More Teens With Guns = More Dead Teens
When a teenager enters a school and shoots students and teachers, the country flies flags at half staff, and citizens cry for better gun control and mental health care. When a shooting involving teenagers or young adults happens in the inner city, it makes the local news and then fades into oblivion. Why is that?
Part of the reason is that in a school shooting, the victims are viewed as “innocent people,” whereas the victims of inner city violence are seen as criminals themselves. Sometimes this is true; some of the time it isn’t. Especially when it comes to young people, we shouldn’t discard troubled lives as not having as much value as others.
Let’s look at some of the recent shootings in Cleveland involving Black teens.
A 14-year-old boy was shot and killed in a downtown Cleveland apartment.
A 15-year-old boy died from a gunshot wound to the jaw in East Cleveland.
A 16-year-old boy was killed on the street in the southeast section of Cleveland.
After a heated exchange between two groups of young men, a teen was shot and killed. It was his 19th birthday.
An 18-year-old male was found deceased from a gunshot wound in the city’s Buckeye neighborhood.
Shots fired at a vehicle that was pulling out of a driveway struck and killed a 10-year-old boy.
Much of the shooting is being done by fellow teens:
In February, an 18-year-old male was arrested for two shootings in 2024. In one of the incidents, the suspect shot and injured a 26-year-old woman.
In Cleveland Heights, a 16-year-old male was arrested for the shooting death of a 74-year-old woman.
An 18-year-old male was indicted for the murder of two teenagers who were shot and killed in a stolen Kia.
In Garfield Heights, a juvenile was arrested for the shooting death of another teenager.
A scuffle between two teens in a Shaker Heights library ended when one of the teens shot and killed the other.
These are kids who should be studying, playing ball and going to dances. They should be dreaming of their futures. Why does a 14-year-old need a gun? Answer? He doesn’t. But how do we get him to put the gun down before he gets killed or kills someone else?
In Cincinnati, an 18-year-old Black male fleeing a stolen car was shot and killed by police. The police report indicated that the male pointed a gun at officers. Some people dispute that. Not long after witnessing a video of the encounter, the young man’s father got in his car and ran over a cop who had nothing to do with the incident. Now, the dad has been arrested for murder. In an instant, two generations of a family were destroyed, and an innocent police officer was killed. And for what? Stealing cars and carrying guns isn’t a fun hobby. It’s potentially deadly. There’s no future in it.
How do we help teens see a future for themselves and value the lives of others? First, we need to find out how this all happened.