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Jim Morelli on Wakefield's reaction to the shooting

Jim Morelli

CNN Correspondent Jim Morelli has been covering the aftermath of the shooting at Edgewater Technology in Wakefield, Massachusetts.

Q: Give us a sense of what's going on in the community of Wakefield.

MORELLI: This is the kind of town where you would hear that "this kind of thing doesn't happen here." It's a small town, a typical small town -- you come into town and children are skating and you go down the street and then you come upon this memorial outside the company where people have left flowers and notes. It's very incongruous.

We went down there to get some reaction outside of the company, and I was surprised with how open people were there. There was one woman who had come down from Boston with her young child -- and that's quite a way to travel -- just to express her sympathy for what's happened.

Q: Do you think that openness is their way of self-counseling or dealing with what has happened?

MORELLI: Very much so. One woman told us that -- that by talking about what had happened, it was a way of consoling and "healing herself." And people are concerned for their town. We have had pictures of the pool company across the street from the shooting that has the sign that says, "We pray to heal our town."

Q: How has sympathy for the victims been demonstrated?

MORELLI: There has been a great deal of insularity, of people watching out for their own. We went to Brighton to talk to neighbors of Jennifer Capobianco, one of the victims, and we had to go into a police station for directions and the police quickly told us, "They are not there. The husband left town." Neighbors, too, were very protective of the family.

(Thursday's) memorial service is going to be a completely closed community event. I think that gives you some idea of how much healing people here need to do.

Q: Anything new in the investigation?

MORELLI: Not really. It's still going on but there hasn't been any new information coming out.

Shooting suspect pleads not guilty to office killings
December 27, 2000
Suspect in Massachusetts shooting had IRS trouble
December 26, 2000
StaffMark looks to unlock value of Edgewater rather than spin it off
May 25, 2000

Information on Harvard Mills office complex
Edgewater Technology press release (November 2000)
Edgewater Technology press release (November 2000)
Edgewater Technology Company Capsule from Hoovers' Online

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