A little over a week ago, my seven year old daughter’s cousin was murdered. Three men drove for well over three hundred miles in what is believed to be a murder for hire scenario. In the matter of seconds, her cousin lie dead in his own driveway with a bullet in his head. Less than eight days later, three other murders and at least one other shooting (where no one was injured) occurred. The city in question has a population of approximately 53,000 people. 

The third murder was a family argument gone awry, and a young man shot and killed his father-in-law. He initially fled the scene, but turned himself in less than two hours later. While those involved in the killing of my cousin were almost immediately identified and apprehended, and the culprit in the third murder turned himself in, it is this second killing that saddens me so. The local newspaper reports that it was an argument involving several people gone bad. Now, a week later, the killer has still yet to be named, despite the numerous people who were present and/or witnesses to this tragic event.

Let’s rewind for a moment. March 13, 1964. Kitty Genovese arrived home in the middle of the night. While walking from her car to the door of her apartment building, she was attacked and stabbed. An estimated twelve to thirty-eight people heard and/or witnessed this attack. While Kitty was being assaulted, she screamed for help numerous times. Her attacker, Winston Moseley, ran off after someone hearing the attack yelled out of a window for him to leave her alone. Police were called on reports of a woman being beaten and wandering around the parking lot. Kitty staggered slowly towards her apartment building. Approximately ten minutes later (according to a witness statement), Moseley returned. He searched for Kitty and upon finding her, he stabbed her several more times, raped, and robbed her. These separate attacks spanned approximately thirty to fourty minutes.  Reported to the police were only two people who came forth and claimed to have actually seen the attack. Kitty Genovese died while being transported to the hospital. A lifetime of pain in only a short thirty minutes of time. This has become known as the “bystander” or “Genovese Syndrome”.

In this article alone, there are four lives, now gone forever. Approximately two dozen witnesses, and of those two dozen, only a select few have spoken. The character of some of the people I have written about in this article have come under fire, especially in the local newspaper’s forum/comments section. “Play with guns and drugs and gangs and this is what you get.”  “No big loss to society.” “He was a horrible person”. I’ve probably read three nasty comments for each positive one. “Make tougher gun laws.” “Make more guns and all drugs legal.” 

I myself don’t like guns, but I enjoy the constitution guaranteeing me the right to own one and use it to defend myself, in abidance of all other governing laws. I’ve not only known many people who have fallen victim to violent crimes, but I myself have been a witness to several. Arson. A hammer. Fists. A car. A Louisville. I could name a few, but until a week ago, only one has ever been targeted/killed by a gun. The fact is, that if someone sets out to harm or kill someone, they’ll do it with whatever is necessary. A gun only makes the job faster and there’s a better chance at the attack being fatal. My friend in England tells me that since guns have been banned in England, crime has only shifted. “Now instead of packing a glock, they pack other stuff under their shirts.”

So many lives ended not only in violence but by silence in the desire to not get involved or in fear of retaliation by doing so. Apathy is not only a killer, it’s a prison sentence to an eternity of silence and guilt.

… Oscar.. Dominique… Carla.. Jessica.. Charles…Eunice…Mike… You will always live in my memory. And to the countless others to whom I never knew and have been robbed of the opportunity to do.. may you ALL rest in peace.