We Can Breathe

I had just pulled into my driveway when my daughter, Victoria, pulled in behind me. As we got out of our respective cars, she asked, "Did you get my text?"

"I can't read texts when I'm driving, Victoria," I retorted.

She didn't hesitate, "Two cops were shot on Seacoast."

My stomach sank.

Rebecca, my wife, arrived home shortly thereafter. Upon hearing the news, she started sending a flurry of texts.

When Sean Gannon and Michael Chesna were shot and killed in the line of duty, I was saddened, but this is on a whole different level. This is Falmouth. My wife was raised here, as were her mother and grandparents. I graduated from Falmouth High School. Our children grew up in the Falmouth school system. Rebecca and I have been town meeting members for years; I was a selectman for six years. We literally know half the police department, and now Rebecca was trying to find out if they were OK.

As the night wore on, I found myself fighting to hold back tears. This really did hit home. We lived on Hampden Road - in Seacoast Shores - for several years. Were our former neighbors OK, too?

My brother-in-law, a nurse at Falmouth Hospital, also has friends in the FPD. He was on duty when the officers arrived in the emergency room.

Falmouth has often been featured in the news for all the wrong reasons: The baseball bat assault on the 4th of July; the departure of a former town manager; the high school renovation fiasco; the tooth in the wallet at WalMart; the golf club assault at Clauson's Corner; the Moniz murder; Melvin Reine; the Busby shooting.

And now this.

As with most tragedies, there will be knee-jerk reactions and calls to "do something" before we even know what can be done. There will be investigations and accusations. Prayers will be said and people will be blamed. Eventually we will have all of the facts, but there will be rumors and speculation until then, and perhaps even afterwards.

Thankfully, for at least this one time, we can breathe a little easier knowing that Officers DiMiranda and Moore will go home to their families. Everything else is just noise.