One dead, eight injured in Michigan strip mall shooting
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/dead-injured-michigan-strip-mall-shooting-article-1.2823749
On Sunday 9th October 2016 at 3:45 a.m, police said that there was a shooting which occurred in Michigan strip mall in Grand Rapids where one man who was aged 20years was murdered and 8 were injured and hospitalized. The police department in Grand Rapids said that they had no idea of what was happening and on their way to rescue the multitude; they came near a place where shootings were taking place (NEW YORK DAILY NEWS, 2016).
In this case, I will apply the crime patter theory as it explains the occurrence of a crime as well as the nature of the crime (Hart & Lersch, 2015). With respect to the case, it seems that the offenders had targeted the place or location (Grand Rapids) and there were things (nodes) which motivated the offenders to commit the crime. The Grand Rapids is a developed city in terms of economy, culture and large population and so the offenders knew the area is favorable for crimes. It seems like for them to commit the crime in this place, they had known the place well from their daily activities routine and the routes (personal paths) they used to visit the place helped them to create the awareness space and to become familiar with the target place (Hart & Lersch, 2015). In other words, the city structure as well the everyday activities assisted them in creating a cognitive map. The theory applies in the case in that after understanding the nodes and activity paths, they also examined the (edges) and understood that there were minimal physical and mental obstacles which could hinder them from causing the crime (Hart & Lersch, 2015). Generally, with respect to the theory, the crime happened in Grand Rapids city because this is a place which has a shopping mall, restaurants, shops, cars and other congested business and this means that the place is vulnerable of crime as offenders visits the place regularly and they have various targets.
Reference
Hart, T. C., & Lersch, K. M. (2015). Space, time, and crime.
