Hartford is a city with, I think, an amazing untapped resource in its residents. It is also a city that never ceases to amaze me. So far this week has been a series of emotional ups and downs when you stand back and look at what Hartford has to offer. Realizing that baby steps get things started, the HPD Union this week took quite a few steps in the seminar they offered. I wrote a little about it last night, and I have a lot more to write later.
The sad part though is that many of the Hartford officers we were sitting with at the seminar had started their work day several hours earlier. They had been called in to investigate after a 27 year old woman became Hartford's latest homicide victim. A 27 year old woman who had no thoughts of violence as she spent the evening at a newly opened club on Franklin Avenue. A 27 year old woman who from all indications was fleeing from a bar after a fight broke out inside. A 27 year old woman who was not an instigator or a drug dealer or a gang member.
Simply enough, she was a 27 year old woman shot dead in the street as the result of two thugs settling a fight after one of the thugs ran to his car to retrieve a weapon. The total disregard for human life was exhibited as a 27 year old woman had the extreme misfortune of being an innocent victim of Hartford's gun violence. A 27 year old woman who had a bullet fired by a cowardly thug strike her in the head, ending her life almost immediately.
A bullet fired as the result of a gunfight between two cowards who chose to settle their differences at the barrel of a gun. A 27 year old woman who has the misfortune of being Hartford's 18th homicide victim for 2010.
The sad part though is in asking where is the outrage? Last week a 25 year old mother of a 4 year old son was victim number 17 as she exited a convenience store in the middle of a gunfight orchestrated by more gun toting cowards. A blip on the 11 o'clock news on Channel 3, a couple inches in a column of the Courant, but still no outrage. Try that in Farmington or Avon or Vernon and see what the response would be.
The really sad part though is that postings about predator politicians dancing in their blue boxers or how many women can a potential Mayoral candidate impregnate generate all types of responses. Shoot a 27 year old woman in the head or a 25 year old mother through the heart and nothing, no outrage...nothing.
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