You can't compare how anyone feels at all. Feelings are subjective, relative, and are only able to be compared by actions (including words). Even then they are famously difficult to communicate and compare. All I'm saying is that if you're going down that road you quickly hit the "technically we can't compare anything" wall.
So you're either stuck floating in apathy, being able to react to anything with "meh, we can't really know anything." Or you have to infer feelings based on actions and words.
Hell, I'm not even going to the mat for Luigi in particular, I just thought your response was silly. Actions alone can't compare how people feel, but unfortunately for us actions alone are all we have to compare.
Unfortunately, the people doing it are the media It's a quintessential "man bites dog" story. Normally it's the insurance companies killing civilians. Everyone is going to cover it. The police had a manhunt because it would look ridiculous if they didn't solve such a high-profile case.
It's kind of a symbiotic relationship, the media covers it, the police react harshly, the media covers it more.