Paper missed most of shooting story
I am shocked, amazed and disappointed at the article published on Sunday, Sept. 8, regarding the shots fired on Hastings Street in Elgin. This article provided no details on the fact that this incident took place during two youth football games and that one of the suspects ran through the field.
I was present and my 9-year-old son was one of the players on the field when the shots were fired and a man began running down through the fields toward the crowds and players.
Your article presents no information about the hundreds of children, teenagers and adults that were on the ground, scared to death and paralyzed for at least 10 minutes before we knew the police had arrived and had control of the situation.
There was no mention of the possible trauma this incident has potentially caused for so many children and adults alike.
Those of us who had children on the field (players and cheerleaders) were nowhere close to our children when this happened. Our children were laying in the field and we under bleachers and on the ground several feet away. Many parents had children at concession stands, restrooms, etc., and could not reach their children without putting themselves in danger.
At what point is the management and police of Elgin as well as the reporting community going to stop down-playing the violence that is taking place in this city?
How many innocent children and/or adults have to get caught in the crossfire before someone decides to step up and do something about it?
I come from a family of newspaper reporters and editors and this article is at best, poor and uninformed reporting. The community has a right to know exactly what happened and at least I take comfort in the fact that the NBC 5 news team managed to cover the story with the appropriate and in-depth details of what really happened.
Your newspaper on the other hand made it sound like "just another incident of shots fired."
I have to ask myself why anyone considering themselves a responsible and informative journalist would write two paragraphs on a story that means so much more to so many in this community.
Kim Hamilton
Elgin