Overtown shooting: turn the bastards in
The families of the two young people who died after someone shot up a party in Overtown last week come together to plead for help finding the killers of their loved ones, 17-year-old high school student Anthony Smith, who played football but also was an excellent student at Booker T. Washington H.S., and 21-year-old Florida A&M student Michelle Coleman, 21, who found out on the day she was shot, that she was pregnant. Watch the video:
On Friday, I spoke to the officer seen in the above video, who’s a friend of mine. He said the sad thing is, the 30 31 shootings in Miami this year are down 6 from last year, not because fewer idiots are shooting people, but because, as in warfare, medical treatment is becoming so advanced that more people are surviving — albeit maimed, paralyzed or mentally scarred for life — catastrophic wounds that even a few years ago would have killed them. Bottom line: somebody knows who sprayed that party and shot 12 people, killing these two. Somebody needs to man- or woman up and start talking. If we in the Black community don’t have the courage to stop protecting the slimeballs who do this stuff with our silence and our fear, then shame on us. (The one bit of good news in this case is that neighborhood residents are talking to police, and providing tips,) unlike in another mass shooting earlier this year in Liberty City.
If you have a tip about this crime, and are scared to call police, use the anonymous tip line: Miami-Dade Crime Stoppers, 305-471-8477. They will NOT use your name, and no officers will show up at your door.
Oh, and before any NRA types start emailing me about how the Second Amendment could have saved those dead young people, this one’s for you:
Kedricka Hughes, a 16-year-old who attended the party, said there was a peaceful atmosphere all evening. She said about 200 people were there.
Willie Calhoun, 25, said he saw a man wearing a black hoodie partly wrapped around his face walking down the street. The man held an AK-47 assault rifle at his side for several minutes, as if he were looking for someone, Calhoun said.
”He turned and started shooting,” Calhoun said. He said he was with about three other people who started shooting.
Partygoers in the crowd pulled guns in response, he said.
”It turned into the O.K. Corral,” he said. … People were screaming and crying, running in different directions as bullets sprayed the crowd from different angles.
According to police, “shots were fired from at least two directions and that six guns were used — five pistols and an AK-47 assault rifle.” What we need is less guns on the streets, not more.
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