When I went to bed last night, my mind was occupied by nothing more than flotsam and jetsam... how bad the Celtics looked in game 6... whether the deal for my new car would get done this morning... what I needed to get done first when I got to work... the verbal volleys going back and forth here and in the media about President Obama's speech. My youngest daughter in New York was probably thinking about things not unlike these
This morning we got smacked with the unforeseen that made all of those things way less than trivial... follow me beyond the fold...
I got a call from my father at 5:45 this morning telling me that my 23 year old daughter had been taken hostage by her aunt. Google "nassau county medical center shooting" and a number of articles come up, most containing these facts:
HEMPSTEAD, N.Y. — Three people were shot, two of them fatally, during a shooting spree early Wednesday morning, and a correction officer related to two of the victims was arrested, Nassau County police said.
Stacie Williams, a 45-year-old nurse's aide who worked the night shift in the maternity ward of Nassau University Medical Center, was found shot multiple times at about 1 a.m. outside the hospital in East Meadow.
In the other shooting about 3 1/2 miles away in Hempstead, a 56-year-old man was fatally shot, police said. He is believed to be the uncle of the suspect, Nassau County Correction Officer Kim Wolfe, 43. Another man, believed to be Wolfe's grandfather, was shot in the leg.
A hospital spokeswoman said it appeared to be a domestic dispute. She referred other questions about the shooting to police, who did not offer details on a possible motive.
Wolfe also abducted a 23-year-old woman believed to be her niece before fleeing the scene in a car, police said.
The corrections officer is my ex-wife's sister; the 23 year old niece is my youngest daughter. The woman she killed at the hospital was someone she had been in a relationship with until recently and the man killed at the home in Hempstead was my ex-wife's uncle. My ex-wife's grandfather was also shot but survived.
I am thankful that this situation ended without further loss of life... but it was very close to being even more horrific than it currently is... my daughter told me when I spoke to her that her aunt's plan was to return to the house and do harm to all there... which, in addition to my ex-wife and her grandmother, included my 25 year old daughter and her 2 year old and 1 month old children.
My ex-wife's sister was in front of the house where this all started when the police caught up to her.
I wish I had something profound to say that could sum all of this up and put it into the proper perspective... but I am still trying to wrap my brain around all of this. My daughter was witness to all of these shootings and is somewhat in shock now but I know that these events will soon overwhelm her with sorrow, grief, anger, incredulity... there will be an emotional toll exacted, to what extent none can say... but as a father, I wish to God that she did not have to witness these things and face the very real prospect of being the next one to die while her aunt had her hostage.
While she bears no physical wounds, my baby girl will carry the scars from this for a long time...and, as a father, that pains me the most... because there is nothing I can do to undo the unforeseen.