If there’s one and only question the public would like answered about Sunday’s church shooting in Antioch, Tenn., it’s this: Why? Why would the suspect, 25-year-old Emanuel Kidega Samson, open fire inside a church outside of Nashville?
In the absence of a clear motive (as well as a tidy narrative), the story has gone quite, largely buried pieces about the NFL protests and Puerto Rico. However, just as ThinkProgress found a unique take to run with — was Samson just another Christian terrorist with a gun? — Newsweek found an angle to revive the story.
Just like all of those “Republicans pounce” pieces, Newsweek decided if the suspect’s motive was unclear (and certainly not based on race), it would look into the motive of those wondering why the media had dropped the story so quickly.
The Antioch church shooting has been overlooked because the suspect is black, according to alt-right conspiracies https://t.co/SmbKAMCjG0 pic.twitter.com/0muxXTvhPZ
— Newsweek (@Newsweek) September 28, 2017
https://twitter.com/AmericanNation5/status/913576234172502016
https://twitter.com/KingKurmvdgeon/status/913576761585278976
https://twitter.com/Freeor_die/status/913895344609665024
Oh yeah, the note:
Though police have not detailed a motive in the Tennessee church, a note found in the car of Emanuel Kidega Samson makes reference to revenge for Dylann Roof shooting, law enforcement officials say. Unclear what else note might say in terms of shedding light on his state of mind
— Eric Tucker (@etuckerAP) September 29, 2017
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So why are “alt-right conspiracies” a thing here? Isn’t there any news about the actual suspect? The guy who allegedly shot and killed a woman and injured six others at a church? For the laugh of the day, check out this line about the media from Newsweek’s article:
“The problem is that they just don’t have very much information yet, and journalists are not in the business of reporting rumors,” [Poynter Institute for Media Studies faculty member Al] Tompkins says.
Right, just like the media kept quiet about Russia hacking the 2016 election until all the facts were nailed down, right? And what about ThinkProgress? To reach their hot take, they had to drill all the way back to 2011 in Samson’s Facebook feed.
So with 90 percent of Newsweek’s article covering the “alt-right’s” response to the shooting (was it racially motivated?), there was some room left for theories as to why Samson allegedly opened fire.
Newsweek spoke with a spokeswoman for the company that employed Samson as an unarmed security guard:
[Laural] Hemenway voices skepticism of some of the narratives that have emerged about the case. She adds that for people unfamiliar with Antioch, the area is home to many immigrants who sometimes battle emotional distress as they struggle to assimilate to a new culture.
“If I were looking into understanding how this could have happened,” she says, “that’s one of the places I would look.”
Um, Samson is 25. He immigrated from Sudan two decades ago, when he was just a toddler. He’s had 20 years to assimilate.
Why has it been largely glossed over by the MSM? https://t.co/Wnfr35Vktt
— Rev. Ducati? (@Reverend_Ducati) September 29, 2017
Why indeed? A fatal church shooting alone should have all the gun control groups out en masse begging for more coverage.
Guess it’s conspiratorial to hope the MSM would do some digging into the suspect himself while waiting for the official police report, huh?
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Related:
MOTIVE? Note found in car of alleged Tenn. church shooter claims VENGEANCE for Charleston shooting https://t.co/Og2Uk315ao
— Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) September 30, 2017
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