future.
Conspicuously absent from Hogsett’s regurgitation of Democratic talking points was any evidence that the unnamed shooter obtained his firearm via a private transfer via the so-called Charleston loophole. But, since “we don’t know yet,” Hogsett took the liberty to speculate and politicize the deaths of people whose names are not yet known because many of their families have not yet even been notified of their deaths.
Hogsett went on to discuss his close contact with White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain and sing the praises of federal funding for his city and all the good that it has done. Apparently, no one told Hogsett that there is a time and place for everything, but that this is not it. His naked political posturing and campaigning was a cheap, low shot — though no one in his party or the liberal mainstream media will likely ever take him to task for it. After all, he used the tragedy to push their agenda.
