It is well... but, why?

My heart sunk this morning as i got in the car to head to work... i had managed to turn the news on just in time to hear that he didn't make it... the shooting last week has resulted in the death of a second person... Master Police Officer Michael Garbarino died this morning after a week of hospitalization since being shot several times by an eighteen year old gunman ambushing the police station that sits less than 3 miles from where i sit at work all day... witnesses say that Garbarino saved many lives because he managed to reach his radio and warn other officers in the station of the threat... after he had been shot five times... i'm also told that he began praying over the radio, certain that his time had come... Garbarino leaves behind a wife and two children, becoming only the second police officer in the 66 year history of the Fairfax County Police killed by an assailant while on duty... The first was Detective Vicky Armel, who died last Monday after literally being sprayed with bullets from the shooter's automatic weapon... Armel also left behind two children as well as her husband... Her funeral was this past weekend and was attended by more than 4500 people, many of them fellow officers... all attendees heard Armel's personal testimony, one she gave at her church on Easter, describing how she came to know the Lord about two years ago and how she wanted her husband to have that same life-changing experience... everyone also received a copy of Lee Strobel's The Case for Easter, which as instrumental in Armel's conversion to Christianity... The gunman was eighteen years old and came prepared for his task... besides the automatic weapon which is described as an AK-47-style assault rifle, he also had a high-powered hunting rifle and five handguns with him as he began his ambush... he apparently managed fire over 70 rounds of ammunition in the exchange before he was killed himself by other officers... a search of his home revealed a full arsenal of other weapons... Three deaths in a matter of minutes... this isn't a movie, this really happened... i was stuck in the traffic last week amidst the confusion and concern as the police searched for accomplices and clues... and i'm stuck with questions and confusion of my own today... certainly there's the big question of why this all happened, but we all know that this isn't a perfect world, that we're all fallen individuals... and i've already seen how God has used this to His glory... but it still hurts... i've never even met either of these officers... and it still hurts... what a world we live in... and oddly enough, "It Is Well" just started playing on my iPod... perfect... peace... love... bdg...