One recent incident:
http://www.cnn.com/2013/08/20/justice/australia-student-killed-oklahoma/
-- A random act of violence has left a promising 23-year-old college baseball player dead, a family devastated and two countries half a world apart rattled.
Christopher Lane, who was from Australia, was gunned down in Duncan, Oklahoma, while he was out jogging last week. The motive? Three teens who had nothing better to do, according to police.
"They witnessed a young man run by on the street. Chose him as the target," Police Chief Danny Ford told CNN affiliate KSWO.
Another act:
It was a tiny bullet that took the short life of Antonio Santiago.
He had learned to walk, but not yet talk, when he was killed March 21, six weeks after his first birthday. He was strapped in his stroller, out for a walk with his mother a few blocks from their apartment near the Georgia coast, when someone shot the boy between the eyes with a .22-caliber bullet the size of a garden pea.
The teenager charged as the shooter is scheduled to stand trial next week in a courthouse far from the scene of the crime. Because of public outrage and news coverage, a judge has moved 18-year-old De'Marquise Elkins' trial 325 miles away, to the suburbs outside Atlanta. Jury selection starts Monday at the Cobb County courthouse in Marietta. Superior Court Judge Stephen Kelley has set aside two weeks for the trial.
Elkins faces life in prison if convicted of murder. His youth spared him a possible death sentence. At the time of the shooting he was 17, too young to face capital charges in Georgia.
Police say the motive was as banal as the slaying of a toddler was shocking. Investigators concluded that Antonio was killed during an attempted street robbery as his mother, Sherry West, was strolling home with the child from the post office. West said a gunman demanding cash shot her baby in the face after she told him she had no money.
He had learned to walk, but not yet talk, when he was killed March 21, six weeks after his first birthday. He was strapped in his stroller, out for a walk with his mother a few blocks from their apartment near the Georgia coast, when someone shot the boy between the eyes with a .22-caliber bullet the size of a garden pea.
The teenager charged as the shooter is scheduled to stand trial next week in a courthouse far from the scene of the crime. Because of public outrage and news coverage, a judge has moved 18-year-old De'Marquise Elkins' trial 325 miles away, to the suburbs outside Atlanta. Jury selection starts Monday at the Cobb County courthouse in Marietta. Superior Court Judge Stephen Kelley has set aside two weeks for the trial.
Elkins faces life in prison if convicted of murder. His youth spared him a possible death sentence. At the time of the shooting he was 17, too young to face capital charges in Georgia.
Police say the motive was as banal as the slaying of a toddler was shocking. Investigators concluded that Antonio was killed during an attempted street robbery as his mother, Sherry West, was strolling home with the child from the post office. West said a gunman demanding cash shot her baby in the face after she told him she had no money.
So, where were the 17 year old shooter and 15 year old accomplice's parents? Did they know their kids were out roaming the streets with a .22? Did the parents buy that gun and not manage it?
People can judge. My kids can hate me. Others can question, BUT I WILL BE UP MY KID'S ASSES UNTIL THEY MOVE OUT OF THIS HOUSE!! My kids are not given anything!! They earn it through respect and working as a member of our family. Cartoons: earned. Game time on my phone: earned! Special toys outside of Christmas or a birthday: earned! If I give them everything and do not hold them accountable at 5 & 4, they too could end up on the wrong side!
Did the parents of these bad kids even know the kids their own children are hanging out with? I have witnessed parents drop their middle school kids off across the street and not even get out of the car. I have often wondered if they knew the kid their child was visiting was kicked out of school for an entire year and had to go to alternative school and then was not allowed back to his "home school" for the rest of the year. I wondered if they knew that the adult in the house was often not even around.
Did these teens gone astray ever hold a job or have household jobs that they were required to do? My 5 year old has to collect the chicken eggs daily, set the table, clear her plate, keep her room clean, put away her clean clothes, and help when asked. My 4 year old feeds the dog every evening, gets out cups and plates for dinner, clears his plate, puts the dirty clothes in the laundry, put away his clean clothes, and helps when asked. Responsibility is huge to me! I have a friend that owns a farm and has her 2 young kids helping with daily farm chores at 5 & 3. I have seen the 3 year old peel leeks to get them ready for market. I bet these kids have a complete understanding that they need to work to help keep their life going and I have the utmost respect for it! What about sports? Did these killing teenage thugs ever participate in organized sports which require commitment and focus?
PARENTS....wake up! PARENT your own kids and be accountable to yourself and them! Your children are a direct reflection of you! Show the world that you are a good person by being a good parent! I have other neighbors that I see in the street walking with their high schoolers. I see them playing ball with their middle schoolers. I see them support their kids education. I would put money on the fact that these kids end up being something! I would put money on the fact that these kids will end up being productive members of society! Why??? Because they have parents that are PARENTS! I am not saying every parent is perfect (I am far from it), but being an involved and accountable parent is better than being your kids' friend, showing by poor example, and leaving a kid to raise themselves!
