Imagine this: After the second July shooting, when APD would've known there were multipule homicides connected, they let people know the caliber of the gun. They go live with a press conference seeking support from the public. Someone connects the dots and tips the police. Maybe 2 people are still alive and an officer isn't shot? 

It's a hard thing to weigh, I'm just arguing that 1) I don't believe this is best practice policing to withhold a serious detail like this and 2) I don't think other, large cities, would withhold details like this if they may have accelerated finding the killer. 

The way it looks, is that were it not for a fluke robbery we would still be blissfully unaware of the serial killer living in our midst, and the APD would tolerate it. 

I'm not apologetic about this criticism. I'm thankful for the service of the officers involved, but the APD leadership left us with only a spooky admonition to stay home when it's dark, and got bailed out by a robbery gone wrong.