The timing is awkward to say the least, given the murder victims' bodies atm remain unrecovered, the suspect afaik remains basically mum [keeping shtoom], & ofc the whole palaver of trial, evidence etc is still in the distant future.
Even so, don't we already know two important, & uncontested, bits of info here that make Shields' decision to wrap his editorial of longstanding police antipathy to #LGBTQI peeps around this latest tragic unnecessary loss of innocent lives, unwise at the very least, if not exposing him to criticism of drawing too long a bow?
the suspect is gay, along with the victims.
the suspect was until only very recently in a direct partner relationship with one of the victims
As such, it just seems to me that Shields is entirely barking up the wrong tree here, by his blatant & repeated linking of this crime to the historical horrors of terrible cops' misbehaviour against queer peeps.
Am i too far out on a limb here to suggest that it is extraordinarily probable the suspect in THIS case murdered the victims expressly coz of my dot points, not coz "i'm a cop, cops kill gays, ergo i must kill this pair"?
IMO Bevan Shields has made multiple blunders since becoming editor, & here i feel he's made another.