The world intrudes

Photo: Joe Paull, Columbus Ledger-Enquirer

You hear about somebody going crazy and shooting up a place. Like a McDonald's in Texas. Or a high school in Colorado.

But it's always somewhere else.

Well, it's not always somewhere else.

Sometimes, it's less than a mile away.

I was at work today when word got around that a man walked into Doctor's Hospital in Columbus and shot and killed three people.

What shocked me the most was how much I wasn't really shocked by it.

My reaction was more along the line of "Huh. So it's happened here." Almost like I expected it.

Not that I expected this. But the world is full of crazy asses who do things like this.

Why did Charles Johnston do this? Reports say he was upset at the care his mother received at the hospital before she died. He killed one of the nurses who had treated his mom. And an administrative assistant. And a man in the parking lot.

Police showed up while Johnston was still in the parking lot, and reports indicate that three officers fired at him, but only one hit him.

Johnston is being treated at the Medical Center. That's the hospital next door to Doctor's Hospital.

I expect they'll fix him up and that he'll be able to stand trial for murder.

So he'll get better.

Probably better than he deserves.