# Mass shooting near me **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [June 17, 2018, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mass-shooting-near-me/816267 "2018-06-17T17:03:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Jennshark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Jennshark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jennshark)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2018, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mass-shooting-near-me/816267/21 "2018-06-18T00:52:17Z")
> [@kambuckta](#): > > It’s being reported here in Aus too, so please don’t feel like your town is being ignored. > > I hope your citizens rally and refuse to let two neanderthals close the festival permanently. It’s a tragedy today, but humans are renowned for fighting back against this sort of shit. This might just be the catalyst for better things for Trenton. > > Oh, and it’s never guns, amirite? As Green Bean wrote, this will most likely be another nail in Trenton’s coffin. It does seem as if Newark is improving; Trenton and Camden are in a race to the bottom. ---
**Author:** ![Jennshark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Jennshark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jennshark)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2018, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mass-shooting-near-me/816267/22 "2018-06-18T00:53:21Z")
> [@minor7flat5](#): > > My daughter goes to that festival every year and always has a great time. > This afternoon I came home from a run and she casually said “Did you hear about the shooting last night?”–I had not. > She then filled me in on the details. > > I didn’t even know the festival was yesterday. Last night my wife was at her sister’s house, so instead of dining alone, I asked my daughter if she wanted to go to dinner with me, and we had a good time together. > > Unknown to me, she had been planning on going to the festival, and her friends had asked her, but for some reason wasn’t feeling up to it. My invitation to dine apparently gave her an alternative. > > I’m happy she didn’t go. Oh god, this is scary. So glad she did dinner instead. ---
**Author:** ![Jennshark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Jennshark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jennshark)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2018, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mass-shooting-near-me/816267/23 "2018-06-18T00:58:39Z")
> [@Jacquernagy](#): > > In New Jersey? I would be really, really, _really_ surprised. Like, “New Jersey getting a major league baseball team” surprised. Unsurprisingly, gunman who cops killed was a gang member who had apparently gone to prison once for murder. So, most likely an illegal gun from the street. Might be a long, hot summer of retaliation killings in Trenton. ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2018, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mass-shooting-near-me/816267/24 "2018-06-18T01:09:02Z")
Another “soft on crime” consequence: > [@](#): > > Wells [the gang member killed by police] was sentenced in 2004 to 18 years in state prison after pleading guilty to aggravated manslaughter in the fatal shooting of 22-year-old Robert McNair during a dispute over who should drive a car Wells had driven from a local bar… > > Records show that in 2010, Wells – still serving time for the 2002 killing – was sentenced to six more years after pleading guilty to a second-degree racketeering charge following a prosecution by the state Attorney General’s Office. > > In that case, state prosecutors said Wells had helped David “Duke” Allen, the imprisoned leader of the Bloods’ Nine Trey Gangsters faction, run his gang from behind bars. The Attorney General’s Office has described Wells as an alleged Bloods gang member. > **[Trenton shooting: Suspected gunman killed at Art All Night was gang member...](https://www.nj.com/news/2018/06/art_all_night_trenton_shooting.html)** > > Authorities have identified the 32-year-old man shot and killed by police during an outbreak of gunplay in Trenton at the Art All Night festival early Sunday morning. ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2018, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mass-shooting-near-me/816267/25 "2018-06-18T01:38:16Z")
> [@Folacin](#): > > In many ways, I think that is worse - and a sign of things to come in an increasingly armed society. > > I hope both morons were carrying legally, to add a nail to the ‘good guys with guns’ coffin. Of course, that coffin is going to need at least a million nails. On the contrary, the dead shooter was a felon, unable to legally purchase or possess a firearm. For some mysterious unknown reason, unfathomable, he ignored that gun control law. It just seems impossible, since gun control laws will prevent felons from owning or using guns. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2018, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mass-shooting-near-me/816267/26 "2018-06-18T01:49:17Z")
And for some unfathomable reason he ignored the laws against murder. Guess they’re ineffective and should be repealed. Useless! ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2018, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mass-shooting-near-me/816267/27 "2018-06-18T01:51:00Z")
**Jennshark** , very sorry to hear this news for your community. I hope your festival continues! Query from an unassuming foreigner: what’s the significance of the comments about Trenton? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Green\_Bean](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/green_bean/32/1760_2.png) [@Green\_Bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Bean)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2018, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mass-shooting-near-me/816267/28 "2018-06-18T03:11:47Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > Query from an unassuming foreigner: what’s the significance of the comments about Trenton? 😕 It’s our state capital, and unfortunately it’s an excellent example of “urban decay.” It has been stubbornly resistant to improvement efforts. It’s a sucky situation, especially for those who are trying to make it better. ---
**Author:** ![Lamoral](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lamoral/32/16078_2.png) [@Lamoral](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamoral)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2018, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mass-shooting-near-me/816267/29 "2018-06-18T03:36:32Z")
> [@Jennshark](#): > > Unsurprisingly, gunman who cops killed was a gang member who had apparently gone to prison once for murder. So, most likely an illegal gun from the street. > > Might be a long, hot summer of retaliation killings in Trenton. The sentencing for violent criminals is completely inadequate; the prison-industrial complex which treats people like cattle is far too busy stocking its human warehouses with drug offenders and the resulting backlogs in the justice system create incentives for really dangerous felons to be given plea bargains and put right back out on the street. It’s bullshit. ---
**Author:** ![Pammipoo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/87869e/32.png) [@Pammipoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pammipoo)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2018, 9:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mass-shooting-near-me/816267/30 "2018-06-18T09:38:54Z")
> [@Jennshark](#): > > At 3am this morning our Trenton All Night Art Fest was shot up. Though it’s not being called a mass event and is being radically under-reported, I’d say 17 shot, two dead, and one likely-to-die fulfills the description. Given our demographics here, it’s no mystery why this isn’t getting the same coverage as a suburban shooting of this dimension would. > > . What would constitute a “mass event”? 17 shot and 2 dead seems pretty eventful to me… Sorry that happened to your community. Be safe. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_Kumquat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/4491bb/32.png) [@Gary\_Kumquat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Kumquat)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2018, 10:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mass-shooting-near-me/816267/31 "2018-06-18T10:59:10Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > And for some unfathomable reason he ignored the laws against murder. Guess they’re ineffective and should be repealed. Useless! That response really was a thing of beauty. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2018, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mass-shooting-near-me/816267/32 "2018-06-18T13:34:21Z")
[Some information on the dead shooter Tahaji Wells](https://heavy.com/news/2018/06/tahaij-wells/) Those details made me glad he was killed. ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2018, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mass-shooting-near-me/816267/33 "2018-06-18T17:39:47Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > And for some unfathomable reason he ignored the laws against murder. Guess they’re ineffective and should be repealed. Useless! The doltish comment you’re responding to was, unfathomably, made by someone who passed a bar exam! Guess attorney accreditation is also useless. ---
**Author:** ![Helena330](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/helena330/32/531_2.png) [@Helena330](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Helena330)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2018, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mass-shooting-near-me/816267/34 "2018-06-18T19:30:33Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > [Some information on the dead shooter Tahaji Wells](https://heavy.com/news/2018/06/tahaij-wells/) > > Those details made me glad he was killed. ’ What a terrible thing to say. The details you apparently missed are that he spent at least 13 years in solitary confinement that retarded his cognitive development. I don’t excuse what he did, but if you’re going to call him a bad person, he was MADE one, not born one. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2018, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mass-shooting-near-me/816267/35 "2018-06-18T20:00:45Z")
Right. He was in prison, in solitary confinement for absolutely no reason whatsoever. Did you miss this part: > [@](#): > > ells had just been released from prison and had been on parole since February for homicide, NBC 10 reported. A short article in The New York Times from 2002 describes a Tahaij Wells, then 17, as being accused of shooting Robert McNair three times in the chest during an argument over a girl. After a 10-day search, he surrendered without incident and, in 2004, pleaded guilty to aggravated manslaughter and was sentenced to 18 years in prison. The guy was no angel back then. ---
**Author:** ![Slash1972](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slash1972/32/6461_2.png) [@Slash1972](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slash1972)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2018, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mass-shooting-near-me/816267/36 "2018-06-18T20:08:02Z")
> [@Gary\_Kumquat](#): > > That response really was a thing of beauty. I would like to second this. ---
**Author:** ![Folacin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folacin/32/3195_2.png) [@Folacin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folacin)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2018, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mass-shooting-near-me/816267/37 "2018-06-18T21:18:18Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > Right. He was in prison, in solitary confinement for absolutely no reason whatsoever. Did you miss this part: > > The guy was no angel back then. His sentence wasn’t for 18 years of solitary (or 13 even). I don’t know why he was in solitary, possibly for valid reasons - but the public information doesn’t say, and 13 years seems punitive for anything that wouldn’t have actually gotten him a new conviction and additional years of time, as opposed to paroled before the end of his sentence. ---
**Author:** ![Jennshark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Jennshark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jennshark)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2018, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mass-shooting-near-me/816267/38 "2018-06-19T01:12:51Z")
> [@Green\_Bean](#): > > It’s our state capital, and unfortunately it’s an excellent example of “urban decay.” It has been stubbornly resistant to improvement efforts. It’s a sucky situation, especially for those who are trying to make it better. Exactly. I lived in Trenton proper for a few years and sold when bad renters on my street brought in chaos and gun violence. I now live 1/4 mile from the Trenton limit and it’s a different world. I wanted to stay on that street, but when a third shooting happened I picked up sticks. Under the bombed-out appearance, much of former urban Trenton is gorgeous – breathtaking mansions, superb river views, amazing history, greenery . . . it’s easy to see how beautiful it once was. It now stands as a stark example of crooked politics and devastating generational poverty. And it’s the fucking State capitol! Decades of governors have surveyed this Beirut-like scene from their offices then hopped in a limo to their home in the safe burbs. I am absolutely not defending what the shooter and his accomplices did, but it’s easy to see why growing up in this chaos would render one hopeless and hostile. I was eavesdropping on a conversation in the bank today and heard a woman (who knew the shooter’s family say “that boy was the walking dead, his mama was murdered when he was ten and he died too.” I’ve thought a giant step forward would be requiring government workers who make over a certain salary to live in downtown Trenton. I think a fair bet is that a rapid improvement would happen, especially if NJ subsidized repairs and mortgages. As is, thousands of workers from the burbs and ritzy Bucks County (just over the river in PA) pour in at 8am and flee at 5. We’re in the NYC commuter region. Make the City attractive and safe and it will attract commuters. The same type of subsidies would also be given to inner city dwellers who want to stay and improve, providing some defense against being pushed out by gentrification. New Jersey is one of the richest states in the U.S. and I’m tired of hearing nothing can be done to revitalize Trenton. Bullshit. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mass-shooting-near-me/816267.md?page=1)