OMG, this happened in the town I am from!

[Pat H Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Pat H]

http://www.mcall.com/news/breaking/m...,1511539.story

I saw in another article that one of the Supervisors that I have known for 25 yrs is okay. This is a small township in the Poconos. And people are worried because I am going to France later this month. It's just crazy everywhere!

[T. R. Oglodyte Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close T. R. Oglodyte]

Take me to Puerto Vallarta. This kind of stuff doesn't happen there.

[Pat H Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Pat H]

Take me to Puerto Vallarta. This kind of stuff doesn't happen there.

I'm going to PV in March, another place my friends don't think I should go.

[jackio Gold Contributor Find all posts View Profile Close jackio]

Oh how horrible! Thank goodness, it could have been much worse.

[chriskre Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close chriskre]

Just a typical day in my city.

[Kay H Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Kay H]

I just heard it on the tv news. Didn't know it was your former homestead.

[wackymother Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close wackymother]

Unbelievable. So frightening.

[ArtsieAng Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close ArtsieAng]

Nowhere is safe anymore, thats for sure. Just horrible!

[ptlohmysoul Member Find all posts View Profile Close ptlohmysoul]

In Maryland they let people live in homes without running water, unless it gets to be too public (like you could tell it from a main road). Why can't people have property rights anymore? I'd feel sorry for the guy if he wasn't a murderer.

[Pstreet1 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Pstreet1]

I find it interesting that the Mexicans I know fear U.S. violence. They say, "Here, bad people die; in the U.S., innocents die." It seems like lately we've had lots of incidents where various kinds of nut cases caused other people great harm. We don't see that kind of thing in Mexico.

This web site has some interesting graphics--see the left hand side for comparisons of U.S. cities, violent crimes, international destinations:
http://howsafeismexico.com/index.html

[tonyg Goomba & Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close tonyg]

This topic is getting close to political. Please refrain from any further comments that can be construed as political. If you want to discuss political implications, you may do so by starting a topic in the political forum.

[Glitter Brunello Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close Glitter Brunello]

I'm away so not getting much news, but am sorry to hear this.

[Hobbitess Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Hobbitess]

They say, "Here, bad people die; in the U.S., innocents die."

That's the impression you get from the news, but if you break the numbers down, it's not so random. The U.S. murder rate is so high because of the "everyday" ongoing murder rate in fairly specific areas. For instance, Chicago's murder rate per 100,000 is 19.7; break it down by neighborhood, and it varies from 85.9 in Burnside to 3.4 in the Loop (downtown) to zero in Edison Park and Mount Greenwood. Areas with a high percentage of criminals are extremely dangerous; most areas, not so much. Innocents do get murdered, but gang bangers and other thugs are at much higher risk. The statistics on "children" killed are inflated by counting people up into their early twenties; most of those children are in their teens and twenties, and active gang members with a considerable police record.

Most of us can track down the info and avoid the bad areas; people too poor to move away, not so much. Those are the innocents most at risk.

[Pstreet1 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Pstreet1]

I think you are right about everything you posted, and those same things are true of Mexico. It's so easy for people (all of them) to be frightened of the unknown.