Thursday, July 10, 2008

Little boy spray-painted by gangster

What is this world coming to, when things like this happen? From the LA Times: "Teen spraying graffiti allegedly paints face, body of 6-year-old boy."

A teenage gang member was arrested Wednesday for allegedly spray-painting the face and body of a 6-year-old boy who saw him vandalizing a wall, authorities said.

Another teenager allegedly restrained the child while the 15-year-old who was arrested sprayed him with blue paint, said Los Angeles County Sheriff's Capt. James Hellmold.

The boy's mother found him covered in paint and crying, Hellmold said.

The incident occurred on the afternoon of June 25 in Willowbrook, an unincorporated area near Compton.

"This actually shocks the conscience," said Hellmold, captain of the Lynwood sheriff's station. "You see a lot on things done by gang members, but even in gang crime terms this crosses the line. This is horrendous."

He said he hoped deputies soon would also arrest the teenager who held the child down.

"We aren't about to let anyone get away with such a horrible act," Hellmold said.

He said the teenager in custody provided clues that helped police arrest him because he sprayed his gang affiliation and moniker on a nearby wall just before attacking the child. People in the community also came forward and helped deputies identify him, Hellmold said.

The 15-year-old was already in custody on suspicion of theft but was detained Wednesday on suspicion of kidnapping, assault with a caustic chemical and felony vandalism.

Hellmold said both suspects are considered gang members, but he declined to release the name of the gang, saying he did not want them to garner any claim to the area.


It's not enough to graffiti everywhere, but now gang members have to terrorize little children, too? To hold that poor little boy down and cover his face and body with spray-paint?

Did doing this make the big bad gangster feel better? Did it make him feel tougher? Was the 6 year old somehow emasculating him? What part of humanity is missing, when we would so willingly harm a child in this fashion?

Argh. I can't even believe how angry this makes me. That poor child. I need Kicker to wake up from his nap, so I can cuddle him, and know that the whole world hasn't gone completely mad.

1 comments:

MamaGeek @ Works For Us said...

Sometimes it's all just too much. How sad. How really really sad.

 
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