Shooting story will stick with us

Rough gusts of wind tore the lid from my recycling bin, throwing a week's worth of newspapers into the air before depositing them in my neighbors' yards.

Isn't that how it goes, I thought as I trekked through lawns and garden beds to pick up the soggy, jumbled headlines -- timely stories I'd all but forgotten only days after I had read them. Yesterday's news.

If Philip Graham was right in calling journalism the first rough draft of history, then I'm glad there's not a test. The slow developments, the one-off flukes, the accidents and arguments that seem important now fade quickly to a pulpy gray mass -- like a mess of old editions strewn across a neighbor's lawn.

But then a story breaks that breaks your heart and you know even as it's unfolding that this one will stick with you for a long time.

We're still learning details about the Monday shooting of Keokuk County Sheriff's Deputy Eric Stein, 38, at a rural Sigourney home.

Stein was out with Sheriff Jeff Shipley and Deputy Casey Hinnah to talk with Jeff Krier -- about what, exactly, we don't yet know. That's when, it's believed, that Krier, a 53-year-old man who had struggled with mental illness for decades, opened fire.

The shots killed Stein, ending his decade's work as sheriff's deputy, leaving behind his young daughter, devastated family and a stunned community. It was the first time in a quarter century that an Iowa law enforcement officer was killed in the line of duty.

"You never want to hear that call come over the radio," Iowa State Patrol Trooper Jason Marlow told a Gazette reporter.

A few hours after Stein was killed, police say an armed Krier finally came out of the house where he'd been holed up. He was shot by tactical officers of the Iowa State Patrol.

He, too, left grieving loved ones and a host of unanswered questions.

How did Krier -- once charged with stalking, carrying weapons and drugs but found not guilty by reason of insanity -- get his hands on the weapons police say he was brandishing?

Why was Krier -- released to his parents' custody following that case -- living on his own in that rural Sigourney home?

Is there some broader lesson we should learn? Some change to make to prevent tragedies like recent ones in Parkersburg, and now, Sigourney?

It's too soon to say. All we have so far is this thin sketch of Monday's tragedy -- this draft. But one thing's certain: This story may be unusual, but it's not a one-off fluke.

It's going to stick.

Comments: (319) 339-3154; jennifer.hemmingsen@sourcemedia.net