Murder

At about 6:25 p.m. on Sunday, 29 November 2020 in the convenience store parking lot just down the hill (something less than 200 feet) there was a cold-blooded killing. There were customers in the store, their cars in the lot when a dark 4-door sedan pulled in, next to a black newer crossover type vehicle and the people in the sedan opened fire on the crossover, 20 or more shots, probably smaller caliber handguns which killed the one man in the crossover. The convenience store is all of a block and a half from the local police station. The sedan pulled out of the parking lot and sped away south followed less than 30 seconds later by a loud, black king or crew cab pickup truck with a tattered American flag against the center of the gate in the back which returned north all of 20 seconds after heading south after the sedan then turned west on the busy street and sped away.

It took a couple minutes before the first response vehicle turned up, a fire truck followed rapidly by at least 8, maybe more, police squad cars and finally an ambulance. The odds are no one will admit to seeing anything, no eye witnesses will come forward and the ones who killed that man will likely get away with it and probably do something like it again. It is just the way things are here. The police are looking at manpower cuts, so social workers can respond instead for all the good they’ll do, they’ll just become more victims and the powers that be will wring their hands with their impotency.

It was fortunate, if such an event can have anything fortunate about it, that no other people were injured or killed – but the man in the crossover shouldn’t be dead either. There will be no swift or sure justice for his family and friends, only a funeral and a life cut short. There is no way to know what kind of person he was or if he was just as bad as those who killed him. The incident was probably gang related. 

The decision to find a new home was made a little over a month ago, this wanton murder so close just amplified the decision and pushed the timetable up. There are things like this going on in this city all the time, wanton murder, accidental murder a collateral consequence and usually of children inside their homes because it’s too dangerous to be outside, or some other innocent person whose life is ended by a “stray” bullet let loose by an uncaring thing which doesn’t even deserve the appellation of human.

There is nothing impressive about these gang murders. They are not brave or courageous even though they likely think that way of themselves. They are not valuable members of society, they don’t want to be. Getting rid of the gangs and the insane and wanton killing they engender is probably no longer possible here. There is no stable family for any of them, no moral standard that makes sense, drugs and alcohol fuel the madness, provide money and influence and stolen cars and guns leave little trace to apprehension and trial.

No wonder decent people are leaving the big cities, why stay and pay huge property taxes for fewer police, poorer public services, lack of safety on the streets, rampant drug use and with the pandemic lock downs loss of liberty and freedom of speech. Let the gangs have the big cities, they pretty much do already anyway, and lets see just how well and how long they survive before the whole thing come crashing down around them.

Was the man killed last night a gang member? It’s impossible to say for sure, but it is more likely than not. There are enough of them around here anyway. The police have very little to go on and probably no witnesses or cooperation if there were any.  It’s disgusting.