The hidden story

"Do I blame the cop for what happened? Nope. It was late, it was dark, and the cop knew one of them had a gun. It was one of those split second decisions where the training takes over - to say nothing of self preservation."

For those who might have missed this story, I don't blame you. Our news cycle is saturated with trial stuff from Minneapolis, and the fallout of the murder of Daunte Wright in Brooklyn Center. Throw in some nonsense about court packing in Washington, and soon you find us saturated with news. But in Chicago, there was a killing of a 13 year old boy by a police officer. There was no confusion by the officer, if he had a taser or his sidearm in his hand. He knew he had his firearm out. But there is a story behind the story.

Is this the first time a youth has been killed by gunfire in Chicago? No hardly. Happens every month it seems, with gang on gang violence. What do I mean? According to the Chicago Tribune, last year in 2020, between the period of New Years day and Labor Day, 24 youth, age 10 or under, were killed by gunfire in Chicago. What sets this most recent youth killing apart, is that he was shot by a cop. But there is more to this story.

This young man was with an older person, age 21. They (allegedly) had a gun, and were shooting at cars. The time - 2:30 in the morning. As a parent, when my kids were 13, I knew EXACTLY where they were, each and every night. Gun or no gun, what in the world was this young 13 year old doing, out at 2:30am, with a 21 year old man? Mom? Dad? Siblings? Hello? 

Do I blame the cop for what happened? Nope. It was late, it was dark, and the cop knew one of them had a gun. It was one of those split second decisions where the training takes over - to say nothing of self preservation. For all this cop knew, there was a gun pointed at him, ready to fire. And one lucky shot in the dark, could have made his wife a widow. 

Who did Mayor Light Headed blame? The cop, of course. Not the parents, for allowing this minor to be out WAY after curfew, hanging with a dangerous adult. If this is the kind of backing a cop gets from the Mayor, I would resign the next day and have my application sent out to every "red" city I know of. Meanwhile, we have a young man, dead, who will never see his 14th birthday. Chicago is a hot mess, and a cluster, all rolled into one pile of goo.

For a city with iron clad gun laws, Chicago once again is a war zone. Living in Chicago is much, much more dangerous than serving in Afghanistan. How dangerous is it? The year is less than four months old, and already Chicago has had 163 citizens shot and killed. The entire year of 2020, there were only 11 KIA in Afghanistan. If not for the Chicago cops, the number of dead and wounded would undoubtedly be much higher.

Whenever and wherever there is a shooting, there is usually a story behind the story. Always a complicated back story. As much as I respect the law enforcement in our neck of the woods, I would try and talk ANYONE out of being a cop in Minneapolis, St. Paul, Chicago - and maybe even Brooklyn Center. Not worth it. Not even a little bit.