Shutter to Think: Ogle County shootings point to life’s uncertainties

There are a lot of euphemisms one can use to describe what it’s like to work in a newsroom: teeter-totter, trampoline, pogo stick, the stock market. There are ups, downs, highs, lows and sometimes a few tears shed.

A couple of weeks ago, the quiet community of Lost Lake near Dixon was disturbed with violence. Three members of the Ogle County Emergency Response Team were shot while responding to a threatening situation.

For the community, this was clearly the low in the undulating nature of life lived.

But with the recovery of those who were injured and the heroic response from the first responders on the ground, the arrow pointed up and, luckily, no officer lost his life. Jason Ketter, the officer most seriously injured on that day, was released from a Rockford hospital just a couple days later. Local police, county deputies, a handful of civilians and hospital staff lined the pathway Ketter walked with his family to exit the hospital. Those moved to salute did so. After Ketter walked by, onlookers broke into applause.

For what was feared to be a tragically reprehensible moment in the area was definitely redeemed by the outpouring of respect and concern that was shown by both the community and local first responders.

• Alex T. Paschal is a photographer with Shaw Local News Network. Follow him @svmphotogs or email him at apaschal@shawmedia.com.