Whose Hysteria is This, Anyway?
City PD and University PD were simultaneously stirred up by a confusing murder that seemed to have absolutely no sense in reality. A young male student had been experimenting with one of the designer drugs making their way around during that time frame and in his apartment living room shot his girlfriend and one of his friends. The girlfriend died and the male friend recovered. A relative of the shooter worked for the University Police and consternation was the condition of the day in this small college town.
Some people thought the UPD employee should resign; that's kind of hysterical. Hate against the shooter was running high when a young UPD dispatcher radioed for officer assistance and reported a distraught young man had come into UPD, pointed a small stainless steel revolver at him and demanded to know, "Where is he?" then fled before an adequate answer was forthcoming. Some UPD officers thought the report from the dispatcher was swaddled in hysteria.
I did the composite with the dispatcher who by this time was protesting working conditions and demanding that bullet-proof glass be installed. I don't know if the hysteria was a part of the dispatchers lexicon or if a hysterical student came in looking for the shooter, perhaps looking for the shooters relative. As the King of Siam would say, "It is a puzzlement!"