The Liberals Blame the Gun, the Rest of Us Know Otherwise,....

Posted on Thu, Nov. 29, 2007


Youth, 15, arrested in shooting of boy, 5

By DAVID GAMBACORTA
Philadelphia Daily News

gambacd@phillynews.com 215-854-5994

The hunt for Kevin Fletcher ended almost as quickly as it started.

Fletcher, 15, was arrested by plainclothes police officers shortly before noon yesterday, just a day after he allegedly shot a 5-year-old boy in the buttocks in the Fairhill section of the city.

The teen was hiding out in a house on the same block of Huntingdon Street near 6th where the shooting occurred, said police spokesman Lt. Frank Vanore. He was unarmed and taken into custody without incident.

Fletcher was to be arraigned at 5 a.m. today. Fletcher was also wanted for a shooting Nov. 2 on 10th Street near Dauphin, North Philadelphia.

"Our position about the incident that occurred Tuesday morning is that it was completely accidental. [Fletcher] had no intention to hurt a 5-year-old child," his attorney, Doug Dolfman said.

Investigators said Fletcher stole two handguns from his uncle earlier this month. One, a .380-caliber, was used to wound the unidentified 5-year-old. The other, a .40-caliber, was found by police in the van taking the boy to the hospital.

Charlene Stallings, 29, the mother of the wounded boy, was arrested and charged with endangering the welfare of a child. She was at a cocktail lounge while her son and other youngsters were outside unsupervised when the shooting occurred about 1 a.m., police said. Police said Fletcher and other youths have been roaming unsupervised over the past several weeks, and several of the youngsters have been accidentally wounded playing with guns. *


From an earlier version:

The 5-year-old's mother, Charlene Stallings, is charged with endangering the welfare of a child. According to police, she was at a lounge when the boy was shot. A 2-year-old sister and brothers ages 9 and 11 also were in the house at the time.


Of course, its somebody else's fault:


Aisha Meggett, Stallings' cousin, said the police have the story all wrong. She was babysitting at the home yesterday and helping to clean up; clothes were strewn around the living room following the police search the night before.

"They're trying to make it seem like my cousin is a bad mother, but she takes care of these kids," Meggett said, opening the refrigerator to show that it was stocked with food. She said Stallings was not at a lounge at the time of the shooting, but visiting friends nearby, while a 19-year-old cousin of the injured boy was babysitting. The incident happened about 10:30 p.m., she said.

"There's no gun in this house, no drugs, nothing," Meggett said. "My cousin wouldn't jeopardize anything." She had no idea how Fletcher obtained the gun. "Kids find guns and they play with them. If they [police] found a gun here, they set us up."

Other relatives, too, decried the ready availability of guns.

"What do you think? Guns are all around," said a teenage cousin of the victim, who declined to give his name. "Go over there, go in there, and you'll find a gun in a couple of minutes," he said, indicating a vacant lot across the street. (TM - Note that none of those guns in the 'vacant lot' are legally owned!)

After the shooting, the boy was taken by private vehicle to Episcopal Hospital and then to St. Christopher's Hospital for Children, where he remained yesterday. His three siblings were taken into custody by the city's Department of Human Services, which is also investigating.

The TrekMedic's take:

Let's see: read the story and what sticks out in your mind?

Yup,...a lack of a father figure in the household. But that's a typical liberal situation, right?

Liberals see this story as "Guns are evil, families mean nothing, we'll raise the children for you."

Right-minded people see this as "A lack of a two-parent home and an inattentive mother has lead to a child being hurt and more children becoming wards of the state at taxpayers' expense."