In the wake of the Bridgewater Plaza shootings, which left WDBJ cameraman Adam Ward and reporter Alison Parker dead, and Vicki Gardner, the local chamber of commerce director, wounded, there has been in-depth looks at the event and the gunman, Vester Lee Flanagan II (a/k/a Bryce Williams).
Let's look at some of the copycats that built up to this incident, through the political cartoons that have appeared in years and days after similar events.
The mass shootings, in recent years, have resulted in thoughtful, insightful illustrations of the community ethos and, even, mythos surrounding the violence.
Looking back to the Aurora shootings, for example, the image of Batman is often prominent.
Aurora also caused images of theaters to appear in these cartoons, and the other theater shootings have merged with that one.
The 2015 Lafayette shooting has been added as the sequel.
VA Tech, Sandy Hook, Charleston, Bridgewater Plaza/WDBJ - the list becomes overwhelming.
Even a real newspaper cover appears to be cartoonish in this climate.
And the holding of the gun appears programmed from the past - and we find out much of the Bridgewater Plaza shooting was born in the legacy of VA Tech, Columbine, and Charleston.
The copycat effect is strong in this event, sadly. Rick McKee's 2015 post-Bridgewater Plaza cartoon captures the concept well.
And yet, it almost seems as out-of-whack as another story that McKee dealt with in cartoon form in 2008 - down to a similar plaid outfit - a Bigfoot hoax event. Recall, Vester Flanagan wore plaid for his 2015 "media killing."
Which leaves me wondering, what odd stories did Alison Parker work on at WDBJ that have been scrubbed from her archives?
(The following is not Alison Parker, but a typical local - in this case, Channel 7 in Florida - reporter doing the kind of stories they sometimes have to do.)
