It sometimes seems that as a city we have become desensitized to the violence that plagues our streets day in and day out. People haven't seemed too upset about Hartford's homicide rate this year because up until a couple weeks ago it was half of what it was last year. That seems to have changed quickly over the last few weeks.
Although every shooting and homicide is important, some seem to minimize their effects on the City by claiming they are drug dealers or gang members fighting amongst themselves. Even with that explanation though, we have to wonder what has happened to the value of a human life when young men think nothing of taking another life at the end of a gun barrel.
The saddest part is that lately we have seen bystanders also suffering injury or death from the gunfire.
Recently a pregnant woman and a couple of her friends were shot while standing on her front porch as the bullets began flying. The woman lost the baby she was carrying as a result of the shooting. Another woman got in the way when the shooters were aiming for her sun and she stepped in and the bullet hit her.
Those two women survived but Hartford's latest victim wasn't as lucky.
Last night at the corner of Enfield and Greenfield Streets a 25 year old woman from East Hartford became Hartford's latest homicide victim. From what I am being told, she had gone to the small corner store to purchase candy for some children and as she exited the store she walked into a gunfight that broke out at the same time.
She was hit once and was declared dead shortly thereafter at 10:31PM. Vehicles parked on the street were also hit by the gunfire.
No one should have to live like this or be afraid to exit their homes after dark. Unfortunately though it seems that this violence isn't being confined to take place under the cover of darkness.
Today someone walked into a liquor store on Zion Street and pulled a sawed of shotgun from his pants and robbed the business. All in broad daylight, just before noon time, in the shadows of Trinity College.
How do we stem this gun violence in a city that almost seems to have become immune to it? How do we get the young people that are killing each other to realize the value of human life? How do we insist that every resource is being used, State and Federal as well as local to make sure that guns are being removed from our streets?
The answer is not going to be a quick and simple fix but as a community we can not dump the problem on the Police Department. We need to express our outrage and step up to be part of the fix.
I do not want to belittle any homicide or shooting, but take a moment and ask yourself what the level of outrage would be if last nights homicide victim was actually leaving a Cumberland Farms in Avon and was shot dead in the parking lot.It would definitely be more than a voice-over on one channel on the 11 o'clock news or a short blip in the newspaper.
What level of outrage would be shown if a pregnant mother was shot on her porch in Farmington and lost her unborn child?
We need to demand the same level of outrage for our residents as any other resident across the state. First though we have to step up and acknowledge that it is our problem and we need to be part of the solution.
No Lone Ranger type figure is going to ride in to save us from ourselves, we need to save ourselves.
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