Yes, but you have to admit that the reactions here are also shaded by attitudes to racial and firearm issues, and deeply held beliefs and prejudices about these things.
I had a conservative friend at work tell me today that it sounded like murder from what he had read. I asked what he had seen and he started talking about the newspaper and the mainstream media. Poor little black honor student lost his way home from church murdered by a gun toting white racist. Its amazing how little honesty there is in the media these days.