Tuesday, August 20, 2019

Sol Pais: Camouflaged for Suicide?


I've written on this subject before when it concerned the killing of Tamir Rice.  And the subject is the allegation that a suspect who has not yet committed a crime is dressed in camouflage clothing.

In the case of Sol Pais, the authorities alleged that she was dressed in camouflage.  Now this may seem like a minor point but the authorities in Colorado had evacuated schools based on the fact that a 5'6" 18 year old who was painfully thin had purchased a shotgun.  The shotgun purchase was wholly a legal transaction. And a shotgun, while a weapon that can kill in the hands of someone who was proficient enough to load, point, aim, and shoot it, is not an automatic, high capacity weapon.

Did I mention that she was a high school student in Florida unfamiliar with Colorado climate?

Sooo.

The question remains why the authorities who lost track (and we'll soon circle back to this rather dubious claim) of Pais - presumably for days after arriving in Colorado would claim she was dressed in camouflage when she was wearing a black heavy metal group T-shirt, black shoes and black designer camouflage pants at the airport.

Are we to believe this outfit would disguise her as something other than who she was - a short, slightly built eighteen year old? One would think that any teenager of this description would blend in at a high school regardless of what they were wearing.

Now, don't get me wrong, a teenager carrying a shotgun into school would be the giveaway, again - regardless of what they were wearing.

But Sol Pais was not traveling to Colorado to visit a high school. She was there to commit suicide.  You don't need ineffective, fashionista camouflage to do that.   And out in the snowy forest, how could that outfit camouflage her no matter what her motivations were.

No, the truth is that when authorities smear descriptions such as this on subjects they are ratcheting up the ante.  Police who might otherwise approach her calmly will approach her with apprehension and a reflexive trigger-finger.  Likewise its plausible deniability for every wannbe Batman or Wonder Woman to shoot first and ask questions later if they go bounty hunting.

I have yet to find an official autopsy or postmortem for this tragedy - it appears to be getting whitewashed.  That's too bad. There are lessons to be learned.