I happened to be watching the news tonight, and I heard a story about a 13 year-old boy who was shot outside the home of Milwaukee County Supervisor Peggy West. Curious for more information, I surfed on over to WISN.com, where I found a little more on the story. Apparently the dispute was gang related, and according to the report, the boy who was shot allegedly flashed gang symbols at a 14-year-old friend of Supervisor West’s daughter, who then pulled out a gun and shot the 13-year-old in the back. The 13 year-old victim is recovering in the hospital, but he’s going to be paralyzed for life from the waist down.

Supervisor West’s home has apparently been vandalized since the incident, and she says her family has received death threats as well. This is a sad story all the way around, but what really gets my goat is the fact that the shooter apparently can’t (or won’t) be tried as an adult, so he’s going to get a slap on the wrist for his actions. I know I should probably show a little mercy considering the shooter’s only 14 years old, but I’m a firm believer that if he was grown up enough to have a gun and use it, he should be grown up enough to face the consequences as a grown up.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 7th, 2007 at 10:15 pm and is filed under Milwaukee County, News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.