The Battle of Normandale Park

Warp speed at the prosecutor's office.

You’ve got to give DA Mike “Nol Pros” Schmidt credit: when it comes time to button-up a case, the man moves with warp speed. And right now, as our leading social justice warrior, it’s in Schmidt’s interest to wallpaper charges against Benjamin J. Smith, one of the shooters in the Battle of Normandale Park.

On the heels of an overnight investigation of the chaos in the darkened park Schmidt charged Smith with killing one of the protest march’s “corkers,” June Knightly (aka “T-Rex”), and for being responsible for wounding everyone else who was shot in the mayhem. Here’s the laundry list:

Second-degree murder with a firearm, four counts of attempted first-degree murder with a firearm, two counts of first-degree assault with a firearm and two counts of second-degree assault with a firearm.

In the Oregonian’s “What We Know” piece this morning…

OTHER VICTIMS: Among the other four demonstrators shot, one was wounded in the neck and paralyzed. Another was shot multiple times, including in the abdomen. Two others have been treated and released -- one shot in the upper arm and another struck in multiple places, according to the affidavit. Police have not named them.

Hmmm: “shot multiple times” and “multiple places” (no actual count), all from one .45 handgun. Here we come to Question Number One: how many rounds did Smith have in the .45’s magazine and how many were actually fired?

There will be other questions.

What the media is reporting is derived from a charging affidavit presented to the court (and the court of public opinion) without any links to the actual document. Nor is this document available on the DA’s self-congratulatory web site.

Just to remind you: this was cogitated virtually overnight, after Portland Police put out a plaintive appeal for witnesses to step forward and a media aside (in the Tribune, at the bottom of their catch-up story) that…

According to police, critical evidence was taken from the scene before officers could investigate.

Authorities won't say if they have recovered the weapon used to shoot Smith.

And then this floated through the Oregonian’s wrap-up:

David Bumpus, 32, the man suspected of firing back, was initially arrested Saturday night after he told police at the shooting scene that he was involved and turned over his AR pistol. But after investigators obtained GoPro video footage from a witness, police released the man. He faces no charges.

And so we come to one of the key questions:

Who shot Benjamin J. Smith? Has this person been identified? Since it would be a slam-dunk self-defense case, why hasn’t the shooter stepped forward? With his weapon? And…

Why hasn’t anyone among the “corkers” or marchers fingered the shooter? You would think the movement is missing a chance to create a hero who took down a clear threat to everything progressives hold dear. Where is that noble person?

Once you ask those questions, others follow…

How many of the “corkers” and marchers were armed? What were they packing?

What critical evidence was removed? Weapons? Shell casings?

Did Smith wound four other people? How was that determined? If bullets were recovered from the wounded, were they all fired from Smith’s gun?

What’s on the GoPro footage? Was that mentioned in the DA’s affidavit; if not, how come?

Was Antifa involved in the march? The kids in black love to hijack protests and turn them into riots…why not on this night?

Can any “witnesses” be trusted? Anyone in the squad of “corkers” or participants in the march are, to put it bluntly, unreliable. The media isn’t the only party interested in creating a “narrative.”

Who else is on the “corker” squad? “T-Rex” Knightly was a long-time member of the group of enforcers. In the Oregonian’s delicate phrasing, they were intent on “protecting demonstrators from motorists and others who might interfere with their activities.” Who are Knightly’s compatriots and what are their records in terms of interactions with cops and public?

And, finally, the biggie:

Who fired the first shot? If anyone in town has the guts to represent Smith in the upcoming show-trial (assuming he lives), that will be the first “reasonable doubt” presentation to the jury. If someone in the “corkers”or among the marchers decided to preempt a threatening guy waving a pistol and telling the marchers to get lost and peeled off a round—a warning, perhaps—well, that becomes a complication, doesn’t it?

Not to worry: the DA and media are busily constructing a “narrative” out of the chaotic events on a dark winter night in Normandale Park. Here it is:

One grumpy old dude with a taste for firearms and grudges dating back to racist!!! statements made when he was 20 and a bad rep in the neighborhood decided to come out of his man-cave and whack peaceful protesters.

Case closed.

Or is it?