Person of interest questioned in Tennessee shooting

[KansDem]

Source: CNN

(CNN) -- Police are questioning a "person of interest" after four young people were found shot dead inside a vehicle in rural Tennessee.

Authorities did not call the person a suspect or release a name. The person was arrested on an unrelated charge, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation said.

A passer-by found a car with the four victims Thursday on Renegade Mountain, about 65 miles west of Knoxville.


Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2013/09/13/justice/tennessee-fatal-shooting/index.html?hpt=hp_t2

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Victims' ages: 16, 17, 17, 22.

[Kelvin Mace]

1. Suspect!! They are questioning a goddamned SUSPECT!

The person could be a witness, but then they would use the word "witness".

I am getting so fed up with this bullshit Orwellian doublespeak.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

2. Principle of "Innocent until proven guilty" extends to suspects too. See the case of Richard Jewell

Richard Jewell

It would have been much easier to preserve Jewell's reputation and "life" than to try to give it back after publicly identifying him as a suspect and subjecting him to "trial by media".

Try calling the principle "bullshit" now.

[Kelvin Mace]

4. I look at it differently

The police claim using the term is less prejudicial. And when they are sued for false arrest, or of destroying someone's career they get to claim "person of interest" as a attempt at mitigation.

Ask Steven Hatfill how the use of "person of interest" preserved his reputation when the FBI fingered him in the anthrax killings.

If the police SERIOUSLY wished to preserve people's reputations, they wouldn't constantly leak information to the press.

At least the British version (Mr. Jones is assisting the police with their inquiries) is ironically humorous.

[randr]

3. And if they had identified the victims or the "suspect "

as black would it be racist to do so? Since no racial profile is stated how many people assume they are all white?

[paleotn]

5. That's kind of harsh...

....I don't think the word usage was Orwellian. Made perfect sense to me. The person is not a suspect nor a witness. They may simply have information that might further the investigation.

Sad this happened up at Renegade. I use to go skiing up there back in my college days down the road in Cookeville, TN. Of course that was waaaaay back in the early 80's. A lot has changed up there since then, I'm sure.

[Kelvin Mace]

6. The public is not stupid

As I point out, the use of the tern does NOTHING to preserve the reputation of the innocent. What does preserve the reputation of the innocent is for the police to keep there damned mouths shut during the investigation and NOT leaking the names of people they are trying to pin the crime on and the evidence they have come up with. That is what the trial is for. Investigate, gather evidence, build a case, then arrest, charge and try the person.

In court.

Not in the newspaper and on TV.