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Family and friends of the 92-year-old who was fatally killed by a stray bullet in her Bronx home on Tuesday are still reeling from the tragedy. Sadie Mitchell's daughter Sharon van Rooij said, "When someone is in their 90s, it's inevitable that they're going to die, but not like this... Not at the hands of some punk. I hope [the killer] will fry. I don't care how old you are -- 18, 19, 30 or 12. I hope you fry."
Mitchell had lived in the Williamsbridge house for since 1954. The Daily News reports, "The northern Bronx neighborhood was once a diverse collection of middle-class blacks, Irish and Italians. But its economic fortunes have slipped dramatically in recent decades, neighbors said." Van Rooij had asked her mother to move, but she refused, "This was her home." A neighbor said, "This neighborhood used to be very good. You could leave your door open and nobody would trouble you. It's changed terribly."
Witnesses have said that a fight broke out, with kids wielding bats—and apparently one fired a gun. Neighbor and friend John Fields, who would drive Mitchell to church and volunteer work and had just taken her to Applebee's with his wife, lamented to the NY Times, "These kids don’t seem like they have any respect for anybody. They don’t seem like they care about life." The Post reports that the police were questioning someone about the shooting this morning.
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I hope the punk fries too. But alas, thanks to bleeding heart liberals, the electric chair is no more. Maybe the killer just needs a hug.
Bleeding heart liberal here... I actually think the kid along with his parents and grandparents should all go to jail for the next 20 years. Maybe little pieces of shits will think differently when it's their whole family sent to prison.
Or maybe what Mrs. Mitchell really needed was a bleeding heart liberal to enact some gun control so she wasn't shot on her couch.
Uh, because whoever sot her used a registered firearm. NOT. Criminals get their guns no matter what the laws are. All legislation does is make sure law-abiding citizens can't fight back.
Yeah, the old bat would still be alive today if only she had been armed to the teeth, like some nonagenarian Rambo, right?
Nice try, Spirit of 76. I was commenting on the previous remark which insinuated that tougher gun laws would somehow have prevented the SHOOTER from having a gun. Douchebag.
Let's see. What exactly did you write? "All legislation does is make sure law-abiding citizens can't fight back." Translation: If the laws had been looser and the woman had a gun, she could have shot back.
I'd ease up on the "douchebag" talk if I were you. Not many people willingly take the names of two famous sociopaths.
"These kids don’t seem like they have any respect for anybody. They don’t seem like they care about life."
Is that surprising? Despite their bravado and dreams of being rap stars or hoop stars, these kids know in their heart of hearts that they have no prospects and no futures. There's no reason they should care about anybody else.
Dear Foolio:
The City of New York has some of the most restrictive gun control laws in the United States, and it is basically impossible to legally obtain or possess a handgun in the City without prior authorization by the police, which is a long, complicated, and expensive process, and it is slightly less impossible to legally obtain or possess a rifle or shotgun. You cannot possess a loaded weapon on your person unless you have undergone an intensive training and certification process and it is required for your work. The dumb punk who fired the gun did not get it legally. So, exactly what gun control measures would have saved this woman?
...the gun control measures that help prevent criminals from purchasing guns legally in states with lax laws and bringing them back to NYC to sell to other criminals. All the laws here won't make a lick of difference if other states do not cooperate.
But you know what? This is really about the inability of parents and teachers and the community to raise their fucking kids in a manner where they aren't trying to kill each other with baseball bats and guns and whatever.
This story makes me so angry. I agree with Mr. Fields' comments. These kids do not respect their own lives or those of others in their community, and the whole situation appears to be getting worse.
It's tragic. But it isn't a liberal/conservative issue - why does everybody in america feel the urge to politically divide something like this? It's a question of common sense - the guilty should be punished, severely, guns should be taken off the streets, and our educational system needs to be made a priority so that kids learn to respect and value life.
So sad. She looks like such a sweet lady.
Why can't kids just have knife fights in the street? People hardly get killed by stray knives.
Tell that to poor Polonius.
lol hilarious!
My condolences to Sadie Mitchell...this is horrible...
I want to complain about the overall lack of morality on New York streets...but that doesn't really help anything...
Is there some way to gather several people together and make these kids fear going outside? Apparently, that's the only way they operate...and since their parents don't have any control over them...*shrug*
It's sad to be reminded that this trash still exists roaming the streets. I heard this incident may have involved something like 60 people!
Poor woman and her family. What way to go after 92 years.
The story is just awful. To think that this poor woman left this mortal coil in such a manner sickens me. Our elected officials would prefer to sweep this type of horror under the rug, but something really needs to be done about the gangs, the guns, and the depraved indifference exhibited by these perps. Innocent people are terrorized by these felons in training and no one seems to give a shit. I hope someone doesn't reply with HUMANE EDUCATION either
Sad... just so sad. Stories like these make me so angry at all the politicians who oppose tighter gun control laws and balk at passing them.
Where's the outrage from Al Sharpton?
This reminds me of the time Rosa Parks got mugged in 1994. I hope this lady died without suffering.
All the gun control laws in the world will not stop this from happening when kids are not taught basic morality, right from wrong. Gun control is no substitute for good parenting.
Not to mention proper neo-natal care and nutrition from day one. My mom did all of her dissertation research at a Head Start program in a similiarly run-down neighborhood. The thing that was overwelmingly common, and these were the kids enrolled in a program no less, was a lack of basic care and proper diet (which has been proven again and again to cause developmental delays and even damage to the brain of a child). An example: some of the five-year olds didn't know the first thing about brushing their teeth because mom and dad were never home. A lot of them already had cavities that their parents wouldn't be able to afford to fix.
The biggest problem of all was that there were a startling number of kids who were learning disabled either because their mother didn't recieve proper care or take care of herself during prgnancy, or because the kid was simply delayed from lack of interreaction with the parents. Big problem because the public schools don't have the proper funding for Special Needs programs. Most of the time these kids will have a turnstile of white middle-class Teach for America "teachers" who will be burned out in a few years and don't have the proper training to recgognize learning diabilities and developmental delayments.
All in all, by the time most of these kids reach 7th grade they will not be able to read, have had a poor diet their whole lives, and turn to things like selling drugs and gang activity. By now, they are so brain damaged that, yes, they propably don't understand empathy. It's a very scarry thing.
She's my grandmother's age. It makes me so mad to see someone who made her home in a community since 1954 and this is her send - off from this world? It's appauling.
Unfortunately the punishment never seems to fit the crime. If they do find the one that is responsible, he will do a few years and come out ready to do more harm to innocent people. Rest in Peace Sadie Mitchell.
It's difficult to buy a firearm in NYC. However, you can take an hour drive to PA and buy whatever you like, that's the real issue.
Woah 92. In the black community we call that great-great-great-great-great-great-great grandma.
Yes, because every black woman starts popping out babies in their teens...
In other news, this tragedy deserves more than snarky bullshit and angry words.
If I can sucessfully grow up in this city without ever becoming a law-breaking stereotype, the ass-backwards kids I see on the streets should be able to. Blame the parents.
I hope the cops don't profile and they question as many asian females as black males while investigating this.
REMEMBER THE BUSHWICK 32!
Bronx 18-year-old Jamal Blair has been arrested and charged with second degree murder and criminal possession of a weapon in the killing.