Another day, another death

The Virginian-Pilot

AFTER THE SHOCK of the shooting death of a 15-year-old in Norfolk, and the greater shock that his accused assailants were four teenagers themselves, the South Hampton Roads community can do one of two things: We can shake our heads, grimace and retreat into our personal lives. Or we can take a stand to change the conditions that make such violence, though not common, much too frequent.

Police and prosecutors have shown that after one of these horrible crimes is committed, they can find suspects, arrest them and ensure they are brought to justice. But our efforts at prevention — before the attack, when kids reveal problems in school, at home, in their neighborhoods — have been abysmal. If we’re ever going to change the environment that permits such horrendous violence to take root, that’s where we need to work.

Especially since the victims of that violence, and the suspects, seem to be growing younger with each incident. Most recently, 15-year-old Dominic Young was gunned down during a restaurant robbery in Norfolk. The suspects — ages 13, 14, 15 and 18 — were arrested this week.

On Thursday, a 21-year-old man was arrested in Virginia Beach in the Nov. 10 shooting death of 1-year-old Ny-Asia Tillmon in the South Norfolk section of Chesapeake. Two other people were shot in that incident, and two other suspects are being sought.

In an especially brutal case in East Ocean View in July, several people — including four teenage girls — were charged in a mob assault and stomping that killed James S. Robertson, 19, and left two others injured. Court testimony indicated that gang members assaulted the men.

These incidents prompt questions without simple answers. How did young teens get guns so easily? Where were the parents? Why didn’t anyone intervene? And, most importantly, just how badly has society frayed?

U.S. Rep. Bobby Scott, a Newport News Democrat who’s long agitated for youth crime prevention — before incarceration — provides some hope. He’s introduced legislation that would pump $2.6 billion into gang-prevention programs, including mentoring, Boys & Girls Clubs, after-school programs, summer jobs and the like. This is a commendable goal, because it might provide young people with alternatives to crime and violence.

But that amount, as big as it is, isn’t sufficient for such a wide-ranging problem. The real and lasting solution is much cheaper, and much harder. Individuals, families, schools, churches, local institutions — in other words, all of us — have a stake in stemming the violence. We must all work harder and longer to help turn our young people away from these dangers.

We know we are losing another generation to the cemeteries and the prisons. What we don’t know is whether we will once again turn away from that fact, or turn toward solutions.