Misleading headlines

We've had a significant uptick in shootings in the Madison are in the past year or so. Typically the police report that those involved knew each other and that there was no threat to the general community (although I notice that there's also an uptick in mugging and commercial robberies too). Generally these seem to revolve around retaliatory shootings or drug deals.

I see the headline McFarland man shot in hand in targeted act of violence, Madison police say. In other words he was shot because people were shooting at him, which is the unsurprising default. But it is supposed to convey some soothing "Don't Worry" to the public.

The two culprits were eventually nabbed. Two men charged with robbing and shooting driver of car after waving at him to pull over. They shot at him when, after robbing him of his cell phone and cash, they attempted to take possession of the car and him. The rest of the story, which the police knew at the time, was "Worry--armed robbers are attacking random drivers." (in a residential area just a block away from a main street)