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Teen shot to death in the middle of the day
By adamg on Fri, 04/24/2009 - 4:43pm
Boston Police report finding an 18-year-old male with a gunshot wound around 11:40 this morning at 71 Homestead St. in Dorchester. EMTs at the scene were unable to revive him and he was pronounced dead where he lay.
We await the front-page coverage and news bulletins on local TV stations as police pursue his killer.
Oh, who are we kidding? Some poor kid is dead in the ghetto, and this is the last we'll hear about him.
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Comments
unless he was twittering. We
unless he was twittering. We don't have a Twitter killer yet. Oh yeah, probably no med students involved.
Also ...
I'm suspecting middle-aged male editors won't be describing him as "stunning." But it will be interesting to see how much coverage his murder does get given what's been going on around here the past couple of weeks (and yes, I realize that other story deserves more attention if only because we had a possible serial attacker on the loose, one who didn't seem to care about media attention, but still).
More to it than "serial"
Many gang-affiliated folks commit multiple violent crimes, but it doesn't pique the public interest in the same way.
http://1smootshort.blogspot.com
It's somewhat understandable
If you're in a high-crime environment, I'm guessing that that violent crime is more familiar to you, and even expected. Though you're still vulnerable to tragedy hitting especially close to home.
If you're *not* in a high crime environment, I think that crimes in the high-crime neighborhoods are perceived as foreign and inevitable. It's crimes outside those neighborhoods that are unfamiliar and strike closer to home.
That said, the news media *does* cover murders in high-crime environments, though not nearly at the level of the Brisman case. For example, the Globe will sometimes send a reporter and photog to do a story on the aftermath of a murder in a high-crime neighborhood, and personalize it for people.
Sometimes the quotes in these stories suggest an unconscionable situation, such as a neighborhood *in Boston* where people have come to accept shootings and the death of innocent bystanders as ordinary. It's like a third-world country or a combat zone. It's horrifying, but I think the persistence of the situation contributes to a sense of fatigue and inevitability, at least on the part of those not trapped in it.
It also depends in part on
It also depends in part on whether craven anonymous sources will beat a path to the nearest pay phone and spill the latest details of the investigation, possibly to its detriment, for those editors.
Interesting
I figured the anonymous sources were probably authorities acting in the interests of the investigation or in that of the organizations.
For example, the intent could be to reassure the public that the organizations are capably solving the problem, or to keep public attention on the case in hopes of eliciting leads.
Anonymous sources don't get much personal glory from leaking, and social capital with reporters at news organizations ain't worth what it used to be. What other motives might there be?
Myspace?
We could probably assume he has a myspace... how about The Myspace Killer?
Ghetto? Well, not really.
Has the reporter ever been to Homestead Street?
Is Homestead Street in the ghetto? Does Boston even have a neighborhood one could call a ghetto?
No, to both questions. Not at all. Boston just doesn't have the density for a ghetto. Bromley-Heath is the closest you get in Boston. But, they are all mid-rise buildings and a three-minute walk from any point in Bromley-Heath brings you out of the project. Even the most desperate parts of Dorchester are just run-down neighborhoods.
The main point of the article, though, is well-taken. Pretty, med-school white boy hates women and kills one, beats another. This is news. A 'scary' black boy shot in broad daylight won't get one one-hundredth the coverage.
"Typical" versus "Atypical" cases
Gangbanger shoots a rival or another gang banger = "typical". From the sound of it, this sort of shooting accounts for many if not most of the murders in a given year.
Gangbanger murders a young kid or pregnant teen by accident or mistaken id = "atypical"
Medical student works out his issues with gambling debt and debasement of sex workers with a gun in expensive hotels = "atypical".
The "atypical" cases are what grab headlines. It is less of a comparison to put the med school murderer up against yet another gang murder than it is to compare it to the stories that get run when a 12 or 13 year old minister's son is picked off while waiting for a ride.
Assumptions and loaded terms
Swirly, this misandrist attitude has me worried that you have a pathological problem with men.
What part of:
suggests that this had anything to do with "gangs" or "gangbangers"? Seems a tad assumptive for such MINISCULE coverage and facts about what happened to this 18-year-old who died in front of his friend's own eyes. That's highly judgemental to be discussing gang violence when you know NOTHING about this particular person or even the cause of the crime against him. Hypocrite much?
Globe story
18-year-old is shot, killed in Roxbury. Inside the Metro section, of course, while news that one of Markoff's prints was found in Warwick was the lead story in the paper.
Quoting that story
Overlooking for the moment that this is poor writing, I think it supports my earlier comment. Shootings there normally *aren't* nerve-rattling?
Why the Metro section?
I suspect that most people who live outside high-crime neighborhoods generally feel that what goes on in those neighborhoods is irrelevant to them. Except to the extent that they're glad that drama is concentrated in neighborhoods other than their own.
Or, I suppose, some people might have various stereotypes of race, class, or culture reinforced by the steady stream of stories from high-crime neighborhoods. That doesn't mean they want it on the front page every day.
No, not so brazen
Usually the shooting is very polite and discreet.
Or, I suppose, some people
Or, I suppose, some people might have various stereotypes of race, class, or culture reinforced by the steady stream of stories from high-crime neighborhoods. That doesn't mean they want it on the front page every day.
There have been, what, 12 murders this year in Boston? Even if every one got on the front page, that's hardly an overwhelming number (thankfully, we don't live in Baltimore North). Which one has been on the front page every day for several days now? Involving people who aren't from the Boston area? And no, I'm not counting the alleged murder as being local, since he's really from upstate New York.
The Brisman coverage
The Brisman coverage represents sensational excess, not a standard, IMHO.
Perhaps there's only one homicide per week (16 so far this year, I think the Globe said), but there are other violent crimes, including non-lethal shootings, stabbings, and beatings, on a daily basis.
I'm going to speculate even more than usual now, and suggest that they all blend together for many people in a perception of "continuous violent crime and tragedy condition in such-and-such set of neighborhoods," rather than as discrete events.
Admittedly, that's how I usually process them myself, but there are only so many problems that I can do anything about. I have to hope that others actually understand the systemic problems in these neighborhoods and are doing the right things.
Here's an idea for coverage
Put these crimes in context (as the Globe did the tiniest bit of in this story). What are the causes? How are they being addressed? What has worked and not worked in the past, here and elsewhere? Tell us when we (Boston) make progress, or else we (news readers) will burn out and tune out again.
Build more context into every violent crime report too, since we have catch-up learning to do.
Small point of correction
East Baltimore is where the majority of the Baltimore homicides occur. Some in Franklin Square and then a few more out near Pimlico to the NW.
No Snitching
As they investigate, will people be willing to talk with them?
The Herald has more details
Including the kid's name and the possible link to gangs, as well as an interview with a neighbor who'd been eating pizza with him just minutes earlier - and, oh, yeah, a photo of the kid's covered body lying on the sidewalk.
The link to gangs is a quote from Ed Davis. The Globe doesn't have anything from the police commissioner. Is he not talking to the Globe or did the just not try to get him on the phone? Or was he at the crime scene as the Herald obviously was, while the Globe just called up the police PR person?
Study
Some journalism/media person at a school in town should do corpus research on how the Globe and Herald (and perhaps TV stations) have covered various homicides.
Victim identified
Boston Police report he was John Davis, 18, of Roxbury.