It was only a matter of time.
Details surrounding Saturday afternoon’s incident at Crossgates Mall are still at a premium at this hour, but what played out from outside the 1.7 million square foot retail center — as calm and orderly as local law enforcement agencies facilitated — was a nightmare scenario.
It seems with every shooting incident that occurs in our country, the fear of it happening in our backyard quickly creeps into consciousness. And, with every incident comes talk of gun control, though according to the Pew Research Center, gun related homicides are down from 15.2 per 100,000 people in 1993 to 10.6 per 100,000 in 2013. Nonetheless, we still welcome that discussion.
But, let’s focus back on the events that occurred on Saturday and specifically, on the swift and massive response from law enforcement.
Crossgates Mall is one of the largest malls in the country. It’s two-stories tall and a mile long. It’s marketed as a hub for entertainment, catering to comedy shows, live music and video game aficionados alike. Thousands of patrons roam within its walls on any given day.
Reports of an “active shooter” inside Crossgates Mall circulated across social media at around 2:30 p.m. and into the news feeds of local media agencies soon afterwards. One shooter, two shooters, four, no one could confirm. “Casualties” was a word thrown around; as many as four, ultimately there were none reported. But, that didn’t help those who stuck to their cell phones hanging on every nugget of information available. Some of those people were still inside.
Within an hour of those first reports, a bevy of law enforcement officers were on site, around the edges of the mall property, around the building, and inside. To understand the grand scope of the response, agencies from Altamont to East Greenbush, from State Park police to New York state Troopers and the Federal Bureau of Investigations were “all hands on deck.”
As reports have come in, we are thankful that the nightmare scenario we initially feared did not play itself out. What we take away from it is knowing that our local law enforcement officers swiftly head the call to serve our community. And, for that, we give every one of them thanks.
To understand the grand scope of the response, agencies from Altamont to East Greenbush, from State Park police to New York state Troopers and the Federal Bureau of Investigations were “all hands on deck.”
As reports have come in, we are thankful that the nightmare scenario we had initially feared did not play itself out. What we take away from it is knowing that our local law enforcement officers swiftly head the call to serve our community. And, for that, we give every one of them thanks.