It was just after 3:00 a.m. at Elyria’s Chronicle-Telegram. Staff had just finished printing thousands of newspapers and the day’s distribution was ready. Their work complete, they clocked out for the night and headed to the parking lot. There they found a vehicle that appeared out of place with the driver’s door open. Inside, an unresponsive man was bleeding profusely from apparent gunshot wounds. The shocked staff called 911 and emergency services arrived in minutes.

It was too late.

Details on what exactly happened are scarce. Law enforcement is working the case and we may know more soon. Right now the one thing that is clear is the community’s response, and it’s not a good look.

In the days following the murder the story was reported across regional outlets and, as expected, those articles were shared across social media. Anyone scrolling through the comments under these posts may have noticed the lack of calls to action, much less the lack of support for those affected. Instead, the public’s response appears littered with sarcasm making light of the tragedy.

The above gallery is a small sampling of the many Facebook comments on the September 2 murder.

I can hear my friends and followers asking me now, “It’s the internet, what do you expect?” Perhaps they are right. But I would also suggest that the sense of apathy in our community has reached new, and dangerous, heights. The line between “the internet” and “real life” becomes more blurred each day, after all.

Violent incidents like this affect more in our community than we realize. Consider the men and women at the Chronicle who, after another unremarkable shift, were walking to their cars to head home. None of them thought they would come upon a gravely wounded young man. None thought they would pay witness to that man’s last moments. None thought they would now have to process what they saw and felt that early morning.

I’m willing to bet none thought their experience would be turned into a joke by their own neighbors, either.

Then there are the police officers who first arrived on scene. The paramedics. The firefighters. The doctors and nurses who received the victim. No matter how many times they respond to the horrors of gun violence, it still affects them. Deeply. I can’t imagine the outpouring of sarcasm from the community they serve is helping.

Of course, the friends and family of the victim are now facing the unimaginable. Their loss is a pain most of us can hardly imagine. It’s a black void that can’t be filled. Like many of us in our own times of darkness I’m sure over the past few days they have opened their favorite social media app, perhaps seeking a moment of solace or support. I hope they somehow avoided the shameful commentary.

Violence is seemingly everywhere these days. It’s on the news and in our phones. We hear the sirens. We see the social media chatter. We can’t live with the constant barrage of daily horrors so we become desensitized. It’s tragically understandable.

But when that numbness spills over and drowns out our basic sense of humanity we begin to lose a sense of who we really are. If empathy is what holds us together and defines our community, then apathy is what will tear us apart.

The people affected by this shooting are our neighbors. With a few strikes of the keyboard we can pour salt in their wounds, or we can offer encouragement and support. Surely we still have the decency to recognize that words matter.

We have to do better.

If you appreciate this post consider a cup of coffee for the author.