Another gang shooting, another innocent victim. The police in Los Angeles have put out a reward of $50,000 for information that leads them to the arrest of four men suspected of killing a 7-year-old boy during a drive-by last week. But this wasn't just any old drive-by, not according to the mother of little Taalib Pecante.
The slain second grader's mother has come out to say that her son's killers knew what they were doing -- specifically killing a child.
Sawan Mock was in the car when four men started firing upon her and her son and says they shot 28 times ... at her child:
They knew my baby was in the car. It was so bright inside the car, I can still remember how dark it was outside.
I'm not going to sit here and say that I understand any kind of gang violence or can think of any excuse to shoot at people in car, but I thought there was supposed to be some sort of honor among thieves. Once they saw the kid, shouldn't these "men" have realized what they were doing was wrong and stepped back? Doesn't the innocence of childhood mean anything anymore?
I suppose the realist in me -- or is it the cynic? -- should make me ashamed for even asking that question. From Newtown to the Boston bombing, we've seen time and again the indifference to children and their special place in this world.
And yet, I can't quite figure out if this is a problem with society as a whole or just some sick individuals whose moral compass was outfitted with an arrow that swings wildly. I'm hoping the latter.
It wasn't society that walked up to Sawan Mock's car and shot her little boy. It was just four men -- described only as African Americans wearing black hoodie jackets -- four cowards who then ran away, leaving a mother and her dead child in their wake; four monsters who took a child's life just because they could.
What do you think should be done with these men when the LAPD catches up to them?
Image via Tim Patterson/Flickr