Tragedy: Wilson family's story could be one heard right here in city

The child was 7 years old, just barely old enough to have completed the first grade and to perhaps be looking forward to the second.

And in a moment, because of some thug's bullet meant for someone else, a young life was extinguished before it even had the chance to blossom.

Who knows what we lost.

The sad thing about the story out of Wilson today is that the same story could have been told in just about every major American city -- and in Goldsboro.

There are too many criminals with guns and too few ways to stop them.

While gun control seems like a viable answer, it won't protect little ones caught in the crossfire of gangs, drugs and crime.

We need more law enforcement out on the street and stricter laws for those who are caught. We need to find ways to stop this cycle of violence and to point more teens in the right direction instead of letting them become victims of the streets.

It is the same old song with the same old non-answers. But it is problem that is not going to just melt away. We have to do something and soon, before any more 7-year-olds' families have to bury children much too soon.

Published in Editorials on July 25, 2014 11:03 AM