What the Odessa shootings in Texas meant for a Ukrainian readership
A look back at the West Texas shootings reported in the days before 4 September 2019, and why a place name can mislead.
What was the Odessa that appeared in international headlines on 4 September 2019? Not the Ukrainian port city, but Odessa in West Texas, where a mass shooting had taken place days earlier, on 31 August 2019.
As reported at the time, at least seven people were killed and 21 others wounded in a shooting between the cities of Midland and Odessa. The shooter was shot and killed in Odessa, and police continued to investigate whether there were other possible suspects.
Figures that changed
The early count was later revised. According to later accounts, eight people were killed, including the perpetrator, and twenty-five were injured, among them three police officers. The gunman fired on people from a vehicle across both cities.
Why it matters for this review
The event has no connection to Ukrainian government, reform or regional life; the shared name is a coincidence of geography. For readers following Ukraine's regions, the episode is a reminder to check which Odessa a report concerns before drawing any conclusion about it.
The same later account describes the shooting as the third major mass shooting in the United States in August 2019, after the El Paso Walmart shooting and the Dayton shooting.
