PR spin, ‘process’ delay understanding of Costco shooting

Oh, it's quiet out there. Nobody is talking, unless, of course, you've been suckered into thinking public relations wars are the same as talking. Which they aren't. Only talking is talking.

I'm not anti-police. To the contrary, I admire the men and women whose job it is to make life and death decisions in nanoseconds to protect and serve the security and sanity of the city I call home. And, while I'm not a Gun Guy, neither am I anti-gun. To the contrary, I own guns, mostly because my son is a Gun Guy. And I'm certainly not anti-Erik Scott, whom I've never met. Won't, either, because Erik is dead, having been shot July 10 in a confrontation with Las Vegas police in front of Costco in Summerlin.

What I am is a citizen asking questions in a vacuum. It's not a vacuum of my choosing, but one that has been foisted on me. And, because it's a vacuum, I have no choice but to cast about in that vacuum, weighing and pondering scenarios and likelihoods.

Foisted on me? Yep. See, in this culture, we have come to deeply cherish suing the holy bewhatsitz out of each other. So, one of the consequences of our love affair with tort is that advancing, dodging and/or mitigating liability is waaayyyy the most important thing. Waaayyyy more important than frank and timely answers to the question, "What the hell happened at Costco Summerlin on July 10?"

Those of us still pondering Erik's death are left to do so in a vacuum, dodging the distractions of public relations spins.

So far, the public relations war goes like this: It's either Stellar Erik or Dark Angry Erik. Stellar Erik is a West Point graduate. Health food and fitness freak. Army vet. Golden Boy. Dark Angry Erik was married twice, and both wives made written allegations of domestic violence. He pulls a gun on his neighbor's dog. Alleged to have abused steroids and painkillers.

Color me stupid, but I don't understand how "discussing" Erik's death with either of those two Erik-idioms will answer my question: "What the hell happened at Costco Summerlin on July 10?"

See, if Stellar Erik picked that day to be combative and belligerent and aggressive to one or more Costco employees, and was additionally careless enough not to conceal his concealed weapon in public, and then decided to challenge police orders and pull and point a weapon at three .40-caliber Glocks ... then being a stellar guy up to that point will hardly be relevant. The shooting will be justified.

Or, if Dark Angry Erik was merely seeing if said water bottles would fit in said cooler, and was nothing but a gentleman in Costco, and if then one or more Costco employees, having watched too many Steven Seagal movies as children, grossly overreacted and told a 911 dispatcher that a man with a gun was going berserk, and if officers on the scene gave Erik contradictory orders, and if Erik did not pull and point a gun, but rather made every attempt to cooperate, and if then one officer made the terribly, terribly wrong nanosecond decision followed by sympathy fire from his colleagues ... then being a dark, angry guy up to that point will hardly be relevant. The shooting will not be justified.

Hawking Stellar Erik or Dark Angry Erik only provokes suspicion in me. Are there forces in the universe more concerned with shaping and spinning arguments for a tort jury than with the only relevant question for us everyday citizens: "What the hell happened at Costco Summerlin on July 10?"

In the meantime, why do I think that, if handed the Costco security camera recordings of July 10, a teenage techno-geek eating raisins and drinking Mountain Dew in a high school AV lab could answer the following questions in about 20 minutes: Were the Costco security cameras on the patio working in the moment Erik died? If so, did the camera angles capture a digital recording of Erik's death? And, if so, does the recording reveal Erik pulling and pointing a weapon at police officers? Or not? Or was there a big fat guy with a grocery cart blocking the camera's view, rendering the recording unhelpful?

For people with inquiring minds.

I know, I know. I'm supposed to be patient and let the process work. But, gotta tell you, there are forces and energies around "the process" kinda grinding my gears right now.

Steven Kalas is a behavioral health consultant and counselor at Clear View Counseling Wellness Center in Las Vegas and the author of "Human Matters: Wise and Witty Counsel on Relationships, Parenting, Grief and Doing the Right Thing" (Stephens Press). His columns appear on Sundays. Contact him at skalas@ reviewjournal.com.