Hate crime in my area

[2andalone]

I was reading the news and saw that there was the first day in court for the teenager who shot his classmate (named Larry King) in class because the classmate was gay. The boy who was shot was living in a group home and would often wear makeup and high heels because that's what he was comfortable in. His classmate apparently had issues with this and the two clashed. One day the boy brought a gun to school and shot and killed Larry.

Such a horrible story. They are trying the boy as an adult. He was 14 at the time of the shooting and 17 now.

 

[Clive]

That is awful. I agree with charging the shooter as an adult. Although still technically a child, kids of 14 know the difference between right and wrong and should most certainly know better than to kill someone.

 

[Johnson]

I agree with charging him as an adult too 14 is old enough to understand that dead is dead there is no turning back unlike a younger child. I am suprised the school allowed the other child to come to school dressed in that manner, because they knew that would cause a disturbance.

 

[bighelp]

How can they try him as an adult when he was not even old enough to drive at the time? That seems a little odd. In our area there are some crimes in the city but nothing in the hate crime area.

 

[Len]

I am suprised the school allowed the other child to come to school dressed in that manner, because they knew that would cause a disturbance.

The story is just awful. Now that more and more students are identifying as transgender it would be extremely difficult (and unethical) for a school to police students and their gender identity when it comes to clothing and things like that.

Still, it doesn't matter if the kid was causing a disturbance with his appearance. There's no excuse for a hate crime like this. It's not his appearance that caused his death, it was the hate of one individual for another.

 

[2andalone]

I think I mostly agree with charging him as an adult because he took a life and knew what he was doing. He was old enough to understand that he was killing somebody. Plus there were kids in the classroom that witnessed the murder that are going to have that image in their heads for the rest of their lives.

A new article I read suggested that the murderer has white supremacist leanings as well.

 

[GranddadHoward]

I don't know how a 14-year-old kid can be so filled with hate that they take another kid's life. Where is that coming from? Kids that age have to be getting it from somewhere. I'm not sure I agree with trying him as an adult. He definitely needs to be punished, though.

 

[Jdrake]

I live in a hate crime area and I think that the child should be charged as an adult. I also believe that the parents of the boy should be charged with it, these things are learned in the home.