SF passengers too absorbed in their electronic devices to notice man pulling gun

[n2doc]

A man standing on a crowded Muni train pulls out a .45-caliber pistol.

He raises the gun, pointing it across the aisle, before tucking it back against his side. He draws it out several more times, once using the hand holding the gun to wipe his nose. Dozens of passengers stand and sit just feet away - but none reacts.

Their eyes, focused on smartphones and tablets, don't lift until the gunman fires a bullet into the back of a San Francisco State student getting off the train.

Investigators say this scene was captured by a Muni camera on Sept. 23, the night Nikhom Thephakaysone, 30, allegedly killed 20-year-old Justin Valdez in an apparently random encounter.

For police and prosecutors, the details of the case were troubling - they believe the suspect had been out "hunting" for a stranger to kill - but so too was the train passengers' collective inattention to imminent danger.

more
http://www.sfgate.com/crime/article/Absorbed-device-users-oblivious-to-danger-4876709.php

[JI7]

1. so people should always be on the look out for gun nuts ?

he shouldn't have had a gun in the first place

[Blue Owl]

2. When left to their own devices...

n/t

[Hoyt]

3. That is what the gun crowd wants, the 95% who don't carry to ignore gun toters.

Well, I guess the gun nuts might like to recruit more of us into their cult.

[Fumesucker]

4. It's considered rude to stare at strangers

In a tightly packed public conveyance there is really nowhere to comfortably and politely put your gaze unless you read a book, comic, magazine or look at a screen of some sorts.

[Niceguy1]

5. the point is situaional awareness...

It is a life saver. Pay attention to what is going on around you and tou will have the opportunity to leave before things go bad...classic case is the bar fight. When oeople start throwing words it is a good time to leave.

[Blue_Tires]

6. +1

[silverweb]

7. Exactly.

[font color="navy" face="Verdana"]I wonder what would have happened if someone did react to him. Would it have caused a panic? Would someone have attempted to disarm him? Would more people would have been shot as a result?

I'm sitting here wondering what I would have done if I were there. Tried to alert other passengers? Hit the emergency stop button? I don't know.

[Niceguy1]

9. I would have calmly changed cars

And called 911 from there.

[silverweb]

11. And if you couldn't easily change cars?

[font color="navy" face="Verdana"]What if getting to another car would have created movement disturbance that caught his attention and made him suspicious? You'd be bringing yourself to his attention and possibly causing him to act impulsively.

[Niceguy1]

12. make yourself

Small very discretly..a skill many learn when you live in the hood.

[silverweb]

13. Then I'd wish you were there.

[font color="navy" face="Verdana"]I haven't learned that skill and have the disadvantage (in this case) of being tall for a woman, so I'd be stuck in place.

Probably, I'd try to discreetly alert other passengers near me, pass the word to get someone near an emergency stop button to slam it, and hope there are a couple of big brave guys able to pile on and disarm him.

[Niceguy1]

15. spend a week actually watching

On the bus and subway and you would be amazed or shocked at what u see.

[silverweb]

17. Actually, my transit experiences have been mostly quite positive.

[font color="navy" face="Verdana"]Of course, I'm in a relatively small city, so it's different from a big city.

And I do watch. I practice constant situational vigilance because I walk and take transit almost everywhere. Just looking alert and purposeful is, I believe, the first line of defense.

Also, I make a point of nodding and smiling at everyone who I see glance my way, which tends to disarm them if they feel at all hostile. It's been very effective so far in that I've never been attacked or even felt threatened, even though I walk through sketchy neighborhoods at times.

[Niceguy1]

21. the biggest change for

Me was when I started bicycling in a large city to work. You miss so much driving. Its kind of scary, there is so much stuff you don't notice in a car..and I pay good attention.

[silverweb]

29. Very, very true.

[font color="navy" face="Verdana"]You miss so much driving!

You're braver than I am, though. I'm afraid to bicycle in the city -- old enough to be afraid of falling and breaking something, as well as all too keenly aware that there are drivers on the road who are very hostile to bicyclists.

[Niceguy1]

30. funny thing

Is I have had more close calls with other bicyclists...one lady got mad cause I wouldn't go out in traffic...she was riding the wrong way towards me and there wasn't room for two....I sure wasn't going to mingle with the cars to accomate her breaking of the law.

[silverweb]

31. Yikes!

[font color="navy" face="Verdana"]Stay safe!

[Niceguy1]

32. I do, thanks

Its lots of fun, good for your health and I lovr sticking it to the oil companies lol

[RedCappedBandit]

8. I thought we were supposed to treat assholes brandishing their guns as totally normal? nt

[GreenStormCloud]

19. Who has advised that?

Brandishing and wearing are NOT the same.

[Rex]

23. Oh so you know exactly when he went from being a responsible gun owner

to a danger to society? Somehow I doubt it.

[GreenStormCloud]

33. Yes. When he began to brandish.

Wearing a gun is NOT brandishing it.

[RedCappedBandit]

28. Yeah, I guess there's about a split second's difference

[Rex]

24. It is the double standard that the gun nuts have no answer to.

nt.

[surrealAmerican]

10. Well, that's disturbing.

Of course, the other passengers may have been pretending to ignore him. It may have been personally dangerous to take any action under the circumstances.

[silverweb]

14. Yup.

[font color="navy" face="Verdana"]That's why I'm sitting here wondering what I would have done if I were there.

[JHB]

16. And if they'd had their noses in books or newspapers...

...would the other passengers have noticed any sooner?

[treestar]

18. Good point.

Most people on public trans are reading something anyway. The electronics are just a different form.

[JHB]

25. Precisely. What are the odds this bunch would have missed it too?

[treestar]

26. Great find!

In fact they have less chance of seeing anything, as those newspapers are far larger than today's electronic devices!

[madinmaryland]

20. Man pulls his penis out on a bus and nobody notices. nt

[dembotoz]

22. would think it would have been smaller

[cvoogt]

36. and wiped his nose with it

and no one noticed

[Butterbean]

38. Now that I might notice. n/t

[BKH70041]

27. Not Surprising

I see young people sitting in restaurants in groups and to a person they're all sitting there texting. There's 8 to 10 live bodies for them to talk to -- they're texting.

I don't get it.

A train is different, I know.

[Sebastians father]

34. It's our sad reality today

We have become automatons.

[GreenStormCloud]

35. What was the police record of the shooter?

He had $20,000 cash on him. That isn't normal. That suggests criminal involvement. I haven't been able to find any articles on his background. Does anybody know?

[gopiscrap]

37. Wow how sad