Tragedy in Omaha; protests at funeral

[Jet]

WTF is up with protests at funerals? A friend sent me this story because I lived in Omaha and went to high school there. I didn't attend Millard South, but I knew people who did. Reading about how cruel and fucking rude people can be blows me away as you'll read towards the end of this story.


Tragedy in Omaha; protests at funeral

By NANCY HICKS / Lincoln Journal Star

Friends and family of Robert Butler Jr. filled the Southwood Lutheran Church sanctuary to mourn the young man and the tragedy that ended two lives this past week.

Pastor Greg Olson offered a quiet celebration of Butler's life while acknowledging the terrible decision Butler made during a period of despair.
"He did something that no one should do," Olson said during the service Saturday morning.

On Wednesday, Butler, 17, shot the principal and the vice principal of Millard South High School, where he was a student. Vice Principal Vicki Kaspar died from the wounds. And Butler took his own life.

Outside the sanctuary, the family set up a table with pictures of young Robert, growing up, with friends and family. Olson remembered the boy with the impish smile who wanted to go into law enforcement, who had many friends, who always had his hand up during confirmation class.

Butler attended Sheridan Elementary School, Scott Middle School and Lincoln Southwest High School and was a member of the church and its youth group.
Olson asked friends and members of the Southwood church to comfort Butler's family and friends while also remembering the others whose lives were changed by Butler's decision: the assistant principal who died; Principal Curtis Case, who is still recuperating; and the students at two schools -- Millard South, where the shooting occurred, and Lincoln's Southwest, where Butler was a student until this fall.

We will probably never know why Robert made the decisions he did, said Olson. Robert was in despair, without hope, the pastor said.
He turned inward; he isolated himself. He turned off his phone. He did not reach out for help, Olson said. And if there is any lesson to be learned from this tragedy, it is not to isolate during those times of hopelessness, he said.

The pastor spoke particularly to the many young people at the service, asking them to turn to others they trust if they ever get to that place of hopelessness and despair.Olson also said that a God of love can "heal the hurt" of Butler's friends and family and of those who know and care about Case and Kaspar.

In the prayer that followed the funeral message, Pastor Sara Spohr said:
"Lord God, we are full of questions, saddened beyond belief, and searching for some kind of answer. We pray for your peace to rest upon all those affected by this senseless tragedy."

Olson also briefly acknowledged the half dozen protesters from the Topeka, Kan., Westboro Baptist Church who held hateful signs at an intersection north of the church before the service and whose news release announcing the protest closed with "Thank God for more dead Nebraskans."

Those who mourn Butler can become either "bitter or better," Olson said.
Those protesters are bitter. But those who knew Butler can choose to be better, he said.

Police had an overt presence outside the funeral, with police cars parked near the protesters and near a small counter protest nearby.
This was a large funeral, and the police always have some type of presence when there are protests and counter protests, said Lincoln Police Capt. Joseph Wright.