Posts Tagged ‘killings’

Murder #164 happened tonight, just outside our house.

Ten shots. Large caliber.

It was one of the most horrific nights of my life, and how selfish is it of my to say that?

After all, he wasn’t my boyfriend- though it was that poor girl’s shrieks that told us the shots had found a target.

And he wasn’t my son- though I’ll never forget his mother’s agonized wail when she found her boy.

But all the same, he was ours. He belonged to all of us in the neighborhood last night. We were there before the police, as he lay dying in front of the church where we hold our neighborhood meetings.

The Reverend came running from his Bible study class, kneeling in the young man’s blood, offering comfort and prayer until he was gone.

And he was gone before the police had even arrived. He stayed there, uncovered in the drizzle, for a long, long time, lying impassively on his side as measurements were taken, evidence collected, interviews held.

In the meantime neighbors gathered, comparing stories. Charlie gathered phone numbers as part of an effort to get a Neighbor Watch program started. I checked on some elderly neighbors, knowing they’d be frightened by wouldn’t step outside after dark.

Gradually, a story emerged. A stupid, goddamned infuriating story.

He was in a fistfight in the neighborhood park. I didn’t hear who got the better of whom, but four teens caught up with the victim and shot him down. There were many witnesses to the original fight, so theoretically it shouldn’t be too difficult to figure out who would be angry enough to go after him.

And so what? Where does that leave us? One dead, four incarcerated- and that’s the best case scenario. (Given our DA’s track record, who can say?) And over…what? Testerone? Ego? Teenage bravado they’ll never have a chance to outgrow?

People here have gotten jaded; it’s easy when your city’s a wreck. There’s a tendency to look at the crime stats and say, “Well, almost all of that is one thug plinking away at another. It doesn’t really have a lot to do with me.”

Normally, I could rattle off a dozen reasons why that ‘reasoning’ drives me bats.

Tonight, though, the only reason I can think of is his mother’s heartbreak.