Shooting in Amman

Six people were injured in a shooting outside the Roman Amphitheater in downtown Amman after a concert there last week. Their injuries were thankfully not severe, and according to the Jordan Times they have basically recovered. The gunman, however, shot and killed himself while being chased by police. According to Reuters, the gunman--identified by Jordanian authorities as a resident of a Palestinian refugee camp just north of Amman--apparently thought his victims were Israelis. Only one was Israeli, though--Israeli Arab--and four were Lebanese members of a choir that had just performed at the amphitheater. The sixth was a Jordanian bus driver.

This is the third incident against foreigners--or people thought to be foreigners--that I am aware of that has taken place since we moved here in 2006. In September 2006 a British tourist was killed and six others injured in another shooting outside the amphitheater, and in March of this year a German tourist was stabbed in an area downtown not far from the amphitheater. According to the authorities, all three incidents were the work of lone perpetrators.

Although I wanted to post something about this latest incident, I was hesitant to do so, lest it contribute to the general perception I think some people have at home that the entire Middle East is a swirling cauldron of violence in which Westerners are apt to be shot or kidnapped at any moment. We have had a lot of visitors since we've been here, and most of them have told us stories about co-workers, friends and/or family members who thought they were crazy for wanting to come here. I also didn't want to sound like an alarmist (Look what's happening in Jordan!). However, these three incidents do represent something of a pattern--albeit over a long period of time. Also, since they involve the targeting of foreigners--or in this case people assumed to be foreigners--they are particularly newsworthy to me, a foreigner.

That being said, though--the closest I have come to being involved in this type of an incident still is from when we lived in Minneapolis. One night several years ago I was sitting on a friends' large front porch near our apartment doing some homework when I heard gunfire so loud it seemed to almost come from within the house. Without thinking, I bolted inside and ducked behind the door. Soon after, as police cars and ambulances converged on the area, I discovered that my ears were not lying: a man sitting in his back porch in the house directly across the alley behind the house where I was had been shot. The man's death was one of 47 homicides in Minneapolis that year.

So, although war rages on in Iraq, Israelis and Palestinians continue to fight, another burst of trouble just ended in Lebanon and Jordan may or may not--only time will tell, really--have some sporadic issues to deal with regarding violence against foreigners, we've got some problems in Minneapolis too.