Brookline Horror: Senator O'Brien and Family Fatally Stabbed, Homeless Man Arrested

JO – Assignment 8 – Hard News practice writing

For Assignment 8, you’ll craft a hard news story using an inverted pyramid structure.

The story will be based on only the below facts. (To be clear, this is just an exercise. None of this happened.) Each sentence should be attributed to Massachusetts State Police, unless it is attributed to another source.

Your job is to figure out what are the most relevant details, and how to organize them. You should not use every fact, as some are irrelevant or extraneous. But you should include as much of the who, what, where, when, why, and how as possible, within the limited space you have.

Your story should be five paragraphs. Each paragraph should be no more than two sentences each.

All the below facts should be properly attributed:

--It was a dark, stormy night.

--The winds were howling.

--There were many people crowding around the apartment complex.

--Three people were found dead after midnight inside a three-bedroom apartment.

--Police officers swarmed around the area.

--The three dead included a woman, a man, and a 3-month-old girl.

--A dog milled around the property, barking fiercely at passersby.

--The victims died of stab wounds.

--The three dead included Massachusetts Senator Keith O’Brien; his wife, Clara; and their daughter, Sally.

--Police arrested Roy Greene, 23, of Worcester, Mass.

--O’Brien is a Republican

--Greene was homeless.

--“This was an awful act of violence, but we don’t believe the suspect was politically motivated,” State Police Sergeant Linda Carry said at a news conference early Saturday in front of O’Brien’s building. “It appears the suspect was looking for drugs.”

--The incident occurred on Friday the 13th.

--O’Brien was the 19th member of Congress to be killed while in office, and the first in 10 years, according to the US Senate Historical Office.

--Police arrested Greene holding a weapon inside the O’Briens’ apartment in Brookline.

--The weapon was a hunting knife.

--Greene was arraigned Monday morning in Norfolk County District Court.

--He was charged with three counts of homicide.

--Greene pleaded not guilty.