May 22, 2008
Senseless Tragedy in Cranston
Foremost, my prayers are with the family of Joseph Pagano, who by every account I've read was a well-liked and well-respected member of the community.
I'll agree with Lt. Pagano's former boss Michael Traficante, quoted in yesterday's Cranston Herald…
“We have become a very sick society if we have to resort to a lethal weapon when a child steps on our lawn or if their balls go onto our property. This is a black mark on our community.”And I'll respect the professional judgment of Cranston Police Chief Stephen McGrath before saying anything else…
He also said he was a little bit concerned about all the conflicting stories that have been treated as news.“Until we know for sure what happened, all that is just speculation and it doesn’t help us at all,” he said.
There has been a lot of speculative noise about what happened.It is best to let the police complete their investigation before coming to conclusions.What doesn't sem to be in dispute is that this was not something that originated in an instant-there was a history of problems between victim and arrestee and it seems apparent that the shooter had a single target in mind as he did not attempt to injure anyone else at the scene-Thank God no children were hurt.
Posted by: joe bernstein at May 22, 2008 7:47 PMIf he didn't have a gun he couldn't have shot him.
Anonymous - because I don't want any gun nuts to have my name.