The Boston Globe - 05.08.2019

ProminentHarvard biologist

GeorgeChurchexpressedhis

profoundregretfor having

meetingswith accused sex

traffickerJeffrey Epstein.B1.

Sudanesedanced in the

streetsin celebration ofa deal

that pushes civilian rule.A4.

Bostoncompaniesonce regu-

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The Red Sox lost for the eighth

timein a rowtotheir top rivals

inthedivision, falling tothe

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Iranseized anotheroiltanker

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abcde

Monday, August 5, 2019

This is what

we’ve become

Two mass shootings 13 hours apart, in El Paso

then Dayton, leave 29 dead and a nation

reeling anew over unchecked gun violence

VOL. 296, NO. 36

*

Suggested retail price

$3.

Monday:Sunny, beautiful.

High78-83, low 65 -70.

Tuesday:More humidity, clouds.

High83-88,low 69-74.

Sunrise: 5:40. Sunset: 7:59.

Comics and weather,C10-11.

Theweather

Parents typically struggle to name

theirfirstborn.

There are pressures from family, a

dropped hint to name the kid after grand-

ma or grandpa. Or maybe the urge to try

something exotic, like those celebrities

with more money than sense who name

theirkids after fruit or farflung cities.

But when Courtney Kennedy and Paul

Hill had their daughter, there wasn’t

much debate: Saoirse.

In the Irish language, Saoirse means

freedom.

Saoirse Kennedy Hill and I traded e-

mails last year, when she was a sopho-

more at Boston College, but we never met.

I knew her parents, Courtney and Paul,

fairly well in the early 1990s, when they

were newlyweds.

Although based in Boston, I spent a lot

of time on the groundin Northern Ireland

in the 1980s and 1990s and had written

about the miscarriage of justice that land-

ed Paul and others in prison, so they felt

comfortable talking to me about their re-

lationship, to counteract the malicious

CULLEN,Page A

For Courtney Kennedy and

Paul Hill, an enduring agony

JEFF OAKS VIA AP)

KevinCullen

“This is not who we are.”

We hear these words again and again in the hours after a

mass shooting. A politician will speak them, or perhaps a

police officer. They clatter out of the television or the com-

puter screen like an incantation.

And so it was no surprise to find these words echoing

through the aftermath of Saturday’s shooting in El Paso —

20 dead — and it was tempt-

ing to onceagain believe

them. They are defiant words

reserved for moments that de-

mand strength and fury and

indignation. They sound ear-

nest and true.

Then, not quite 13 hours later, someone opened fire in

Dayton, and the lie revealed itself yet again.

We are what we repeatedly do, and in this country what

we repeatedly do is mowdown civilians with .223-caliber

semiautomatic rifles. The massshootings pile on top of each

other, occurring so close together this weekend that cable

news covers themin split-screen, like playoff games.

RAMOS, Page A

Let’s admit it: We’ve been

telling ourselves a lie

NestorRamos By CampbellRobertson

and Julie Bosman

NEWYORK TIMES

DAYTON, Ohio— On Sunday,

Americanswoke up to news of a sick-

ening shooting rampage in an enter-

tainmentdistrict in Dayton, Ohio,

where a manwearing bodyarmor

shot and killed nine people, including

his sister. Hours earlier, the first gun

massacre to capture the nation’s at-

tention this August weekend had un-

folded in El Paso, whena 21-year-old

witha rifle entereda Walmart and

killed 20 people.

In a country that has become near-

ly numbto menwithgunsopening

fire in schools, at concerts and in

churches,the back-to-backbursts of

gun violencein less than24 hours

wereenoughto leave the public

stunned and shaken. The shootings

ground the 2020presidential cam-

SHOOTINGS, Page A

Te rrorand chaosin two torn

cities; anguishacross a country

By Jazmine Ulloa

GLOBESTAFF

WASHINGTON— Some 2,

members of Moms Demand Action,

an antigun violence groupformed af-

ter the schoolshootingin Newtown,

Conn., were holding their annualcon-

ferencehere Saturday when news

came that it had happenedagain.

Another massshooting. This time

in El Paso.

So instead of the typical dinnerto

markthe end of their gathering, the

group’s members took to the streets.

Chanting “Not One More!”they

marched from the Capitol to the

White House as the videostreams

they shot with theircellphoneslit up

the night.

“Because of the atmosphere, none

of us felt we could celebrate,” said

GUN CONTROL,Page A

On streets,calls for gun control;

in Congress, a dividedresponse

º“Bloodshedisaworld

withoutend,’’writesRenée

Graham.A10.

ºLocalHispanicsturnto

prayer.B1.

JOELANGEL JUAREZ/AFP/GETTYIMAGES

On Saturday, officers patrolledthe sceneof a massshootingat a Walmart in El Paso. Then, half a nation away, the carnageand horrorshifted to Dayton,Ohio.

A birthday gift

for To m Brady

A day after his42ndbirthday, the

six-timeSuperBowl-winningquar-

terbackagreedtoa two-year con-

tractextension withthePatriots.C1.

LANETURNER/GLOBESTAFF