City buys site of attack

I know it is a little late in the comment game to talk about this now, but this is professionally my busiest time of year, so I am just now getting to it.

I wanted to say how glad I am the city purchased the site of the arson and attack on police last fall that resulted in two shooting victims and one death.

All these months the boarded up house has sat there, an open wound for the community. Cleaning it up is the only option to facilitate healing.

It is a shame the city had to pay for the site — considering the damage done to the community by the owner I wish it could have been donated — but I understand the family of the offender didn't hurt anyone and they are already suffering.

I have heard suggestions that the site be made a memorial park or something else to remember the events, but I think that is a bad idea. The man who did this would live on in death, and the city couldn't move on.

I covered the story that night, along with colleagues, and remember the cold, wickedly windy night, the confusion. As reporters we were allowed closer to the house than bystanders and I don't think I will ever forget the fire, the guns drawn, the fear of law enforcement and citizens at the scene, and the officers consulting me on my risk of being shot if I get any closer.

It is definitely not something I want to see memorialized in a park. I can only imagine how the police would feel about that.

Let's rebuild on that site and let a new family make better memories there.