Eugene Kane is a writer for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. He often presents Black nationalist views in his column. This describes events in Milwaukee. My comment follows Kane's article.
A comment re Eugene Kane’s comment in Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 1 October 2011
Eugene Kane | In My Opinion
Perhaps more than anything else, the death of Shelton D. Smith was a lesson about consequences.
Just 16 years old, Smith lost his life in May when he was shot and killed while attempting to steal from a scrap metal yard. The shooter, 54-year-old David A. Helton, was sentenced to 12 years in prison last week after being found guilty of second-degree reckless homicide.
Helton was living in a trailer at the H&R Scrap Metals yard at 9000 W. Fond du Lac Ave. when he shot Smith, who had climbed over the fence and into the yard with two other young males and an adult.
As they were throwing old motor parts over the fence, Helton fired his shotgun, striking Smith and killing him at the scene.
At the time, I couldn't imagine a more combustible crime story for Milwaukee: a white guy living in a trailer shoots and kills an unarmed young black criminal during a robbery. On the surface, it seemed like a troubling tale about a vigilante shooting involving a good boy gone bad.
Smith was reportedly a promising athlete and student with dreams of going on to college. His family members were understandably upset at his death and insisted even though he was caught stealing, Smith was essentially a good kid who had followed the wrong crowd.
It turned out he paid for his bad judgment with his life, which his family felt was way too high a price.
Helton, a self-described loner who came to live in the scrap metal yard with the permission of the owner, told several different stories to police after the shooting.
He was convicted after Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Richard J. Sankovitz decided that Helton's version of the events - that it was an accidental shooting - simply didn't hold water.
"Many accidents could be avoided if people thought about what could happen," Sankovitz told Helton during sentencing.
"You didn't think about it, and Mr. Smith didn't think about it, either."
I talked with Johnathan Safran, the attorney representing Smith's mother, Tisha Monique Gardner, who said the family was considering further legal action against Helton and possibly the owner of the scrap metal yard.
Safran said no decision had been made on a wrongful-death lawsuit yet, although the family wasn't totally satisfied with the judge's 12-year sentence . For his part, Safran said he felt police and the district attorney's office had investigated the shooting well although he also expressed reservation about the length of the sentence.
"I don't think 12 years is enough for taking somebody's life."
It's a good bet Smith's family will pursue some sort of financial claims from the scrap metal yard owner. Even if the owner didn't consider Helton an official night security guard, his presence in the scrap metal yard suggested some sort of arrangement.
"He definitely seemed to be a nighttime presence ," said Safran, who noted Helton's living arrangement in a trailer at the scrap yard may have violated city housing ordinances.
Another messy detail is that, in an unrelated case, Smith's mother faces serious child neglect charges for 11 of her 12 children in a case out of Dane County. Safran is aware of those charges but said Smith wasn't living with his mother at the time of his death.
It turns out to be a complicated story about a group of people who clearly didn't consider all of their options before acting, with tragic results.
If Smith had thought twice about riding along with a group of friends who planned to rob the salvage yard, he'd likely be alive today.
If Helton had a better understanding of gun laws, he would have realized what it meant to open fire on someone who wasn't directly threatening his life.
Let's not forget the scrap yard owner who probably didn't fully appreciate the consequences of having an armed person living on his property without any training or authority.
With a lawsuit looming, the search for justice for Smith's family may prove messy, with the release of more embarrassing details about the slain teenager's upbringing. That's another consequence to consider. When children aren't raised properly, they can make poor decisions that can cost them their lives.
It's a lesson worth learning.
Here is my comment -- Hugh Murray
Here is a poor white man living in a scrap yard. Liberals automatically sneer, he is a loser. The poor man discovers 3 thieves throwing some of the merchandise over the fence to be stolen. He stops it - about the only why flash mobs and other thieves understand - with violence. So he killed a thief. If the guy had not been thieving, he would not have been injured. It's time to allow store owners to protect their property from those who simply take. Thieves should be punished, and if they seek to run away, shoot them faster.
The man is poor. He lives in a scrap yard. If he allows thieves to take everything, will he even be allowed that meager existence? That property is part of his life. He should defend it with everything possible. Its loss will mean the loss of his life. Of course, rich liberals cannot understand the poor. That is why they are liberal and have such sympathies for criminals and vote Democrat.
Justice for the poor of all colors means total defense of property from thieves.
The man should not be sentenced to any time in jail. The mother of the thief should be charged for raising a criminal.
A comment re Eugene Kane’s comment in Milwaukee Journal Sentinel 1 October 2011
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