TWO YEAR OLD SHOT IN BROAD DAYLIGHT
By Thomas Ells II
It’s a sad day in any city when a 2-year-old baby gets shot, and this is what happened on April 12 around 2 pm on 6th Street and 14th Avenue in Newark.
Now there have been several shootings in the city over the past few months, with several victims losing their lives. While the President of the United States Joe Biden is talking tougher gun legislation because of the rise of mass shootings across this country, that’s not the case in the hood. Let’s look at it.
When it comes to the inner cities, the problem is not mass shootings, but rather the number of shootings overall, and the number of victims that have been shot on any given day, at any given hour.
It’s a shame when people will allow irresponsible people to be in possession of a gun, knowing it’s illegal, and they don’t say anything, or talk to the person(s) about safety. With many of the shootings in the hood the gun is HOT, meaning stolen, used in the commission of another crime, not registered, nor permitted, and the serial number in some cases have been filed off, so the weapon cannot be traced.
There may not be much we don’t know about the shooting of the 2-year-old girl, but one thing we do know is that she was not the target, and when irresponsible people shoot guns, an innocent person or child can be hit by a stray bullet or killed. This is not stressed enough.
This unfortunate incident just goes to prove we have too many people with guns in and out of communities that do not know the dangerous weapons that they have in their hands.
Thank God the 2-year-old will survive her injury, where she was shot in the hip and had to undergo emergency surgery. Now just imagine what the family members and close friends of the family are going through, all because some irresponsible person or persons with a gun put the whole block, neighborhood, and community at risk of danger.
FIRE TAKES THE LIFE OF SEVEN YEAR OLD
An early morning fire at 65 Astor Street on April 8 took the life of 7-year-old Saahir Keiron Hartfield. The child was on the third floor of a three-family house when the fire erupted.
The fire completely destroyed the first, second and third floor. Several residents in the house were able to get out unharmed, but Saahir did not make it out of the building.
Several family members were devastated and by 9 am most of his family were standing across the street from the house in disbelief. The fire also destroyed the two other housing apartments that were next to it, which displaced several families.
This is a rough time for the family and friends of little Saahir Keiron Hartfield. He was loved by many, and one of his relatives stated that he was all about fun.
There is a memorial erected in front of the burned out house with balloons, stuffed animals, teddy bears, candles, and a sign saying, “We will miss you Saahir. Rest in Peace.”
As of deadline for this story the fire is still under investigation, with no answers on how it was started. I have noticed that a Go Fund Me page have been set up to assist the family.
Let us all pray for the Hartfield Family in their time of need.
