Thoughts on The Shooting at 345 Park Avenue Which Killed 4 People

I would be remiss if I didn't make a brief comment on the horrible news out of New York City on Monday evening. 

A gunman walked into the lobby of an office building at 345 Park Avenue and killed four people including an NYPD officer before taking his own life. 

I did not think Dad would be in the vicinity of the shooting, but I sent him a text just in case. It turns out he had no idea what had happened. This reminded me of when Mom found out about the Boston Marathon Bombing before I did. 

The shooting took me back to the time I lived in NYC between September 2018 and September 2020. For much of the time I lived there (prior to the pandemic), I would walk to and from work between where I lived with Dad near Lincoln Center on the Upper West Side to the Chrysler Building. I tried to vary my route going by the first green light available to me. For the most part, Park Avenue seldom took up much of my commute above 45th Street but it is quite possible I might have passed 345 Park Avenue a time or two. 

The shooting also took me back to my business trip to New York this past April which was spent at the New York Times Building across the street from the Port Authority. While this time I was in Midtown West instead of Midtown East, such an incident could have taken place anywhere.

According to accounts, the gunman drove all the way from Las Vegas to commit this heinous act. It isn't clear if there was a specific target at 345 Park Avenue or if he sought to carry it out in New York and the target was an afterthought. 

If it turns out to have been the latter, then the gunman could have literally chosen any office building in NYC. He just happened to be in Midtown East instead of Midtown West or the Financial District in Lower Manhattan. In which case, the four people he killed were truly in the wrong place at the wrong time. But for the Grace of G-d.....