I have been away from my blog to far too long, for this, I apologize.

I’m Back!

One night while working in New York there was police chase in a small town in New Jersey. As the fleeing driver went through an intersection, he collided with another car that was crossing that intersection at the same time. The driver of the second car died. All the news stations sent crews to cover this horrific breaking news story. Shortly after the accident the victim’s friends and family came to the scene and cried at the site of their friend who lay dead inside a mangled car. So, we all covered this tragic event and felt sorry for the poor driver who lost his life as a result of a fleeing suspect.

When the time came for our producers to write the story for our newscast, I called the spokesman, (Public Information Officer) for the police agency investigation the accident. As he gave me the details of what happened he said something to me that I have never forgotten. “don’t cry too much for the victim on this one” At first I didn’t understand what he meant. The comment from the spokesperson seemed cold and heartless; cold and heartless that is until you know the facts. The driver who died was speeding away from a convenience store he had just robbed.

So you see not all “victims’” are as innocent as they seem. This brings me to the point of this commentary. We keep hearing about people who get shot and killed on our streets. We cover the grieving family and friends who gather at the scene and cry and tell the media what a great human being the victim was, carried a bible at all times, helped little old ladies cross the street etc etc etc. Before we cry too many tears for them, let’s find out who they were and why they were shot. Chances are they fall into a category I have d coined “B.S. or G.” This stands for BUYER OF DRUGS, SELLER OF DRUGS , OR GANG MEMBER. They were shot and killed for a reason. Now, not all shooting victims fall into these categories, however, the next time you see on the news a story where someone is shot and killed while standing on a street corner in the middle of the night in the middle of the week, ask yourself, why were they shot? I may have just saved you some tear shedding.