15-year-old boy found shot to death blocks from President Obama’s home

[DonViejo]

Source: Chicago Sun-Times

When Timika Rutledge didn’t see her son — nicknamed “Cornbread” — waiting for her on the corner Monday night, she immediately got a bad feeling.

After the police cars swooped in, she soon learned that her 15-year-old son, Cornelius German, was lying dead in a nearby backyard, shot only four blocks from President Barack Obama’s home in the 5000 block of South Greenwood.

-snip-

Police say the teen was shot in the back about 9:40 p.m. Monday in the backyard of a home in the 5000 block of South Evans. Cornelius, of the 1000 block of East Hyde Park, was pronounced dead at the scene.

Police said Cornelius was affiliated with a gang, which Rutledge denies, although she acknowledged that his older, rougher friends were probably involved with gangs.

-snip-



Read more: http://www.suntimes.com/news/crime/19664470-418/15-year-old-boy-found-shot-to-death-blocks-from-president-obamas-home.html

[marshall]

1. The Obamas will keep their girls safe

I know they will continue to keep them off the street when they return home for visits.

[frazzled]

3. My son lived in that neighborhood

a few years back, in college--five blocks from the crime scene described, but on the "bad" side (Obama's immediate block, a bit further east is nice). I kind of used to worry about him a lot coming home at night.

[Jenoch]

2. It's too bad this boy decided to join a gang.

[valerief]

4. And now I suppose someone will blame the the gun that shot him!

[alcibiades_mystery]

5. The gun that shot him started off as a "legal" gun

It entered pathways that put it in the hands of a murderer. How did that happen? What were the pathways, transactions, and conditions that moved that gun from point A to point Z? Can we close off those pathways while maintaining legal pathways for gun ownership? What protections can we set up to make those pathways more difficult to traverse, those transactions more difficult to conduct?

Oh, right, we're supposed to pretend that all these guns were "stolen" from law abiding gun owners.

[CountAllVotes]

6. +1

You my friend have nailed it!!!

[hack89]

9. Quadruple the size of the BATF and crack down on illegal gun sales

would be an easy solution.

[valerief]

10. There are no good guns. nt

[Sunlei]

7. I wish they had someway to imbed a gps chip in all guns or even in random bullets

wouldn't stop gangs or gang violence but maybe it would save a kid or two, or thousands

[ThomThom]

14. it's the bullets we should track

without them guns are useless except to hit someone with or maybe a door stop
every gun should have a bullet on file and powder should have tags

[Lurks Often]

15. NY & MD tried this and it was a failure

I think the attempt lasted 10 years and cost tens, if no hundreds of millions and they solved exactly 1 crime.

[riderinthestorm]

8. That part of Chicago is sharply divided - gangland right next to the U of C

You can feel pretty safe walking around the campus but as the article says, you can go 4 - 5 blocks off campus and be in a very rough neighborhood.

What a damn shame.

[Beacool]

11. Chicago has become a battlefield.

Poor boy, may he rest in peace.

[Pterodactyl]

12. I blame Chicago's out of control gun culture.

[Hoops59]

13. DonViego

I live in Chicago, 31,000 Americans die each year from gun shots. Each year. We are in a panic because of Boston. 31 thousand Americans died last year, from guns, 6 Americans died last week in Chicago, Double the amount in Boston. In one week, every week.