A Day Too Late:
Fourteen Local Victims Gunned Down in 24 Hours Here
In one 24-hour period in Indianapolis last month, more than a dozen people were shot, and some were killed. It wasn’t a mass shooting perpetrated by one mentally ill shooter. No, police found a victim here, three there, a couple somewhere else, and officers kept finding more. Victims were shot on East Raymond St., North Graham Avenue, Arlington Avenue, West 28th Street, 38th Street, North Dearborn Street, Arsenal Avenue, Monument Circle, and a few were located in hospitals they had struggled to reach.
It started on a Saturday night around 10:30, and it never let up until about the same time on Sunday evening when the final victim was located. He had walked in with a gunshot wound at Community East Hospital and soon died there.
As always, there are families in shock and sorrow. One victim in particular stood out: Every Wednesday morning, 2nd Chance Indiana founder, Jim Cotterill, joins a group of prayer warriors who pray for our city. One of the constant members of this group is a dear friend, Anthony Beverly, of Stop The Violence Indianapolis. Anthony has always made it his business to personally mentor and guide kids who are at risk in an increasingly violent world. I don't think you could count how many have been helped by Anthony's wisdom and direction.
So, as the group continued praying for all the victims, Beverly was too choked up to pray. He knew one of the victims well. He had mentored and believed in him and had been involved with the plan for the young man to leave town on Monday for a safer place. But Monday was one day too late. He was killed on Sunday night.
Where do we go with this? In spite of the fact that the Indianapolis Police Department is successfully getting guns off the street and are constantly patrolling—especially in areas where shootings most often occur. Parents still have to wonder: Can my kids be safe?
Somewhere along the line, these young men have shed all parental authority and seem to operate under the great tutelage of cold steel, drugs and attitude. If there were ever active parents, they gave up the rules a long time ago. Maybe he was too difficult to handle, maybe he threatened his parents when they tried to lay down the law. Whatever the situation, the statistics reveal that mostly, shooters are young men from low-income areas; juveniles who don’t believe they have many options in life, and generally, think they'll be dead by the age of 21. They are boy-men who are fueled by testosterone and anger, afraid of nothing, and yet are constantly fearful.
The ones that are lucky enough to have a solid two-parent household have a better chance of success in life—maybe they've been taught the danger of guns and crime, maybe they are not allowed to go where the gangs party? Maybe they went to church, or have Anthony Beverly as a mentor? But what about the ones with little or no parenting, no church, no rules but the rules of the street?
Well, some of them shot 14 people overnight recently. So maybe—right now, we should start by caring about the victims,
Nancy
