''It was a very peaceful, very nice rally, very positive,'' Holmes said, adding there was no reason to believe the rally was connected to the shootings.
Then why mention it?
It's the NYT, what do you expect? Under the circumstances Carlos gave the best possible answer. Under other circumstances, I would venture a guess Carlos would have had an entirely different response.
Remember, at that early hour this morning a lot of the national media present were sports and fluff news writers/reporters there for race weekend, not a shooting and possible manhunt.