by Phyllis McCrossin

I observe people and things. It’s what I do.

Even before becoming a journalist I would watch people and how they reacted to different things. I didn’t realize people miss so much because they simply don’t observe, but they do.

I’m certain by now most people know about the shooting on the south pier in South Haven Friday afternoon.

I was working. The first inkling we got that something was wrong were the emergency vehicles/personnel driving past the store on Phoenix.

I heard the siren and saw the cars stopped at the green light waiting for the emergency vehicle to pass. And I heard the person third in line lay on his horn when traffic didn’t move. I’m pretty sure the jolly fellow (fill in your own curse word if desired) might have heard the siren if his radio wasn’t blasting so loudly. I could be mistaken.

After observing the multiple police cars and first responders heading for the beach, we still didn’t know what was going on and assumed it was a drowning – a sad enough situation.

Then two young barefoot women came into the store looking for shoes. They had been sitting on the beach next to the pier and observed the horror of the shooting and ran from the beach leaving their belongings behind.

“I thought it was fireworks and when people started running, I still thought it was kids screwing around,” she said. “Then I saw someone fall, and then another. We left everything and ran.”

My heart goes out to everyone — the visitors on the beach, the families of those shot and the family of the young shooter. Yes. Even him, and especially for those he left behind. Mental illness is a disease, just like cancer is a disease. Don’t judge. Don’t blame the legal system.

Until you’ve walked a mile in someone else’s shoes there is no room for blame