AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — A gunman opened fire Monday in a Target store parking lot in the Texas capital, killing at least three people, then stole two cars during a getaway that ended with police using a Taser to detain him on the other side of the city, authorities said.
I live in Austin. I’ve had some people tell me I’m being paranoid for not wanting to go shopping anymore. I’ve had all my groceries delivered for the last few years, because I hate the idea of being inside a crowded store these days.
I fucking hate it when my paranoia is validated.
How many random (non-targeted) people were killed shopping in Austin in the last year, even if you include these 3 people?
How many people have died slipping in their shower in Austin in the last year? Or choking on food? I will bet you money both of those are much higher than the above answer. Have you stopped showering? Do you cut up all your food into bites so small you can’t choke on them then eat them one at a time swallowing before taxing the next bite?
single incidents should not validate fears when you have a population of 2.5 million people, just because extremely rare things can and do happen doesn’t mean they should change the way you live your life.
Last year, there was a shooting at a HEB (Texas grocery chain) parking lot about a mile from my apartment. On Halloween a few years ago, somebody was shot in a drive-by right in front of my apartment, less than 100 feet away from my living room where I was eating dinner. Now this.
When these events keep happening right in your backyard, the statistics don’t really do much to calm the nerves.
When it comes down to it, your perception of danger is going to color how you behave, and that’s totally alright for you. The reality in Austin, though, is that it’s very safe as far as large cities go. These handful of incidents you describe that happened over the course of four years are awful, but are also incredibly rare given how many people live here.
Well if you narrow down the statistics to his neighborhood it seems it’s pretty fucking common.
Your example is like claiming Chicago is incredibly safe so you shouldn’t worry too much about crime since you live in the South Side.
Only one of the incidents they listed happened in their neighborhood, the other incidents happened miles away from them on opposite sides of town over a year apart.
No, this is not at all like “claiming Chicago is incredibly safe so you shouldn’t worry about crime.” Chicago’s homicide rate is over 7 times higher than Austin’s. And based in the incident they shared, they live in fucking West Campus adjacent to the University of Texas, not the South Side of Chicago.
IIRC, a month after we moved out of the city, there was a shooting at a shopping area I frequented often.
So it was fair game after the wizard protecting it departed the realm?
Have you ever considered that it’s not the outside that is the problem, but rather the fact that “outside” for you is Texas?
Oh please, Austin is #90 on the list for murder and non-negligent homicide, with a lower rate than New York, San Francisco, Boston, Denver, and Seattle.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_cities_by_crime_rate
Holy shhhh… Anchorage, AK is #2?!? I gotta stop binge watching NatGeo. Thanks for the list, sorry I got off topic.
Carry on.
I think you misread the table, it’s sorted alphabetically by state by default.
🤦🏻♀️oh geeze! Thanks so much. Pardon my stupidity.
Leaving now.
Humans suck at estimating risk when large or small numbers are involved. Your brain can’t even comprehend 2.5 million people. You see a shooting on the news three times over multiple years and become afraid. That’s completely irrational.
All you’ve done is proven that your feelings matter more than the reality.
When you let your feelings control you, and they’re that far off from reality, you’re going to make bad choices.
Did the people killed at Target today make bad choices? Because if we’re talking about reality, then the reality of the situation is that “bad choices” or “good choices” don’t matter.
This is reality.
Question though, you mentioned you lived near that incident at 22nd and Pearl, but this incident happened over 5 miles north of there. There are 4 other Targets that are closer to that spot than the one where this incident happened. What makes you feel like this is happening in your immediate area?
What do their choices have to do with your choices?
Those two things are entirely independent.
Someone else won the lottery today, does that mean you should rush out and buy a ticket?
No, because what happened to them isn’t likely to happen to you.
Just to add to the statistics, many thousands of Americans win more than a million dollars every year on the lottery.
You’re still feeling rather than thinking. It’s no skin off my nose if you choose to live a shitty life because you cant properly assess risk,. Good luck, but you’re probably going to die of a heart attack. Maybe you should worry about that instead.
Yeah, this is all statistics. My wife forces me to lock all the windows every time we leave or go to sleep. Even though the window in my office would require a fucking ladder to crawl inside of the window from the outside.
I told her it’s statistically more likely for somebody to pick up a rock from somebody’s yard and come in through the front of the house, then it would be for somebody to come in with a ladder at the back to crawl into the 2nd floor window.
Doesn’t matter, she still wants me to lock the windows.
Why would you leave them unlocked even?
Laziness. I open and close them often to put up a fan.
Why not just lock them when you close them lol, it takes like 2 seconds
And now you sound like my wife.
“Why not” is always the question for when someone doesn’t do something because of laziness.
Because its annoying and im lazy about it. I have to take the fan down and mess with our janky blinds. It’s a second story window and we have no kids or pets.
Why do I need to lock it? For kids we’re never going to have? Kids of my guests I’m never going to let into my locked office behind my monitors? For the possible robber that’s going to break in via a second story window in the back of our home that needs a ladder to get to when there are several easier access points?
Sometimes I don’t lock it. I often do. But she makes me double check my office window before sleep or leaving. That’s time wasted on sheer paranoia. I’d rather take those odds over wasting 5 minutes several times a week.
Hahaha, fair enough, it’s just a good habit to be in, the pros generally outweigh the cons so just try to make it a habit is all
I agree. But I just don’t want to get out of bed and go upstairs to ensure the window is locked. I lock it 90% of the time…
Its usually just unlocked if I’m multitasking in the middle of the day
And your wife is irrational, and the behavior is a waste of time.
What are you trying to prove with your comment?
I don’t blame you. I have to use 2 hands to count how many times either myself, or my wife have been dangerously close, or within a mile of a high profile shooting. I don’t even live in Austin, and I have been to that Target numerous times. People think I’m lying when I start listing them off . It’s also why I began carrying.
I’ve lived in Austin almost 25 years now and don’t have a single friend, family, or colleague who has been shot by anyone else or who has even talked about being close to a shooting. I do know 2 people over that time who killed themselves with guns their families legally owned, though.
Holy shit… Is this really what Texas is like?
Just an FYI to anyone here who isn’t American: this is not the experience in most states with sane gun regulations.
The 2 highest profiles, and closest to being involved were the downtown Dallas PD shooting. We were a block away. The other was my wife was at the State Fair shooting in the building next to it. The rest would probably end up doxing myself due to location and employment, but 2 incidents at schools, 1 mall, and a couple more at restaurants.
We have really bad luck with wrong place wrong time.
Icing on the shit cake is while I didnt directly know them, a good friend knew Eva Morales from Uvalde.
So you’re cool with sacrificing some poor sap who delivers your groceries to you, is what I’m hearing.
Most grocery stores offer delivery directly from the store
“sacrificing” them how? When I order delivery groceries they usually come from a separate distribution hub. My driver isn’t wandering the aisles like shoppers.
He’s in Austin so he’s almost certainly talking about HEBs and yes they do send people around the store picking up stuff. Then they load up a van and drive over to you.
And they also use dedicated fulfillment centers.
https://www.supermarketnews.com/finance/h-e-b-opens-its-largest-ever-ecommerce-fulfillment-center-in-texas
The people down voting me seem to think that grocery deliveries don’t cause real people to have to be physically present at the store in their place.
Yeah, it actually depends.
https://www.supermarketnews.com/finance/h-e-b-opens-its-largest-ever-ecommerce-fulfillment-center-in-texas
Store deliveries from large corporations often just use Door dash drivers who do curbside pickup.
GTFO of Texas and/or a big city, and your odds of that drop sharply.
Easier said than done
I get that, but I’d move heaven and earth to get out of a state like Texas or Florida. I live in a red state but… It’s not as bad as those two yet. If it gets that bad, I don’t know what I’d do to get out, or my reaction would be. But if I lived in Texas right now and couldn’t leave, I’d be a very dangerous individual for officials.
Working on that! If all goes well, I’ll leave this shithole state behind me in a few months and never look back.
Good for you! Best of luck!