Things have been relatively quiet in Melbourne of late. There have been no high profile city shootings and the place appears to have resumed its usual laid back style of going about things. The events as described in my previous posts happened a month ago now. The murderer turned himself a few days later and justice, I am sure, will be done in his case. The funeral of the Good Samaritan shot dead took place a week after the shootings amid the inevitable (but relatively subdued) media attention. The other Good Samaritan (who was seriously wounded) made his first public appearance on the news a couple of days ago and hopes to leave hospital imminently. It turns out he was a Dutch tourist who had been in Melbourne only a day or two before he found himself staring down the barrel of a gun. As might be guessed he plans to return home to Holland as soon as he leaves hospital, no doubt with some rather dubious memories of his visit.
Bad things happen in all big cities, but Melbourne always seemed a little bit less like Dodge than other cities of comparable size around the world. Events like this tend to remind you there is always a stratum of society who regard themselves immune to the rules, there are always those who are just so out of touch with reality that rational choices are beyond them, and there are those who are desperate. It’s when these things align in one person it inevitably turns nasty.
