Of all the great sheriffs in Arizona, the tragedy had to happen in Dipstick’s district.
Today, Cochise County Sheriff Larry Dever said he did not understand why Dipstick would lay blame at anyone else’s doorstep.
CNS News reported:
Cochise County Sheriff Larry Dever said he does not understand why his friend and colleague, Pima County Sheriff Clarence Dupnik, would suggest at a news conference following Saturday’s shooting in Tucson that political ideology played a role in the tragedy.
At a press conference on Saturday, Dupnik said Arizona had become the “mecca for prejudice and bigotry” and that “the vitriolic rhetoric that we hear day in and day out from people in the radio business and some people in the TV business” should, given events, prompt America “to do a little soul-searching.”
In reference to Dupnik’s remarks, Sheriff Dever told CNSNews.com by telephone on Monday, “His words sadden me. He and he alone can define what he meant, just as the shooter of Gabrielle Giffords and all the others he killed and injured can only answer for himself.”
Dever said the alleged shooter, 22-year-old Jared Loughner, who was arrested at the scene and now faces numerous federal charges, including attempted assassination, is believed to have acted alone. Loughner is accused of killing six people waiting in line to see Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.). He injured another 13, including Giffords, who remains in critical condition with a bullet wound to the brain.
To blame anyone other than Loughner is misguided, Dever said. “If there is anything more frightening or sad about this event, it is that anyone would try to lay the blame on anyone else’s doorstep, other than that of the sick kid who carried this out,” Dever said.
