WEDNESDAY, MAY 25, 2022
Alleged mental illness, allegedly lenient courts: Some of our many murderous shooting incidents are mass shooting incidents. Some involve one victim only.
So it was on the New York subway this past Sunday morning. Daniel Enriquez, age 48, was shot and killed on the Q train—apparently at random, for no apparent reason.
A suspect is now in custody—Andrew Abdullah, age 25. We note two possible aspects of this case, based on this morning's New York Times report.
First is the possible role of mental health / mental illness:
MARCIUS AND WATKINS (5/25/22): Lamor Miller-Whitehead, the bishop of Leaders of Tomorrow International Churches, said Tuesday at the Fifth Precinct that he had spoken with Mr. Abdullah’s relatives as the suspect contemplated surrendering.
“I spoke to the family, who said that he suffered from mental illness, mental health challenges,” Mr. Miller-Whitehead said. “I said, ‘Let’s get together. And let’s turn him in.’ And they all agree, even the young man said, ‘I’m going to turn myself in.’”
A surrender had been brokered by Tuesday afternoon, but before it could happen, officers with guns drawn arrested Mr. Abdullah at the Legal Aid Society’s offices, said Mr. Miller-Whitehead. “I don’t want anyone by any stretch of no one’s imagination to believe that this young man ran. He did not run at all,” Mr. Miller-Whitehead said.
Was mental illness involved in this matter? We aren't able to say.
That said, the Times report records a second point of concern—possible leniency within the criminal justice system:
MARCIUS AND WATKINS: “This horrific crime should never have happened,” Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell said at a news conference Tuesday, noting Mr. Abdullah had a string of prior arrests. “The violence on the Q train last Sunday morning was committed by another repeat offender, who was given every leeway by the criminal justice system.”
[...]
In the last few years, Mr. Abdullah had been charged in connection with several gun-related offenses. In 2016, he was indicted as part of a sweeping gang case in Manhattan, and in 2018 he pleaded guilty to a weapons charge tied to two Harlem gangs. He was paroled after four months in prison, a spokeswoman for the state corrections department said.
He faced new gun charges in 2020 in Manhattan, according to court records, a case that is pending, and he was out on bail. In March 2021, Manhattan prosecutors charged him with assault and endangering the welfare of a child.
John Duvalier, 71, said he recognized Mr. Abdullah as one of a handful of young men who hung around outside twin 15-story apartment buildings at 580 and 590 Flatbush Avenue in Prospect Lefferts Gardens, Brooklyn. He described them as “trouble.”
“I don’t mess with those guys,” Mr. Duvalier said. “I advise them to go to school and get some education.”
That's how the news report ends.
Crime rates had been way, way down in recent decades, preceding the pandemic. That doesn't necessarily mean that our society's various systems had been working wisely and well in all possible cases.
At any rate, our own tribe's rhetoric in recent days, and in recent years, has touched upon mental illness issues, as well as upon the functioning of the criminal justice system.
Tomorrow, we'll start to look at the rhetoric our tribe was promulgating in the aftermath of the Buffalo murders. In our view, it's very important for us to see how unwise we frequently are.
That's even true within our own blue tribe, which tends to be vastly self-impressed and vastly self-assured.
When Bob says "our tribe" he actually means he is a secret right winger, don'tcha know.
ReplyDeleteIn fact his whole blog is in a secretly coded format where words aren't meant to be taken literally.
Yes, we know: dear Bob is a secret agent. Also, racist, misogynist, and lgbtqwerty-hater.
ReplyDelete...but pssst, don't tell anyone...
Nah. He's just a failed comedian, who repeats Right-wing nonsense memes.
ReplyDeleteJust a sad failure, so it's surely not worth picking apart every single word of his nonsense.
ReplyDeleteSomerby says we are "unwise" and that because of that, voters will switch parties (suddenly just change their values!) and we will lose elections.
ReplyDeleteYet a bunch of woke progressives just won their elections and a bunch of Trump supported candidates lost.
Somerby's notions have never made sense, were never backed by credible evidence.
The background checks gun control advocates have
ReplyDeletepushed for obviously are geared to take gun access away
from the mentally ill, among other things that might
be very good ideas.
Is it possible Bob doesn't know this? I guess,
or he may just drink too much.
What is Somerby talking about here? Is he complaining that the system isn’t working properly when it paroles certain offenders? This from a man who in the past has criticized liberals for wanting to put lawbreakers in jail. He just hates putting anyone in jail!
ReplyDeleteSurely he wishes mentally ill people, like poor Donny Trump, can get the help they need.
Is he aware that Republicans do not want restrictions on guns, and that they do not propose to do anything about mental health, other than lowering Elon Musk’s taxes?
So, is he aware of the vast irony of talking about a “system” that is “not working” when in reality it is working in many ways precisely as it was intended: own as many guns and as much ammo as you want;, if you are mentally ill, well good luck. Perhaps the free market will cure you.The deaths of these schoolchildren are “the price of freedom.” I can’t remember, was it Tucker Carlson or Bill O’Reilly who said that?
A system where the enablers of these tragedies, the Supreme Court and the NRA (among others), make sure their own workplaces are gun-free, leaving the rest of us to go hang, calling for more guns in schools, churches, you name it. It is insanity. And it is driven primarily by the right wing.
anons (anon?) 2:42 & 3:04, what's even sadder is that the two (one?) of you have time to spend reading this so-called "failed comedian" 'sad failure".
ReplyDeleteAC/ MA,
ReplyDeleteI read Bob, because he provides a service.
Where else can you reliably find the Right-wing grievance of the day?
Is David in Cal ever going to tell us why he can't pass a background check, or are we going to have to guess?
ReplyDeleteChildren were shot while cops refused to go into their classroom and stop their killer.
ReplyDeleteSomerby wants to talk about rhetoric, not guns.
Somerby mentions mental health, but what about the mental health of Republicans who refuse to enact even highly popular measures such as background checks, supported by 88% of the population in polls? What mental health issues do Republicans have when they hold an NRA Conference just days after a shooting that kills 21 people (19 children) and bans guns at its own meeting, but won't ban guns in the rest of society, where families try to live their everyday lives in safety? What about the Miami congressman who made a death threat against the President for talking about the need for gun control?
There is a much bigger mental health issue that Somerby is not acknowledging -- the one where grown men need guns in order to feel "manly" regardless of the cost to children -- this year guns are the #1 cause of death for children over 1 years of age. But Somerby wants to talk about rhetoric, and carefully selecting the mental health experts who will call the shooters deranged but not the people who give them their guns.
It doesn't matter what Somerby says today. He is a sick fuck himself and there is not much he can say that will excuse his own behavior leading up to this latest tragedy. Remember that Somerby defend Rittenhouse -- that other 17 year old who went on a killing spree. Somerby has nothing to say on this issue because he is bankrupt to his core. Later, he will come back and tell us that we, the ones who want reasonable gun control, are the ones who don't care about our nation's children.
anon 10:07, thanks for proving my point.
ReplyDelete