Murfreesboro, TN detective explains rise in teen ‘shootings, homicides’ (wkrn.com)

Amazingly, a good article without the proverbial political BS about crime, at least not very much.

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. (WKRN) — During the 10-year period between 2006 and 2016, Murfreesboro Police Department Lt. James Abbott said there were only about two or three homicides where the suspect was a juvenile.

By around 2017, things began to shift. Abbott said there has since been an average of one to two homicides involving juvenile suspects in Murfreesboro each year, with two reported in 2021 and one reported last year. In total, there were around 10 homicides reported those years.

Murfreesboro is a town, not a Metropolis like Nashville. So even though the numbers are not impressive in quantity, they are worth of attention percentage-wise.

Rising juvenile crime has been a trend across the state, and although crimes committed by juveniles only account for about 1% of violent crime in Murfreesboro, Abbott said it is as problem that has steadily grown worse, with many names popping up more than once.

“Names popping more than once” The old and much-derided concept of the small core of super-criminals surfaces again. It has been what? 40 years that the idea was confirmed, and yet little in effectiveness has been achieved to target them? We love to keep repeating mistakes in the name of stupid politics.

Just in the past few years, Abbott said there have been two separate homicides where investigators were able to use a juvenile’s “GPS tracker,” or ankle monitor, to track them to the area of the crime.

As much as I would like to attribute the fact that kids are unexperienced and stupid as the cause they went on to murder people while wearing a Lo-Jack, I believe they do so because they do not care one way or the other. What are they going to do to them anyway? The law restricts in many cases what can happen and cops are more and more reluctantly to treat them like adults because they know they will be vilified and put under a legal microscope for “mistreating” the poor little misguided angels.

With several law enforcement agencies and federal prosecutors cracking down on gang activity in past years, Abbott said investigators no longer see teens joining organized gangs like before. Rather, they are forming what he refers to as “social networks.”…

Abbott said it’s not uncommon to see groups of 15- to 16-year-old kids forming their own “gangs” and carrying out violent acts, partly driven by “stuff they see on social media.”

“Some of the very same kids we’re talking about dealing with, their parents are the ones in the federal prison,” Abbott said. “So, they were born into it, but the gang wasn’t there when they got old enough to be in it. So, it’s like ‘Hey let’s create our own little clique and do our thing’.”

Crime is old but is brutally Darwinian. So, the idea the new crop of Baby Criminals created a new way to associate and do crime in a way Law Enforcement and Justice is not accustomed to deal with makes perfect sense and is scary because we know how long it takes for government to hit the rudder and make a course correction.

Abbott estimates that almost 70% of drive-by shootings, or reckless endangerments, in Murfreesboro in recent years and months have been committed by juveniles. According to the MPD, there were a total of 14 reckless endangerments reported in 2021 and 13 in 2022.

If they can get away with it, why not do it? Drive-Byes are the cool “safe” crime.

“When we talk about these shootings and things, they’re not just suspects or offenders in these cases, they’re also the victims,” Abbott said. “Most people that co-offend are more likely to be, especially in these types of crimes involving firearms, victims of gun violence.”

About the only good thing is trash taking itself out. They are not victims but consequences of their own behavior. There are victims and are the innocent bystanders caught in the live version of some video game or social trend they are emulating.

Based on data from the National Integrated Ballistic Information Network, many of the guns involved in those crimes can be traced to auto burglaries and thefts, and Abbott said some firearms have been on the streets for up to a decade.

“It’s not uncommon for us to see firearms from Memphis, Jackson, Nashville, Chattanooga and other surrounding cities where these firearms were used (in crimes) possibly two, three, I think the furthest one I’ve seen back was 10 years,” he said.

Do I need to repeat myself here? Secure your fucking guns people. And In Tennesse, you have an almost continuous tax-free holiday for gun safe and similar devices so there is no excuse not to have your unused guns under lock and key.

Abbott said some family members “take it to heart” and do what they can to intervene. However, he said there are some situations where that parental figure is not present, and some children lack the support system needed to keep them from reoffending.

Ouch, you know heat is going to come down on the Lt for “racism” or some other equally stupid political tomfoolery.

What is the take for us as Civilians? I believe we fail in our planning to be aware of “children.” I believe it is hardwired in all of us that the young ones are to be protected because they are weak and incapable of harm. Unfortunately, that leaves us with and extended reaction gap time when we are confronted with the ugly truth of young teen praying and spraying in our general direction. It is an exaggeration, but probably we should consider youngster who is not crawling as a potential threat.

Six-year-old boy will not be charged for shooting school teacher in US | Al Arabiya English

Prepare accordingly.