State of Monday: ELLA AND MUKHAMMAD
If we find out it was indeed a targeted and political assassination, then we all need to add an extra prayer for the soul of America.
Greetings, Dear Reader,
Welcome back to State of the Day, where I strip the euphemism and misdirection off national politics and give it to you straight: no ice, no mixer.
Let’s talk about this past weekend. It was a bloody one …
ELLA AND MUKHAMMAD
It took way too long to figure out why Ella Cook was even in the room when she was shot and killed.
She was one of two students killed in a shooting on Brown University’s campus over the weekend. It’s one of the busiest times of year for the school. Final exams and winter break preparation meant the school grounds were bustling.
Brown University President Christina Paxson had the following exchange with a reporter several hours after the shooting.
Q: “With all due respect, six hours after the shooting, and you said you don’t know what was going on in that classroom? ... Were they taking an exam, were they meeting for a club?”
Paxson: “I don’t know.”
Q: “Six hours later. You’re the president. You don’t know?”
Paxson: “I do not know.”
Reporter: “That’s kind of concerning.”
We now know that, days later, she was in an economics study hall prepping for her final with about 60 other students when a gunman burst through the door and started shooting. It set off a stampede, but due to the configuration of the classroom, certain seats wouldn’t allow for an easy exit.
Witnesses, including the instructor, told police that the masked individual “shouted something” before he started firing.
Police initially detained a man who had two semi-automatic handguns. Then the name of a person of interest leaked. I’m not posting that name here because it looks as if he had nothing to do with the shooting (and may have been in a completely different state at the time).
Nevertheless, the online profile of this man showed that he held far-left political views on “equity,” D.C. statehood, and “Green Party” politics. He was also a trained Army infantryman.
Cook, we found out later, was a leader of a campus conservative group and a devout Christian.
Then more info leaked from the police: They suspected the shooting was “targeted.”
Conservatives came unstuck online. Someone targeted the leader of a political minority on campus for slaughter, so went the thinking.
Things have since gone even further sideways. Police have released the person of interest (POI) they detained. We also found out that apparently this detained person had invoked the name of the Army veteran. The POI and the Army guy are actually two different people.
Police, despite finding this POI with guns, have said the evidence points “in a different direction.” They’re now begging for tips from the public, despite Brown being festooned with CCTV cameras.
Conservatives who initially thought the yelling might have been an “Allahu akbar,” “free Palestine” or something were in for another shock. The second fatality was named Mukhammad Aziz Umurzokov, and he looked the part.
Doubtful a militant akbar conducting a “targeted” killing would be gunning down both an Emma and a Mukhammad.
It’s at least possible that Cook was the target. That everyone else was just collateral meant to send a message.
If that does turn out to be the case, then Charlie Kirk’s assassination will have its first real downstream effect. Except Cook was no Kirk. She was just a 20-year-old leader of the campus Republican club.
Some of us at the time of Charlie’s slaughter considered the possibility that it would have a cascading effect. The logical step to take would be renewed aggression on behalf of law enforcement.
I pray for the souls of Cook and Umurzokov, and for their families, and the families of the nine other victims, who look like they’ll ultimately survive.
But if we find out it was indeed a targeted and political assassination, then we all need to add an extra prayer for the soul of America.
That’s it for the free portion of today’s State of the Day.
The full subscriber edition continues below with expanded analysis and additional context.