Trader Joe’s stores are usually cheery places — that’s one reason why I love shopping at my local Joe’s. But in Los Angeles on Saturday the happy vibes ended when a gunman took hostages inside a Trader Joe’s store. And that wasn’t all he did — before he entered the store he had already shot his grandmother seven times, as well as another woman. Police pursued the perp, and when he crashed his grandmother’s car he ran into the Trader Joe’s. That’s when he took about 40-50 hostages.

Eventually, the standoff ended, police captured the suspect, and the hostages went free. Here’s how it went down:

Unfortunately, a woman hostage died during the melee. As for the suspect’s grandmother, she underwent surgery, and at the time of this writing her condition is described as “very grave.”

While all this was going on, President Trump tweeted that he was watching the hostage situation ‘very closely.’

It didn’t take long, however, for Twitter’s Blue Check anti-gun vultures to swoop in to take advantage of the carnage.

For example, Bill Palmer of the progressive Palmer Report:

So are you gonna do something about gun control or nah?

— Palmer Report (@PalmerReport) July 22, 2018

Dude might check the Constitution to see that it limits the Executive Branch. No, Trump can’t just “do something about gun control.”

There’s this guy who says he’s an “Emmy-losing Writer/Director/Comedian:”

I was at that Trader Joe’s last night. My friend escaped the shooting today. Gun violence is not some far off thing. It’s in our backyard. This country is captive to a terrorist gun lobby, who could stop this at any time, & it makes me fucking ill. Stay safe, friends #SilverLake

— Zack Bornstein (@ZackBornstein) July 22, 2018

“Terrorist gun lobby” — hmm, wonder who that would be? Oh, wait, one of David Hogg’s little Parkland friends knows:

A civilian who carries a gun is currently holding dozens of people hostage in #Silverlake. What do you think about that, @NRA? https://t.co/iWczuviQP4

— Jaclyn Corin (@JaclynCorin) July 22, 2018

What does the NRA think about the Trader Joe’s hostage situation? What does she think they’re doing — a Happy Dance? Oh, wait. She probably does.

Then there’s this guy who chimed in with calls to repeal the Second Amendment:

Fuck this! Repeal the 2nd amendment and replace it with something sane and regulated. What we have now is not working. #SilverLake

— Christopher Gardner (@friskyintellect) July 22, 2018

As well as others who used the opportunity to blast the President about, oh, pretty much anything. Because. . . Putin! And immigrant children!

https://twitter.com/StuntMommy/status/1020833881170358278?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

Now at the time of this writing, I don’t have the name of the suspect who did all this. Nor do I know his backstory, or why he even did such a horrendous thing in the first place. But I do know that it’s a damned shame that these vultures come swooping down to create their gun-and-Trump hating narrative before the bodies are even cold.

UPDATE: LAPD named the suspect as Gene Evin Atkins, and they’ve charged him with one count of murder.