Tuesday, February 26, 2019

AM I BLAMING THE VICTIM HERE ?

by Bob Walsh

There was a tragic double homicide in Stockton early Sunday morning. Two boys, 14 and 15, were shot down for no obvious reason as they rode their bicycles around their neighborhood. NIcholas Sihalath, 14, and Advan Vang, 15, were the victims. Vang was in town from Sacramento to attend a funeral.

I grant you it was not a school night and, for what passes as winter here, it was a decent if cold evening. Also I have never had children and have never raised stepchildren, nieces or nephews, etc. I am bothered by the fact that kids that young were out just handing out slightly past midnight. They apparently were not up to anything, and maybe the kids were just unwinding a bit. One of them had just been to a funeral after all. They were apparently good kids and good students. The cops have no obvious motive and no known suspects.

So, am I wrong here? Should I be bothered merely by the fact that two fairly young kids were out past midnight on a non-school night. Perhaps I am an old fuddy-duddy and this is just how things work now. You tell me.

2 comments:

Trey Rusk said...

You should be concerned. Kids should not be out riding bikes after midnight. People should not be shooting at them either.

Dave Freeman said...

We used to hang out at our local elementary school for hours at time unsupervised, on weekends and after school, playing football, baseball, basketball, skateboarding, and doing nonsensical kid stuff. No vandalism though. Now that school has a six foot fence around it. But my point is that, although we were free to roam anywhere within a mile or so of our home when not in school, our parents had a few strict rules. One of which was "be home before dark."

Seems like basic common sense, even in the relatively safer times of the 50's and 60's. But when you cede your parental responsibilities and your common sense to the "village" I guess all kinds of bad stuff can happen.