Mass murder in Grand Rapids solemn reminder that accountability is key

Grand Rapids is what I call a big city town. It's no Boston or Chicago. It definitely sleeps. I wouldn't call it the place where dreams come true, and it is far less than sinful; you won't hear honking Taxicabs at 3 a.m. and there are no subways to be found. And yet in little nooks around the city, you are bound to stumble upon rich cultural venues that seem displaced in a moderately sized Midwest city.

When I picture the place I grew up, I see a curious dichotomy of quiet snow dressing the woods of my parents country backyard, mixed with great live music during downtown's "Blues on the Mall."

My hometown is an oxymoron; it has made me feel both comfortable and claustrophobic, it is both country and urban, it has always been a safe place to live and raise and children…

...and now it is also a place of mass murder and tragedy.

After a tension filled evening and shooting spree, citizens of Grand Rapids awoke on the morning of July 8 to the news of seven dead at the hands of 34-year-old shooter Roderick Dantlzer, his own daughter one of the victims.

What I had long considered to be a place of relative calm transformed overnight into a slaughter ground. While it is expected to mourn such a tragedy, instinctively I cannot help but question how this occurred.

When looking at the facts, the Grand Rapids massacre is a solemn reminder of a topic which seems to be trending in my mind this month: accountability, or lack thereof.

The 40 caliber Dantzler used to steal the lives of seven was a stolen gun, and Dantzler had a hefty criminal record dating back to the early 90's. Furthermore, his neighbor's claimed he had gone off his bi-polar medication.

On one hand I am relieved that someone didn't actually sell a gun to an individual with a criminal record, but on the other hand…who was Dantzler's probation officer? Who was his doctor? Who was in charge of keeping tabs on a man who obviously had difficultly functioning in the public?

Our society functions at its best when we are all held accountable. I am not pointing my finger at any single individual, just pointing out a disheartening pattern in recent tragedies: 13-year-old Christian Choate was left to die because Child Protective Services was not held accountable; 2-year-old Caylee Anthony was missing for nearly a month without a single person being notified because Casey Anthony was not held accountable.

And now, add to that list the shooter's daughter, 12-year-old Kamrie Heeren Dantzler, (among six others) who was shot and murdered because, once again, someone was not held accountable.

Kamrie, who was about to enter sixth grade at Highlands Middle School, was described by neighbors as a happy girl, she was described by her teachers as being energetic and bright. And yet she joins her mother, Jennifer Heeren, her grandparents Thomas and Rebecca Heeren, Kimberlee Emkens, Amanda Emkens, and Marissa Emkens in victims of a killing spree which authorities are still shrugging their shoulders over.

Tragedies happen, sometimes without warning, sometimes without reason. But if, even for a moment, we stop questioning what we could have done to stop them, they will never cease to haunt us.