Noon shooting

Hawkesbury is a small, quiet town, most of the time. But like most communities, it has, like a 35-year veteran police officer said recently, that ten per cent of the population that gets into trouble. Police cordoned off this street where an hour earlier, a 63-year-old woman had wounded a 69-year-old man in the neck and abdomen with a rifle. "The cops told her to put the gun down, and she did," said a witness. The victim, who knew his assailant, was in hospital recovering from serious, non-life-threatening injuries. The investigation continues.

That is the cold way we tend to report such "incidents." But obviously, the whole story did not start and does not end here. We can never accurately report what events preceded this incident, nor can we attempt to report the aftermath, and the long-term effects these few horrible moments have had and will have on those directly involved and those who witnessed this incident.

"Things like this do not happen in Hawkesbury," said one young woman.