Wednesday, September 12, 2007

Another Violent Day In The City

A pregnant mother and her 15-year-old son were shot on the city's northwest side last night. The son is dead, and the pregnant mother is listed in critical condition this morning. She suffered a gunshot wound to the abdomen. Two teen-age girls are suspects in the shooting. Earlier in the day, two people were shot outside a barber shop in the Devington Plaza on the city's east side. One of those victims died. Two separate incidents, five shooting victims (counting mother's unborn child) and at least two are dead. Both shootings took place in broad daylight. Mayor Peterson will boast, however, that there have been 36 fewer murders so far this year than at this same date in 2006. The total number of murders so far this year stands at 78.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Damn, the broken record is getting old, Gary...I doubt the Mayor will "boast," because one murder is too many.

Will Carl Brizzi "boast" ? Will the sheriff "boast" Or any of our public safety community who also serve on the City Council??

But, to honor the truth, murder is down. So is armed assault. It sure doesn't seem like it if you're one of the victims, I know.

Too many of these assaults are linked to violent in-school arguments, which spill over into neighborhoods. Schools are being deluged with social-work problems and they're ill-equipped, both in number of staff and training, to deal with it.

And today, youth tend to skip discussion, argument, even fisticuffs--and go straight to guns. I just had an experience with this in my neighborhood Sunday night, with a 14-year-old mouthy kid that we tried to shoo away from a neighbor's property. He was hanging around acting shifty with some buds. Seems they were trying to settle a score from school earlier in the day. Five of them. He told me to "mind your own MF business" and then lifted his shirt to reveal a pistol. "I'd just as soon cap our ass."

And that's when I called police. Who responded promptly, efficiently and effectively.

And you know what this errant youth's mother said? She was angry that her on was being carted away "for no good reason."

I kid you not.

So, that's the Mayor's problem....how? But it's a problem that presents itself at his and the LEO community's doorstep, and they need to solve it somehow. With the help of all of us.

Gary R. Welsh said...

Peterson's campaign website has in fact boasted about the city's murder rate being down this year.

John M said...

"Boast" seems like a loaded term, but why shouldn't he mention it, considering how much criticism he took for last year's spike? To echo the anonymous commenter, one murder is too many, but I don't think any mayor of a socioeconomically diverse city of 800,000 has yet figured out how to reduce the murder rate to zero. Many of Peterson's critics seem to love the "Indianapolis is turning into Detroit" narrative, so I can't imagine why the mayor wouldn't be allowed to point to evidence that contradicts that position.

Anonymous said...

Off the subject

something is going on in indy. Vern and Monroe were both at IFD headquarters yesterday in their uniforms and they both switched into different city vehicles.
Vern is driving a 2001 white ford expidition
plate number 59563
Monroe is driving 2001 a green ford crown victoria
plate number 70114

Anonymous said...

Many of Peterson's critics seem to love the "Indianapolis is turning into Detroit" narrative, so I can't imagine why the mayor wouldn't be allowed to point to evidence that contradicts that position.

Quite right. The mayor's proponents are as willing to cite chance, boasting it is progress, as his opponenets are to claim a different snapshot indicates failure.

Anonymous said...

Oh for crying out loud Gary why are you picking on the mayor again? After all it was Bart"s idea to force police CONsolidation down the throats of not only the officers involved but the citizens as well. Why should Bart take the heat for the crime rate, I mean after all he's never spent a single day in his life as a police officer. Yet he thought that dismantling a police department that served it citizens efficiently for over 150 years was the correct thing to do. Let's just continue to support him like the LEO's did when the FOP voted to endorse Ballard for mayor earlier this week. Get off his back Gary, if people are going to murder and carjack one another we can't blame that on the mayor. He said that by CONsolidating the 2 departments we'd have more officers on the street. Didn't you believe him?? Now we have so many officers out there that the criminals have way tooo much time to murder, rob and steal. Don't you feel safer now than you did before CONsolidation Gary? Haven't you seen the tax savings and all the benefits of the merge? Gary, you really should allow the mayor to "boast" that we've had 10 fewer murders so far this year. Thats a significant drop even though 2 people were murdered in the past 24 hours. Who can say what will happpen by the end of the year. Really Gary, you need to stop picking on the mayor. The crime rate in this city has nothing to do with Bart Peterson!

Sir Hailstone said...

I thought I heard this morning on "Sunrise" the unborn child died while the mother was in surgery.

So that makes it three?

That's why I now carry a Glock 19 loaded with hollow points. Murder might be down from 2006 but carjackings are way up.

Anonymous said...

Evidently the girls must have had the gun(s) at school...on school grounds. Does the school have school police....are there metal detectors? Maybe they need to replace the current LEOs with some strong enough to do the job.
Better yet, transfer Mr White and let him clean up the mess.

Anonymous said...

"So is armed assault."

I doubt this is true. From the reports I get, armed robbery seems to be just as popular as it was last year. Carjackings are already up 150%.