A mass shooting couldn’t happen in Virginia Beach … until it did
On the Atlantic coast the schools are good and the sun is warm. On Friday, at a municipal building, 12 people were murdered
Twelve stars and stripes flags were planted on the grass verge, one for each of the lives cut short. Floral tributes accumulated in their midst with the prosaic details of price tags: $6.99 for one bunch, $4.87 for another. Police officers and TV crews went about their work, the latter shaded by white canopies. In a nearby carpark, mourners joined hands as a pastor offered a prayer and a woman strummed a guitar.
Related: Virginia Beach shooting: 12 victims and gunman named after ‘horrific crime’