Queensbury Shooting shows sheriff’s lack of transparency

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By Ken Tingley

There was a shooting in Queensbury Friday that left one person dead and two others wounded.

The person who died took their own life.

There is no danger to the public.

That’s all we need to know, according to Warren County Sheriff Jim LaFarr.

“The Sheriff’s Office does not have any concerns for the public safety relating to this event,” LaFarr said in a text to The Post-Star.

Case closed.

LaFarr seems to be implying we should trust him, that he knows best.

“Out of respect to the family and victims, we will not release anything further," LaFarr told The Post-Star.

We’re seeing more and more lack of transparency in local law enforcement. And without the resources, it is hard for local media outlets to hold them accountable.

LaFarr probably believes he is being kind to the family and victims, that this is their personal business, but that is not LaFarr’s job to decide that. The police blotter is public information and the police should tell us what they know.

Violent incidents where two people are shot and another ends up dead is not a private family manner.

The shooting at 13 Pershing Dr. in Queensbury is just a couple blocks from the Kensington Elementary School and Crandall Park.

Two people were shot and one person took their own life. But because the shooter is dead, LaFarr considers the matter closed as far as the public is concerned because there will be no prosecution.

LaFarr might be surprised to learn the first reaction of many people is that the police are protecting someone they know. They are doing someone a favor.

Rumors and innuendo can run rampant without transparency and lead to lack of trust for local law enforcement.

In the past, members of law enforcement sometimes kept suicides under wraps because they believed they were protecting the family. There was a stigma attached to taking your own life. Nobody talked about depression or mental illness then.

Twice our newspaper did in-depth stories on the plague of suicides in rural communities after high profile incidents. People with depression learned they are not alone and that they can get help.

Twenty-five years ago most newspapers had policies of not reporting suicides unless it was a done in public or the deceased was a public figure. That was probably wrong and helped perpetuate the stigma of suicide.

When we were doing stories on the opioid epidemic in the region a few years ago, we were told police sometimes classified overdose deaths as “unknown” as the official cause of death to spare the family further heartache and embarrassment. That distorted overdose statistics.

That are plenty of questions that need to be answered about this latest death, especially since it happened with a firearm.

Where did the deceased get the gun?

Was it legally obtained?

Was the deceased suffering from depression or mental illness and if that was the case, how did they obtain a firearm?

All those questions need to be answered by the sherriff.

Is this part of a growing narrative of suicides in the region?

Is this part of a growing narrative about mental illness in the wake of the pandemic?

Important details can be learned from tragedies, life lessons that might help others avoid the same fate.

By keeping the details of this case secret, he has failed in his responsibility to the community.

Preorder book

Thank you to all of you have already put in your order for “The Last American Editor, Vol. 2.”

After taking most of the summer off, it was good to be out talking to people about newspapers and journalism last week.

There are 90 new stories in the latest book and I hope you will give them a look.