On Sept 14, Sergeant Cindi West of the King County Sheriff's Office emailed a press release about a burglary suspect who was shot and killed by a 35-year-old homeowner in SeaTac. The homeowner told the police that he was at home when he heard a noise in the bedroom where his kids were sleeping. He entered the room and saw two strangers who looked like they were trying to open the room's window and enter the house. The homeowner was armed and fired several shots at the strangers. One was hit and the other "fled the scene on foot." The one hit, died by the window. The story made the news that day. It was reported on local channels (Q13 Fox, KOMO ) and national (US News) websites. It was the kind of story the press will never get enough of. A man defended his family and property with a gun. He was, as the NRA likes to put it, a good man with a gun. He only had to pull the trigger to be law enforcer, judge and jury, and executioner. "Burglar makes fatal mistake in SeaTac," read the headline in Sky Valley Chronicle. As far as the public is concerned, this case is closed. (It is, however, still under review by the King County Prosecutor’s Office.)
As expected, there is much more to this story. The burglary suspect appears to be the father of a baby whose mother recently had heart surgery. This man, it is said, took care of the child while the mother was in hospital. And there is a Facebook page devoted to this very expensive and risky operation called Mashawnda's Heart. And on this page, there is a post about a man with the same first name, Elgin, as the man who the King County Medical Examiner confirmed was shot and killed on Thursday, September 14, in SeaTac, Eligin Grant.
...He was my love and cannot be replaced. He was hurting and we needed help but did not get any. We had noone to depend on and honestly barely anywhere to sleep at times though we made sure our baby was safe we werent. I ended up back in the hospital on the 28th of august because I got to a low depression . I stopped taking my medicine and my heart started to reject. I couldn't take this life anymore and elgin was the one by my side . He was going through the same we both couldn't take it . There's a lot of things we both did to stay a float for our son. Yes we regret a lot of it. But he had no real help. Yes we reached out so many times . Elgin and I took it in our own hands . We got jobs and was still without a place . We had nothing . And everyone continued to downgrade us. Continuing to hinder us. I hated life for so long . He was the person who kept me strong. Now he's gone . I love you elgin.
Please share he was an amazing person. I would not have told any of this if I didn't feel like my life is halfway gone. My baby is holding the other half. I lost my mom at seven years old and now baby elgin lost his dad at one years old. Please don't let the media fool you there's a reason why people resort to things like that.
The post links to KIRO's report of the shooting. Mashawnda's Heart also a has a post that links to a GoFundMe page for the funeral expenses of a man who has the exact same name, Elgin Grant, as the man shot by the SeaTac homeowner. The GoFundMe page was set up two days ago by Shantell Clayton, who also set up a GoFundMe for a "20 year old [mother] diagnosed with peripartum cardiomyopathy" 21 weeks ago. Heart operations are nowhere near cheap. Even the $10,000 that Clayton is trying to raise on GoFundMe can only be a drop in the ocean of the young woman's medical expenses. (I have yet to receive a response to inquiries sent to Shantell Clayton and Mashawnda's Heart.)
My readers by now very well know I'm anti-gun, pro-universal healthcare and the wider distribution economic wealth in this overdeveloped society, but all I wanted to do in this post is point out the other side of a news story that has come and gone a little too quickly.
