‘Gang members jailed for shooting of five-year-old girl. ’ april 19 2012
Summary
Three member, between the ages of 19 and 21, have been sentenced to a total of 45 years jailtime. They were charged with shooting and paralysing a five-year-old-girl that was playing in a nearby shop, for shooting a man that was shopping there in the face and for shooting a member of a rival gang, whom they were following. The men shot into the shop twice, which was small and they knew there were people inside. The judge called this an "exceptional case of the utmost gravity".
Most of the what happened was broadcast on CCTV. The young girl is permanently paralysed below the waist and is very scared of something happening again. A charity has been organised to raise money for the young girls family.
Reaction
At first I thought that the girl and the man that was shopping accidentally got shot while they were chasing the gang member. But if they shot into the store, it does not seem very accidental to me. It is indeed a very scary thought that you could just be shot while playing or shopping. I think it is really nice that money is being raised for the young girl, although no amount of money can make up for being paralysed for the rest of your life. I am surprised to read that the shooting had been filmed ánd broadcast on CCTV. In Holland we don’t often see footage like that and I wonder if that is normal in the UK.
I find it terrible that a girl at the start of her life is paralysed because of such a foolish act. There was no use in shooting that girl and the fact that these gang members accepted this risk as collateral demage is awful. Marloes wondered whether or not it is normal to show such footage in the UK. I do not know either, but I know there are programmes in Holland that show footage of armed robberies. However, I do not think footage with severe wounded people would be broadcast on Dutch television.
BeantwoordenVerwijderenI find a total of 45 years jail time very low for something like this. I feel this is an attempt at murder and would call for life sentences. I do wonder what was going through the shooters mind when he shot a 5 year old girl, the rival gang-member I can understand but why the bystander and why the girl.
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