Tired Of It

 Jaden Watts has been taken into custody. This will come as a relief to residents in Wichita, Kansas who were had spent months looking for the eighteen year old. Not because he had run away from home, exactly. Not because he was thought to be part of some sort of human trafficking scheme. Young Jaden was apprehended. Not rescued. He was picked up for his participation in the shooting of twenty-four year old Demarc Burgess. 

If you're not keeping tabs on the Wichita police blotter, the death of young Mister Burgess may have missed your notice. It was less than a year ago that Demarc had accepted a plea deal for his part in a fatal shooting of twenty-eight year old Raul Aguilar. Raul and Demarc were initially involved in a fight at a "gathering" that escalated quickly into gunfire. Mister Burgess survived. Aguilar did not. Demarc was initially charged with Second-Degree Murder & Battery, Demarc pled guilty to one count of Aggravated Assault and one count of Aggravated Battery. Raul did not get a chance to argue his side of the case. Because he was dead.

The circumstances surrounding the death of Demarc read very similar to those that resulted in Raul's death. Jaden Watts was able to evade authorities for nearly four months after a disturbance at another home in Wichita brought police to the scene where Mister Burgess was found with multiple gunshot wounds. He was taken to a hospital where he was pronounced dead. Mister Watts has been charged with second degree murder. Bond for young Jaden has been set at one million dollars.

I bring this case up because of the way it follows such a tired and familiar path. The thread of violence is nothing new. Guns keep unraveling young lives and the story seems to be endless. New young men. Different guns. Same results. Wichita is one city in the United States. The United States is one of only three countries in the world with a constitutional right to own guns.

I apologize for the writing of that last paragraph. The last sentence is supposed to be a conclusion. I think it is, but you'll have to forgive the abruptness of it.

I'm tired.