This morning two communities that are worlds apart are asking the same question.

Why?

It is one we have seen before. Tragically it has happened again. Incredibly, it’s likely just a matter of time before we’re reporting it still on more time.

A madman and a gun. With horrific results.

In an Alabama town near the border of the Florida panhandle yesterday afternoon, a man went on a shooting rampage. Before he was done, he had burned down his mother’s home – with her still inside – and fatally shot nine people. He then turned the gun on himself.

No one knows exactly what set off Michael McLendon in Kinston, Ala. After he set his mother’s house on fire McLendon drove 12 miles to the little town of Samson, where he started shooting people. In the process he killed nine people, including four members of his own family.

Then this morning, from across the globe, we are jarred by still another madman with a gun.

This time it was a familiar setting, a local school. The gunman was apparently dressed in a black combat uniform when he entered Albertville High School in Winnenden, Geremany, and opened fire. He then fled the scene, but he left a murderous scene of unthinkable carnage in his wake. The suspect is believed to be a teenager.

Two rampages, worlds apart. But really only one question.

Why?

I wish I had an answer. I don’t. And I don’t doubt for a moment it will happen again. That question is not a matter of why. It’s merely a matter of when and where.