A thirteen year old boy died on Friday night about 50 miles south of town here. He’d stolen a car, and some gas, and shot at the police offers who tried to stop him. One of my officers was in the midst of it, but he missed the shooting by a few minutes. And they didn’t know the kid was only 13 at the time - in the dark, in all the chaos, and even after, they still believed he was in his 20s.

Not that that would make it better. Death is death, and this one was completely unnecessary. But somehow, that he was only 13, makes it worse.

Been thinking a lot about violence lately - the VT shootings, this… We live in a frightening world. A world full of angry and depressed and desperate people, and a world where the media makes stars out of those who commit heinous crimes. A lot of people blame guns. I blame society in general.

What’s wrong with us, that our children are so desperate and angry that they want to kill people - or themselves? What’s wrong with us, that we sensationalize crime and gore, that there’s never any good news on the front page of the morning paper? What’s wrong with us that we try to pass laws to ‘fix’ things, instead of getting to the root of the problem?

I don’t know. I don’t see us changing anytime soon. I don’t see it getting better anytime soon. I hope the families of this boy and the officers involved, and of course, the families of every victim of violence, find some peace and hope. I hope that boy has finally found some peace for whatever war must’ve been going on in his head and heart.

I hope we all do.

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