Hundreds gathered to honour those lost in Monday’s quadruple homicide in Penticton on Wednesday, April 17 at Gyro Park. Dale Boyd/Osoyoos Times
By Dale Boyd
Osoyoos Times
Details are still emerging on what is undoubtedly one of the worst violent incidents in Penticton in recent memory with four reported dead in a shooting incident.
It follows shortly after a church shooting in Salmon Arm. The details on these events will surely be scoured over in the weeks to come as we learn more.
There is undoubtedly a tendency by Canadians during the 24-hour media cycle to become numb to events of violence elsewhere in the world, not here in small-town B.C., we tell ourselves.
What has become the now-standard response for some “thoughts and prayers,” stops short of giving credit where it is due.
The details are still sparse as we head to our print deadline this week, but The Osoyoos Times would like to thank first responders, those first to a dangerous scene, as well as our media partners to the north who worked quickly to answer the flurry of questions as information was made available. Many will continue to bring coverage of the fallout of these events as it happens.
Read more: Two dead in Penticton shooting were ‘great neighbours’ in Osoyoos
It is hard to write anything with an editorial bent when it comes to violent acts in our communities like this, but at the very least it should give us a moment of pause as a community.
We in the South Okanagan are passionate, about our hobbies, our careers, our communities and the land where we live. Sometimes these passions spill out into debates, civil or otherwise.
What becomes apparent while watching something like the Penticton shooting get reported and unfold in real-time, is the little room for patience and reflection while many chime in to theorize or opine before the incident is even over.
It is hard to find moments of reflection in today’s ever-connected world. However, before we make our natural human judgments or rush to conclusions, perhaps it is best to reflect that we are not separate or far away from the violence we see in the news south of the border and beyond. It can happen here and it did.
What we can do is not forget, to remember how it felt when violence was near our homes, our friends, our neighbours, to remember this feeling as we are inundated with stories of fear and violence around the world and to move forward with empathy.
