Another Day in the Death of America: A Chronicle of Ten Short Lives (43 page)

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I
N A BOOK THAT TAKES THIS LONG AND SPREADS ITS NET THIS
wide, there are more people to thank than I can individually acknowledge. Fortunately, many are friends; you know who you are and how much your help was appreciated. I particularly want to acknowledge the family members of the victims who opened up their hearts, photo albums, and memories and trusted me with their stories. Without you there would be no book. Every interviewee who is named in the book gave me their time and insight, for which I’m very grateful.

I specifically need to thank Merope Mills, who gave me the idea to write a story on this very premise back in 2007, when she was editor of the
Guardian
’s
Weekend
magazine. The article worked well. Still, I knew, when researching and reporting it at the time, that there was more to this topic than could fit in a piece for a magazine. To do it on a larger scale required time and money I didn’t have.

The opportunity to pursue it came thanks to my fabulous agent, Jonny Geller, who has advocated for my work for well over a decade, and also to Frances Coady. When Jonny explained the idea to Frances, then the editor at a new publishing venture, Atavist Books, she understood it immediately. We worked together for over a year. Frances guided the book through its first draft, encouraging me throughout. She knew
all the children’s first names, knew the circumstances of their deaths, understood the themes, and shaped much of the narrative. Such was her dedication to the project that once Atavist Books closed its doors she carried on working on it. When she transitioned to being an agent, she represented me in the United States. In the process she has become a good friend, a great champion, and a close collaborator. Alessandra Bastagli, of Nation Books in the United States, and Laura Hassan, of Guardian/Faber in the UK, took the book to the finish line with keen but indulgent eyes for detail, style, and promotion. It has been a real pleasure working with them.

A significant number of people helped with the research on this book, including Micah Utrecht, Benjamin Hattem, Darren Ankrom, and Kat Keene Hogue; many thanks to Taya Kitman of The Nation Institute, who agreed to help fund much of this research. But then there are those not mentioned to whom I would like express my gratitude: Jesse Soodalter, Jessica Blatt, Steve Strunsky, Stephanie Lundy, Jessica Smith, Carrie Messenger, Miriam Garcia, Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, Wendy Posner, and Elliott Fineman. Thanks also to Benedick Raikes, Ingrid Jacobson, Taline Voskeritchian, Andrea Levy, Bill Mayblin, Colin Robinson, Mickey Davis, and Julie Fain, who read at various stages and encouraged it to maturity. I’m grateful also to Melissa Raymond and Kelley Blewster, who worked with and around my domestic challenges to make sure a contracted production schedule was possible without being overly punishing.

Finally, and primarily, I’d like to thank Tara for the final read, and Osceola and Zora for putting up with my frequent absences. There wasn’t a time when writing and researching this book that I wasn’t thinking about you.

NOTES

INTRODUCTION

1
. Elisha Fieldstadt, “Deadly Storm System Moves East, Threatens Holiday Travel,” NBC News,
http://www.nbcnews.com/news/other/deadly-storm-system-moves-east-threatens-holiday-travel-f2D11650166
.

2
. John Cornyn, Twitter, November 23, 2013,
https://twitter.com/johncornyn/status/404448260468641792
.

3
. See
http://www.cdc.gov/injury/wisqarsandhttp://wonder.cdc.gov
. “Key Gun Violence Statistics,” Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence,
http://www.bradycampaign.org/key-gun-violence-statistics
(accessed March 9, 2016). The Brady Center obtains its data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

4
. “Protect Children Not Guns 2013,” Children’s Defense Fund, July 24, 2013,
http://www.childrensdefense.org/library/protect-children-not-guns/protect-children-not-guns-2013.pdf
.

5
. Adam B. Schiff,
New York Times,
November 23, 2013, A1; also found online at
www.nytimes.com/2013/11/23/world/middleeast/a-yemenis-long-trip-to-seek-answers-about-a-drone-strike.html
.

6
. “Protect Children Not Guns 2013,” Children’s Defense Fund, 33.

7
. See
http://wonder.cdc.gov/
.

8
. Nate Silver, “Black Americans Are Killed at 12 Times the Rate of People in Other Developed Countries,” FiveThirtyEight, June 18, 2015,
http://fivethirtyeight.com/datalab/black-americans-are-killed-at-12-times-the-rate-of-people-in-other-developed-countries
.

9
. Chris Kyle with William Doyle,
American Gun: A History of the U.S. in Ten Firearms
(New York: HarperCollins, 2013), 255.

10
. Quoted in Amanda Terkel, “Joe Manchin Ready for Gun Control Action: ‘Everything Should Be on the Table,’”
Huffington Post,
December 17, 2012,
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/17/joe-manchin-gun-control_n_2314782.html
.

AUTHOR’S NOTE

1
. “Child Shot by Teenage Brother Dies,” CBS Dallas–Fort Worth, November 25, 2013,
http://dfw.cbslocal.com/2013/11/25/child-shot-by-teenage-brother-dies
.

2
. See
http://www.cdc.gov/injury/wisqars
and
http://wonder.cdc.gov
. “Key Gun Violence Statistics,” Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence,
http://www.bradycampaign.org/key-gun-violence-statistics
(accessed March 9, 2016). The Brady Center obtains its data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

CHAPTER ONE

1
. “Quick Facts, Grove City, Ohio,” United States Census Bureau,
http://www.census.gov/quickfacts/table/PST045215/3932592
(accessed April 17, 2016).

2
. “Dan Thornton,” BoxRec,
http://boxrec.com/boxer/7409
.

3
. “Suspect Killed After Shooting 9-Year-Old, Ex-Girlfriend & Officer,” WBNS-10TV, November 22, 2013,
http://www.10tv.com/content/stories/2013/11/22/grove-city-shooting-schools.html
.

4
. Douglas Kellner,
Guys and Guns Amok: Domestic Terrorism and School Shootings from the Oklahoma City Bombing to the Virginia Tech Massacre
(Boulder, CO: Paradigm, 2008), 14.

5
. Ibid., 14.

6
. “Grove City, OH Crime and Crime Rate,”
USA.com
,
http://www.usa.com/grove-city-oh-crime-and-crime-rate.htm
(accessed March 9, 2016).

7
. Lisa Evans, “Mapping Murder Throughout the World,”
Guardian,
October 10, 2011,
http://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2011/oct/10/world-murder-rate-unodc
.

8
. Kristyn Hartman, “Shooting Survivor Shares Her Story from Pain to Recovery,” WBNS-10TV, July 24, 2014,
http://www.10tv.com/content/stories/2014/07/24/columbus-ohio-shooting-survivor-shares-her-journey-from-pain-to-recovery.html
.

9
. “Ohio Police Kill Man After Shooting of Woman, Child,”
Herald Dispatch,
November 22, 2013,
http://www.herald-dispatch.com/news/recent_news/ohio-police-kill-man-after-shooting-of-woman-child/article_cea0d240-975e-533b-92de-b0343e08f52e.html
.

10
. Associated Press, “Ohio Boy Shot by Mom’s Ex-Lover Still in Critical Condition,” the
News-Herald,
November 23, 2013,
http://www.news-herald.com/article/hr/20131123/NEWS/131129642
.

11
. H. Range Hutson, et al., “Suicide by Cop,”
Annals of Emergency Medicine
6, vol. 32 (December 1998): 665–669,
http://www.annemergmed.com/article/S0196-0644(98)70064-2/abstract
.

12
. Harriet Sarnoff Schiff,
The Bereaved Parent
(New York: Penguin Books, 1978), 2.

13
. Ibid., 25.

14
. Ibid., 23.

15
. Alan Ball and Christian Taylor, “Life’s Too Short,”
Six Feet Under,
season 1, episode 9, directed by Jeremy Podeswa, aired July 29, 2001,
IMDB.com
,
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0702000/?ref_=ttqt_qt_tt
.

CHAPTER TWO

1
. Three Fountains West website,
http://www.threefountainswest.com
(accessed March 2, 2016).

2
. For more information, see
USBoundary.com
, US Area boundary, data, graphs, tools and services. Census Tract 3103.06, Marion County, Indiana,
http://www.usboundary.com/Areas/Census%20Tract/Indiana/Marion%20County/Census%20%20Tract%203103.06/457146
(accessed May 13, 2016). And see US Census Bureau, Explanation of Race and Hispanic Origin Categories,
http://www.census.gov/population/estimates/rho.txt
(accessed May 13, 2016).

3
. Chris Kyle with William Doyle,
American Gun: A History of the U.S. in Ten Firearms
(New York: HarperCollins, 2013), 259.

4
. James Welch, “The Ethos of the Gun,” in
Gun Violence and Public Life,
eds. Ben Agger and Timothy W. Luke (Boulder, CO: Paradigm Publishers, 2014), 153.

5
. Michael Waldman,
The Second Amendment: A Biography
(New York: Simon and Schuster, 2014), 171.

6
. Quoted in Joan Biskupic, “Guns: A Second (Amendment) Look,”
Washington Post,
May 10, 1995,
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/national/longterm/supcourt/stories/courtguns051095.htm
.

7
. Samantha Lachman, “Wayne LaPierre Warns Fellow Gun Rights Supporters of ‘Knockout Gamers,’ ‘Haters,’”
Huffington Post,
April 25, 2014,
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/04/25/wayne-lapierre-nra-_n_5214959.html
.

8
. Wayne LaPierre, “CPAC: Wayne LaPierre’s Speech,”
Daily Caller,
March 6, 2014,
http://dailycaller.com/2014/03/06/cpac-wayne-lapierres-speech/
.

9
. Aaron Blake, “Bloomberg Launches New $50 Million Gun Control Effort,”
Washington Post,
April 16, 2014,
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/postpolitics/wp/2014/04/16/bloomberg-aims-to-spend-50-million-on-gun-control/
.