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February 11, 2005
Another coincidental shooting in Rancho Cordova
Sacbee Coverage:
News - Man fatally shot during would-be home-invasion robbery - sacbee.com
By Mareva Brown and Christina Jewett -- Bee Staff Writers
Published 6:01 pm PST Thursday, February 10, 2005
News - Two shoot at invaders; man killed - sacbee.com
The gunfire sparks a lockdown of two Rancho Cordova schools.
By Mareva Brown and Christina Jewett -- Bee Staff Writers
Published 2:15 am PST Friday, February 11, 2005
KCRA Channel 3 Coverage
TheKCRAChannel.com - News - One Killed In Rancho Cordova Home Invasion Shooting
POSTED: 5:45 pm PST February 10, 2005
UPDATED: 5:59 pm PST February 10, 2005
KXTV Channel 10 Coverage
Botched Home Invasion Leaves One Man Dead, One Wounded
Story last updated Friday, February 11, 2005 - 12:59 AM
VIDEO
I first heard about this as "Breaking News" on KFBK. Jay Alan began to describe the scene and scope of what had happened, stating that 2 schools had been locked down, and that the streets around the schools had been blocked off. NO NAMES were mentioned, not of the schools, nor of the streets.
They segwayed into the reporter on the scene, who apparently either had low cell phone batteries, or hit a bad cell because the she faded in and out, leaving dead air for us all to listen to, until they played recorded interviews.
Until they played those interviews, I thought I had something wrong with my car radio reception. The people who were interviewed talked about not being able to get into their neighborhoods, and one woman said her daughter could not come home from school because of the campus lockdown. Still, no names of streets or schools were heard. Allen finally broke in and said that the reporter on scene was in fact having communications problems, and that they would get back to the story later in the broadcast. That never happened.
I was in rush hour traffic, and was worried about my family, wondering where, when, how long this had gone on. I kept thinking about all the parents of children of those schools, how they might be reacting right now, hearing a special report like that, then having no information to go on. Which schools? Which neighborhoods.
Surely with a school lockdown situation of not just one, but two schools, would prompt the media, specifically KFBK, to make special reports and help alert the public and parents of this situation. Didn't happen. Kitty and Jay talked about the Land Park dummy crisis, while parents in traffic wondered what the hell was going on with their kids in possibly any of the schools in our city. (as reported at 4-6pm the media still said only two schools had been in lockdown since approximately 1:30pm-two hrs in total; the actual count was three schools;Williamson Elementary, Mitchell Middle School and Walnutwood Alternative High School, ironically the school closest to the shooting and not mentioned by the Sheriff's spokesman, the Bee or KCRA reports, only KXTV News 10)
Did the schools notify parents? Did the Sheriff's Department of City/City Police? The Sheriff's spokesman didn't even know 3 schools had been locked down, saying at least 4 times on three separate tv interviews and one radio interview that two, not three had been locked down, never mentioning the school closest, Walnutwood Alternative High School (an old elementary school), had been locked down as well.
When I got home, I immediately turned on the tv news, just before 5pm. KCRA led with another story, but their second story was the RC Shooting. Very little was discussed about the school lock down, or children, or parents' concerns and if they had been notified. The KXTV coverage was similar, as their story at 5pm was not the RC shooting. KOVR, which I don't watch, did a quick blurb, after doing an orgy of coverage on the huge public safety threat, the dangerous hanging dummy in Land Park.
KOVR and KFBK's obsession with that story confirmed for me that in the face of a public emergency in Rancho, they chose to stick to their political agenda, and not pull away for some "colored kids in Rancho Cambodia".
No station, radio or tv led with this story of 1300+ students (with an elementary school, a continuation school and a middle school) in lockdown from 1:30 p.m. to 3:15 p.m. Not one. The Bee couldn't even report accurately that three schools had been locked down, excluding the one closest to the crime scene and in the center of an entire neighborhood blocked off by Police and the Sheriff's Department.
The combined approx attendance of the three schools is 1316 (OCT 2003)
Williamson Elementary
406 + school staff- Source:2003-2004 SARC report
(OCT 2003)I.Demographic Information /pg 2 of pdf
http://www.fcusd.k12.ca.us/PDRTAWeb/SARCs2004/WM03-04.pdfWalnutwood Alternative High School
176 + school staff- Source:2003-2004 SARC report
(OCT 2003)I. Demographic Information /pg 2 of pdf
http://www.fcusd.k12.ca.us/PDRTAWeb/SARCs2004/WHS03-04.pdfMitchell Middle School
734 + school staff - Source:2003-2004 SARC report
(OCT 2003)I. Demographic Information /pg 2 of pdf
http://www.fcusd.k12.ca.us/PDRTAWeb/SARCs2004/MIT03-04.pdf
If this had happened in a more affluent community like Elk Grove, Folsom, Roseville, an orgy of coverage would have ensued. Three public schools, in a lockdown, with an armed manhunt underway, and the Sacramento media cannot consider that a public emergency important enough as a lead story.
And where was the City and Sheriff's Department? No one could give a call and put the fire under the media, or did they? Did they want to minimize this in a damage control effort to preserve the "illusion" that Rancho Cordova is a safe community to buy homes in? Was selling the homes south of the freeway, and protecting marketability the overriding thought when deciding how to handle the public emergency notification and media relations?
How bad does a public emergency in a public school in Rancho Cordova have to be for Sacramento media to cover it as a top news story, as part of their duty to the communities they serve? If there's Columbine style shooting at a Rancho Cordova school, will this be the style of coverage provided? Does anyone even care?
Posted by cystdog at February 11, 2005 06:00 AM
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