Sunday night, many people across the nation were glued to the television or their phones, waiting for updates from the mass shooting at the Gilroy Garlic Festival, a family-friendly food festival in Northern California. The horror started at 5:40 p.m. local time when a shooter with an assault-style rifle opened fire. At least three people were killed, including a 6-year-old. An additional 12 were injured. The tragedy drew sympathy from public figures including the president of the United States.
Twenty minutes before the shooting in Gilroy started, a group of 20-year-olds were preparing to film a music video in the Elmwood neighborhood of Southwest Philadelphia. A man opened fire, killing a 21-year-old on the scene and injuring five more. It was the second mass shooting within a few blocks in Elmwood in six weeks. On Father’s Day, six people — including three teenagers — were shot at a graduation party in a nearby playground.
Unlike the Gilroy shooting, there was zero national attention on Philadelphia’s. The president didn’t share his sympathy. CNN didn’t interrupt its scheduling. Elmwood wasn’t trending on Twitter.
In a tweet on Monday morning, state Attorney General Josh Shapiro called the shooting in Elmwood “everyday” gun violence and the shooting in Gilroy a “mass shooting.” The implication is that there is something normal or routine in 20-year-olds being shot while filming a music video — while a mass shooting is a completely unpredictable event that targets the truly innocent…..more here