Davis stabbing suspect is in custody, but the city will need time to heal | Opinion
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Davis Stabbings
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The police may have a suspect in custody in the Davis stabbing murders, but take it from someone who lived in a community gripped by fear following random, inexplicable violence: The Davis we knew will never be the same.
Ten years ago, I was living in Boston when the Boston Marathon bombing occurred.
I vividly remember those stressful and terrifying days now, as Davis residents grapple with the stabbings that claimed the lives of two innocent people, and seriously injured one other.
Days of living with the knowledge that a madman is on the loose — and knowing he wants to kill again — take a deep psychological toll on a community that cannot be underestimated.
According to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders Vol. IV, experiencing or witnessing a traumatic event triggers fear, helplessness and horror in response to the perceived or actual threat of injury or death. A community exposed to a traumatic event shows increased rates of acute stress, post-traumatic stress disorder, major depression, panic disorders, generalized anxiety disorders and sometimes increased substance use disorders.
Davis — a quiet college town known as Bike City USA — is supposed to be a safe place to raise a family or send your kids away for college. But after such an act of terror, communities often struggle to pick up the shattered pieces of peace. And that’s OK. It’s normal to feel shaken up and angry after you’ve been terrorized.
On April 15, 2013, I was standing at the finish line of the Boston Marathon cheering on runners and enjoying the city in the midst of celebration. That morning, I’d walk multiple times through the exact area where brothers Dzhokhar and Tamerlan Tsarnaev would plant two homemade pressure cooker bombs, hidden in the crowd.
But I’d gotten to the race early, so I left the race early.
I was safely home by the time the bombs went off, exploding 14 seconds and a few hundred feet apart, killing three, including an 8-year-old child and a college student at nearby Boston University, and injuring more than 260 others.
For the next three days, Boston was in the grip of terror. The city came to an unprecedented standstill that wouldn’t be replicated until the early days of the pandemic. A massive, days-long manhunt across the city commenced for the killers, finally culminating in multiple shootouts just a few miles from my front door.
To borrow a motto born from that time in Boston, I hope you stay Davis Strong.
You know who you are and what you stand for. You know what your community is about and the love that you have for it. Davis is not defined by the horrors that just took place there, but it can be defined by the actions you take in the following days.
Find joy in the small acts of kindness that you see in your neighbors and community at this time. Try to be someone who creates kindness for others. I’ll never forget the Boston cab driver who waved off his fee so I didn’t have to walk alone to get to work.
It took me months to return to beautiful Copley Square, the urban park near the scene of the explosions, where the finish line for the race is painted year-round on the street. For weeks after, a makeshift memorial of runner’s shoes was piled high.
I hope Davis finds its way back to its quiet parks and beautiful green spaces soon.
As a former Bostonian, my advice to Davisites is simple: Don’t let the sheer horror of one man’s unthinkable hate stop you from loving each other. I promise the safety you once felt in your community will return with time.
I simply hope you remember to be gentle with yourself and others while peace finds its way home.
This story was originally published May 4, 2023 at 2:45 PM.
