My brain immediately flashes to my niece, Naomi. Aged 19 and certainly partying on New Year’s, I picture a car wreck before I even quite know what I was thinking. As I’m pulling on my robe, Melissa steps into the bedroom and says, flat and hoarse, “Naomi is dead.”

Not a car wreck. Murdered. Shot by her boyfriend Monday night and killed almost instantly, we learn early this morning, Tuesday.

There’s an El Paso County Sheriff’s deputy in my kitchen, telling me my niece is dead under “suspicious circumstances,” and almost all the festive New Year’s party decorations are still up. The juxtaposition is more than jarring. It seems almost cruel somehow.

[Our prayers go out to Stephen and Melissa and all of their family. Please pray for them too. — Ed]