When I took the BooMan for his walk this evening, I had quite a shock. I turned the corner from my block and saw a bunch of television trucks with satellites. I saw a huge congregation of people and balloons everywhere.
At first I thought it was some kind of celebration. But the truth was much sadder. There was a shooting last night at around 12:30. Two of my neighbors were injured and an 18 year old girl was killed. I knew the young woman. She frequently sat on her porch in the evenings and she liked to say ‘hello’ and talk to my dog. Her name was Angel, and she was an innocent bystander.
Her next door neighbors are Asian (I’m not sure what their nationality is). They also liked to spend a lot of time on their porch in the evenings, and they were pretty blatant about smoking weed, and dealing with the occasional pothead who showed up looking to score. In spite of this, they were friendly and often said ‘hello’ and commented about how huge the BooMan is.
Sometime around 12:30 last night, five or six Asian kids walked up the block and opened fire with semiautomatic weapons. I’m not sure of all the details, but they hit two of the men on their porch (these men escaped and are not in critical condition) and they hit Angel. They may have executed her afterwards because she was a witness.
So far, they have made no arrests. Needless to say, this is a tragedy for the family, and it is also a little alarming for this to happen in my neighborhood.
I asked my wife if she heard anything last night, and it turns out she did. She actually jumped out of bed and ran into an interior hallway. I was up blogging and heard nothing.
I hope they catch the irresponsible sociopaths that committed this crime. I don’t like the idea of them running loose.
that shit is just sick. how the hell did fucking kids get automatic weapons anyway?? what is wrong with the insane gun laws in the US? People get killed. Innocent people.
My thoughts go out to Angel and her family, and I hope you and your wife are able to process what happened and go on embracing life and hope.
The cops will find them. I have faith.
Take care of yourself Boo, have a good night.
believe it or not, living in the city, stuff like this is not that much of a jolt to the system.
What makes it a little different is that I kind of knew the victims. And the gunfire was way too close to home and right on my daily walk.
But crimes like this happen nearby every week. Another kid from my neighborhood got killed last weekend, but he was about 7 or 8 blocks south of here when he got shot.
Enjoy the suburbs…
not the suburbs… just Canada 🙂
although we have had a few shootings recently in the east and west ends of Toronto… unfortunately the guns were smuggled in from south of the border. Gotta love those strict customs inspections…
police blotter for my part of town.
Michael Franzone lived two blocks from me.
that was just from your part of town? I knew Philly was up there in terms of crime rates, but unless you’re living in it, it’s hard to grasp the scope.
which is geographically smaller than the North, the West, or the center. There is no east. It’s a large area, but still…
One quote from the police blotter to make a connection:
the thing about the guns are, if they changed the laws, the bad guys would still have them. the only ones to not have them, would be the people following the law.
sad, but true.
sorry to hear the news Boo, it’s never good when it happens, and even worse when you are aquainted even somewhat with the victim, and so close to home.
I very much doubt the weapons used were registered to the perps. This was a gangland hit.
I live in a very heavy cosa nostra neighborhood and most hits are done very efficiently, with no harm to bystanders.
And they are rare (one or two a year).
This type of crime in not typical for Italian neighborhoods. The kids still fight and kill with knives down here.
good point infidel. then what is it that produces so many shootings in the states? canadians have just as many guns per capita as do americans, but until recently with the guns being smuggled in, we might have two or three shootings a year in a city of 4 million.
I have many theories, but they are just that, theories. Michael Moore explored it in Bowling for Columbine, but he couldn’t put his finger on it other than the ‘kinder, gentler, society’ as a whole… health care, no shouting on our news programs, good education, liberal human rights laws… I don’t know honestly. But living in Canada I saw plenty of hunting rifles locked up in cabinets at the cottage, but never a hand gun or an semi or automatic rifle. What does your average joe need with a semi-automatic anyway? That’s a really unfair advantage in hunting if that’s the supposed use… where’s the respect for your prey in that… just spray the forest and see what you hit (and hope it wasn’t your buddy out taking a leak…)?
The situation here is cause by our drug prohibitions laws, coupled with lack of social services and the increasingly militarized mind-set of the police. IMO.
how are drug laws create gun violence:
obviously there are crimes related to turf, where drugs are sold. There are crimes related to people owing money for drugs. There are robberies of drug dealers by desperate addicts, or people that know a lot of cash is on hand.
But even more than this, the inner city is filled with young black men that have a criminal record for petty drug crimes. They have a high school education, at best, and not a very good one. They are chronically underemployed and basically get by on a black market economy. Bootlegging movies, selling car inspections stickers, selling stolen merchandise (particularly clothes), etc.
In this climate the urge to try to make a fast buck can be irrestistable, and it frequently leads to reckless behavior and reckless crimes.
Drug convictions are only a part of the problem. But they are one more barrier to entering the mainstream economy that offers health care and a 401(K).
The same factors effect all the ethnic groups, except whites. Whites are rarely convicted for drug crimes unless violence is involved.
But the black community definitely suffers the most under our system.
And I can get you a gun in a couple days if you want one. They are readily available if you know who to call.
Thanks, Booman, for explaining my hasty comment. You give an excellent summary.
The only thing I’d add is to point out the broad comparisons between the alcohol and drug prohibitions — there will always be a demand. When you criminalize, you put the supply in the hands of criminals and enrich organized crime. It is then in their interests to create more of a demand, etc. and use whatever force they feel necessary to protect their interests.
I think you were quite right before to point out that the weapons usually used in these sorts of things are also usually not purchased through legal channels. Hence, enriching the drug dealers also enriches the arms runners and the two criminal enterprises survive symbiotically.
Please excuse the typos in my comments (I’m a bit tired) and I’m also sorry for not having extended my sympathies earlier. You’ve had them since I read this, but I should have said so.
about a month ago and I had this two-hour conversation with this elderly black man I met there. About an hour into it he came out and let me know that he was a pimp. It was an amazing revelation because we had been discussing history, religion, and politics.
Even though I was shocked I tried not to let on.
But then he started to get all heavy about the moral quandary of pimping. The guy could have had a doctorate in sociology, but he was a hustler, and probably quite well off.
I don’t know exactly why I bring this up, except to point out how talent is misdirected in the city, and how limited opportunities drive people towards certain less-than-optimal solutions.
And also, to share the strange, unexpected, and exotic experiences one can have when you got out on the town.
good question spider, if we could solve that problematic question, we could probably take care of a lot of like probs.
there is quite a difference between your side of the border, and this one. I wish I knew the answer, I really do. It is so common place anymore that is almost becoming run of the mill.
Boo downthread here hit some of the problems, and spot on most. The laws we have are not working for sure.
but I guess when you see corruption around you everywhere, and on a daily basis, you can’t expect much from the rogues on the street ; )
I personally beleive that if your caught doing the crime, and it involves these circumstance in this diary, it should be punishment to the fullest extent of the law, and made public, not tucked away in an obscure court somewhere. Instead of publicly airing Michael Jackson, they should show what happens to these types, in broad daylight. Maybe then the message would sink in, “Do the Crime, Do the Time”
it may take some of the glamour out of it for the wannabe’s.
It is historical and embedded in the culture. The US had more violent beginnings and a bloody civil war compared to Canada.
I believe beginnings are very important in forming a culture.
Hey Boo, hard to know what to say really about a tragedy like this and how it hits so very close to your own home and for everyone in your neighborhood. I certainly hope the police will be able to catch the guys who did this and quickly.
No matter what the circumstances it points up again the real stupidity of our gun laws-or maybe that should be how little gun laws we do have. Let’s all remember that wonderful slogan given to us by gun lovers everywhere-guns don’t kill people-people do.
Don’t know what to say.
Booman, I have a question. Do you and your wife have kids? If not, do you two plan to have kids? And if so, I’m waiting for you to tell me you’re gonna be moving to a safer neighborhood yes?
but this is a safe neighborhood. Everything is relative.
This was a very unusual crime for this neighborhood, even though it happens weekly just 4 blocks north of here.
It’s hard to explain how insular city neighborhoods can be. But people don’t intermingle much.
I understand the nature of urban neighborhoods being from just outside New York myself, but even four blocks isn’t that far. I mean, I don’t know if you drive or use taxis, buses, or walk, but with deadly gang and mafia violence that close, it would seem that chances were higher than normal that you or your family could be a random innocent victim like Angel.
This really hit home for me, having grown up in a neighborhood of row houses hardly any different from those in your photo (Feltonville, 4800 block of B Street in the lower northeast). I remember sitting on the porch at night, chatting with passers-by who were walking their dogs or on their way to the corner store.
I also remember gangs sometimes hanging on corners, and periodic gangfights. In one fight a teen was stabbed and crawled up the steps of the rowhouse directly across the street from us, trailing blood. (This was late at night as our family was getting ready for bed, but we watched the ambulance come from our upstairs window.)
Then I went to your police blotter link, and saw the kid that was robbed at knifepoint, and really got goosebumps, as that was me at age 10, on my way to the deli a couple of blocks away.
Almost happened again a couple of years later, but me and the friend I was with managed to duck into a pharmacy and hide there until the gang wandered off.
We had a library two blocks from us that I used to go to as a kid to escape the neighborhood I was in – and at the time it probably wasn’t any worse than yours, from what I can tell. One time a corner gang accosted me, sent my library books flying and made me beg for mercy or they would beat the shit out of me. When I got home and told my parents, my father wanted to beat the shit out of me for not standing up to the thugs.
Why do I bring all this up? To play “ain’t it awful?”
Hardly. My concern is for any kids you might have down the road. They’re going to want to walk the streets of the city to go to the deli, to the playground, to the library, to stay after school for events and come home after dusk. The world they’re going to live in is different from yours just because they’re kids and more vulnerable, and not necessarily tuned in to the fact that you have to look 2/3 of a block down from where you are to see if there’s possibly trouble up ahead that you want to avoid while you still can. This was a skill I developed by the time I was a freshman in high school.
And I’m sure you’re well aware of all this, so I’m not sure why I’m yanking on your ear except that I can’t hardly not do it, because I wish nothing but the best for you and your family.
I miss the East and West River Drives, I miss the art museum, I miss the Flyers and the Philadelphia Orchestra and South Street and the historic district and soft prezels and hoagies and cheesesteaks at Pat’s or Jim’s or Geno’s. But I could never raise a family in Philly, as much as I loved/love the place. And the only reason my parents did was because they couldn’t afford to get out.
Selfish? Yes. Self-fulfilling prophecy of urban decay? Maybe. But one shouldn’t have to risk life and limb – or one’s kids – to have the amenities of city life. Folks upthread mentioned Toronto; been there – great place. I’m not sure what other countries have or do that make their cities so much more livable than in America, but I wish the hell that someday we’d try and find out, and import it.
I appreciate your comments and your concern.
As you know, kids in the city learn to navigate the city. They learn the 2/3 block rule, they learn the bad corners, the learn to spot people out for trouble.
City kids deal with a lot, and they are at higher risk. But as a child of the Tony suburbs, I saw plenty of suicide and severe drug abuse.
City kids grow up to be tough people with a lot of character. I love the people in the city, and I wouldn’t be upset to have a child grow up to be a cityperson.
But you already know what I’m talking about. You grew up here and moved out, I grew up in the burbs and moved in. We’re probably both effected by the desire for something different, and better.
Excellent point about the kids in the suburbs, Boo.
When we moved here to Knoxville we made a point of living closer in than the wealthier suburbs where the kids all had plenty of excess cash to get into trouble with. I suspect you know what I mean, being from the suburbs. 😉
Fortunately, our kids both seem to want to spend any money they get on computers and computer games, rather than less desirable spending… (My parents only gave me $2 a week allowance, even in high school – about maybe $7 in today’s money – so I would never have enough cash to get into trouble, as they freely admitted!)
It’s a tough balance to find. And on top of those issues, my wife grew up on 40 acres outside Kansas City, so she would be very uncomfortable living any closer into the city than where we are now. Downtown Knoxville is in the process of being gentrified, and I mentioned looking at a downtown loft for when we’re empty nesters in a few years, and that went over like a fart in church. (to use one of the expressions I learned in Philly. LOL)
I’m also sorry this happened. For anyone to lose a life as a bystander, is a tragedy. The post did lead me to wonder however. I’m assuming south Philly is a racially diverse neighborhood but I noticed Angel’s race was not disclosed yet the attackers (and neighbors) were ID’s as ‘Asian’. What if they were just ID’s as ‘neighbors’ and the attackers as a gang or something else. Not meaning to attack anyone’s motives but it was noticeable to me.
and this neighborhood is not very integrated. It is a mix, but predominately Italian-American.
What a sad story. It is tragic when a young person dies like this, and when it hits literally so close to home it’s hard to know how to respond. In the city where I live, every block can be its own mini-neighborhood so that just going around a corner can throw you into a different world. A few blocks away from me is a neighborhood with a lot of junkies, poor people living in housing projects, gangs and shootings. There were three young men killed in separate shootings in the neighborhood last week.
I see what you mean about how drug laws create gun violence, Booman, but even without the drug laws these streets would still be full of poverty and hopelessness. I think about this all the time — I think it’s mostly because young men have nothing to do, nothing to make, nowhere to go, because the jobs that provide an honest living without a college degree have all disappeared.
Well Boo I’m sorry you got spooked and I’m definitely sorry another innocent lost their life in America.
But on the other hand, I’m feeling it extremely difficult to feel much of anything else. It’s America, a land of violent wars and occupations since day 1 and it doesn’t surprise me in the least it is equally violent domestically.
Americans settle international disputes with violence. They use violence as a means of enforcement of economic superiority. They use violence on an interpersonal level to solve conflict. And Americans turn to violence for entertainment whether in books, television, movies or video games.
Frankly Americans love violence and endorse it daily and this being “shocked” about it comes off a little naive in my opinion. Yes this young woman’s death is a tragedy but it is entirely predictable. That predictability is the real tragedy and nearly every nation on earth has suffered as a result.
Back when I walked on the streets of a violent, crime-ridden city in America, I was one of the few people who carried absolutely no weapons despite the fact that I legally could (up to and including pistols w/o a safety with the 15 round mag).
MLK Jr. was right, the choice isn’t between violence and non-violence, it’s been non-violence and non-existence. And America is rapidly wiping itself out by choosing the former.
Pax
and my city is violent. Hell, by most people’s standards, my neighborhood is violent. Still, my next door neighbor who has lived here for 40 years has never seen a crime like this committed here.
I’m not really shocked, although I was temporarily. It’s always a shock to discover someone you know has been killed for no reason.
And it is traumatic for all of us, and a little worrying.