Our view: A time for caring
On Sunday morning, hours after a gunman’s body had been found in their sanctuary, members of First Presbyterian Church of Moscow, Idaho, met in the Lionel Hampton School of Music for their weekly service.
They sang soothing old hymns like “Great is Thy Faithfulness,” and they reminded one another of the power of love and their tradition’s assurance of healing.
Now the rest of the region must wrap its collective arms around Moscow. We must extend our deepest sympathy, remind it of its essential goodness even in this time of evil, and share its search for wisdom and strength.
Late Saturday night, 36-year-old Jason Hamilton shot his wife, Crystal, and took guns into town to open fire. In the end, Moscow Police Officer Lee Newbill, church sexton Paul Bauer and Hamilton himself also were dead. Three others were injured.
Leaders of law enforcement, city and county government, and the University of Idaho came together Monday morning to share the answers they could.
It became clear that Hamilton was a man with a dark history of domestic violence and mental illness. He was tried for felony strangulation of a girlfriend, he served time in jail and on probation, and he underwent two psychiatric evaluations. He received mental health counseling and was placed on an involuntary mental hold for attempting suicide. This extremely troubled man also possessed two semiautomatic rifles and had described his desire to end his life in a shooting spree.
Many questions will be asked in the time ahead, questions about how we as a society deal with domestic violence, with mental illness and with gun ownership by those with a history of both.
But that time has not yet come.
Now is still a time when townspeople are creating memorials, when offerings of lilacs, lilies and chocolate chip cookies bring solace, when the only true answer to fear is love.
Moscow Mayor Nancy Chaney said Monday, “We are not insulated from the evils of the world.” Yet neither has Moscow ever been known for its crime. Last weekend, Lee Newbill became the first law enforcement officer in Moscow’s history to be killed in the line of duty.
Moscow first was known as Paradise Valley. The goodness and joy of that early name has been part of its legacy all these years, where as a university community it has helped to educate and enhance the lives of hundreds of thousands of young adults.
The town will hear more about the promises of paradise in memorial services in the days to come. But on Sunday morning, the congregation of one of the town’s oldest Christian churches transcended the unfathomable blood and violence in their sanctuary to proclaim their faith.
The lyrics they sang called for “strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow.” We join the rest of our region in fervently wishing both for their beloved city.