It's been nearly two weeks since a 14-year-old boy shot a 13-year-old boy in the back near the south side home of Milwaukee County Supervisor Peggy West. The shooter is the boyfriend of West's daughter.
The victim survived the shooting, but his injuries are permanent. He's paralyzed from the waist down.
What's the shooter's punishment for dramatically altering the rest of the 13-year-old's life? A mere two years at Ethan Allen.
From The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:
Before the sentencing in Milwaukee County Children's Court, the 13-year-old's relatives made an impassioned plea that the shooter visit the victim in the hospital to see the tragedy he caused.
Clutching a photo of her grandchildren, the victim's grandmother addressed the shooter: "That's my grandson . . . please look, this is (him). That's his brother and sister. You changed all their lives. He can't play with them anymore. His little brother doesn't understand why his brother can't even get out of bed.
"You've ruined my family's life, and you've ruined your own life."
The grandmother is right that her family's life has been severely damaged; but she's wrong about the shooter having ruined his own life.
He's ruined two years of it. Relatively speaking, that's nothing. He gets to walk away.
Even while he's at Ethan Allen, he'll be walking and running -- things that his victim will never do again.
The 14-year-old had been dating one of West's daughters, and was hanging out with her around 10 p.m. Aug. 1 on the porch of West's home in the 1100 block of W. Scott St. before the shooting. According to statements by witnesses included in the Children's Court petition, the victim was out bicycling with another boy that evening.
A Milwaukee County Supervisor's daughter dates a boy that carries a gun and shoots at another kid.
That's not the kind of boy I'd allow my daughter to date. That's not the kind of boy I'd allow my son to hang around with.
West supposedly didn't know. It's easy to say that she should have. I know it's not that simple, but there will always be that cloud over her, that she didn't do enough as a mother to know what sort of person her young teen daughter was dating.
I don't understand why the shooter's punishment is so pathetically weak.
It was pure luck that he didn't kill the 13-year-old.
In two years, this dangerous kid will be out on the street. He'll be 16 and have a full life ahead of him, probably a life of crime.
The 13-year-old will never walk again. Not when he's 16. Not when he's 61. Not ever.
The shooter can put it all behind him in two short years. The victim never will.
One witness said that the first time the two boys biked by the house, the 14-year-old "mean mugged" them, and they "mean mugged" back in turn.
Another witness said that when the victim bicycled by West's house for a second time, another group of boys on bicycles and on foot passed by. One of that group began flashing gang signs.
Almost immediately, the 14-year-old began to fire shots toward the bicyclists, according to witness accounts.
The victim fell off his bike, at which point his friends tried to carry him away.
The shooter told police that he felt threatened by the gang signs, but does not belong to a gang himself.
Can you believe that?
A dirty look or flashing a gang sign warrants firing shots at a kid on a bike?
It's shocking that this 14-year-old would have so little respect for life.
It's shocking that he would be so stupid. Did he think he'd get away with it?
I wonder if West's daughter tried to stop her boyfriend. Is she as prone to acting out violently as he is?
There is no indication that the shooter and victim knew each other.
...The defense attorney said his 14-year-old client had "panicked" that night out of fear and wanted the gun to protect himself from gang members. The boy had no prior record.
But Assistant District Attorney Steven Licata called the 14-year-old's version of events "absolute baloney."
"Why did he have a gun in the first place?" Licata asked.
I agree. Absolute crap.
Before announcing the sentence - the maximum available - Children's Court Judge Thomas Cooper told the 14-year-old: "I suspect you never fired a gun before. You were probably shocked at the noise the gun made."
The judge went on to say that as hard as the sentence will be on the boy, "at least at the end of two, four years, you will be able to walk out. The victim will never be able to do that."
The shooter's grandmother also addressed the court and the victim's family. "I know how sincerely sorry he is," she said. "It was fear based. He didn't mean to hurt him."
If the shooter was so frightened, why didn't he go in the house and tell an adult? Why didn't he tell his COUNTY SUPERVISOR that he didn't feel safe?
The fear excuse is ridiculous.
Adding to the mess, the judge seems like a wuss.
"I suspect you never fired a gun before. You were probably shocked at the noise the gun made."
Give me a break.
Why does he suspect that?
I'm surprised he didn't say, "You were probably shocked that a gun can hurt someone."
What was the kid doing with a gun anyway?
Instead of talking about the kid's new adventures with guns, the judge should have blasted him for carrying it and using it.
...After expressing sympathy for each other, the two [grandmothers] embraced, weeping in each other's arms before the court.
Where were the mothers of the shooter and the victim?
Were they in court?
If they were, and it sounds like they weren't, why were the grandmothers doing all the talking?
I'd like to know more about them. Are they the legal guardians of the boys? How old are these women? Are they in their mid-30s?
It's nice that they could express sympathy for each other and understand each other's pain.
Still, I don't view that scene of them crying in each other's arms as a warm, fuzzy moment.
"Boo hoo. Isn't this sad? Our poor grandsons. Everyone is a victim."
To quote Bob Dylan: "Now ain't the time for your tears."
What makes this sad is it didn't have to happen. It was a choice.
The shooter isn't a mixed-up kid. He's a menace to society, and two years at Ethan Allen isn't enough.
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