God Forgive Them

I've avoided mentioning anything about this story, because it's so damn depressing, especially when we're supposed to be enjoying Spring and celebrating Easter. But the latest development just begs for comment.

The story began with a truly horrific crime.

Baby shot dead in stroller

According to Sherry West, the baby's mother, "A boy approached me and told me he wanted my money, and I told him I didn't have any money. And he said, 'Give me your money or I'm going to kill you and I'm going to shoot your baby and kill your baby,' and I said, 'I don't have any money,' and 'Don't kill my baby.'"

The boy tried to grab her purse and opened fire when she said tried to tell him she had no money, West said, with the shot grazing her head. She said the boy then shot her in the leg.

West continued, "And then, all of a sudden, he walked over and he shot my baby in the face."

This took place in Brunswick, Georgia, a small town of about 15,000 with a low crime rate and a reputation as a safe, family-oriented place. But the latest development makes that description sound a little shaky.

The investigation into the shooting of a baby in Brunswick, Georgia -- a crime that's grabbed national headlines -- has taken yet another turn with the arrest of a local politician.

The politician, Brunswick City Commissioner James Henry Brooks, is related to one of the suspects worthless scumbags arrested and charged with shooting the baby.

Brooks' charges stem from a Monday courthouse incident in which he allegedly tried to block a county investigator from speaking with the mother of De'Marquis Elkins, one of the suspects in the case...

Brooks was also indicted on unrelated racketeering charges in neighboring Camden County earlier Thursday...

...Elkins' mother, Karimah, who is still in custody, faces a second charge of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon...

Sounds like a great family. Racketeering, parole violation, and now murder.

De'Marquise Elkins, 17, and Dominique Lang, 15, have been charged with murder. Elkins' mother, aunt and sister have also been arrested on various charges alleging that they have hindered the investigation.

The family that slays together, stays together.

Look, I get a family coming together and supporting one of their own in a tough situation. That's what families do. But I would hope that most of us draw the line when a family member deliberately and cold-bloodily shoots a baby in the face because the child's mother doesn't have any money.

In the interest of fairness (innocent until proven guilty, and all that good stuff) I should note that there are some who doubt the mother's story.

(An older daughter of the baby's mother), 21-year-old daughter of the baby, Ashley Glassey, says she doesn’t want to wrongly accuse her mother but now has serious doubts about her story.

Speaking to First Coast News, Glassey, who lives in New Jersey, claimed her mother may have killed the baby for the insurance money. She said she started to question her mother’s account of what happened when she began giving conflicting stories.

And on the defendants' behalf:

The lawyer for one of the Georgia teenagers charged with murder in a baby's shooting said Monday his client is "absolutely" not guilty and the grandmother of the second suspect said her grandson would never be involved in such a crime.

I don't know who's right and who's wrong in this case. The police seem convinced that they have the shooters, although the police have been wrong before. All I know is that a little baby is dead for no good reason.

Tomorrow is Easter, a day of forgiveness and rebirth. I'll leave that to better people than me, because I'm having a very difficult time mustering up any forgiveness for those involved in this tragic and heinous crime.

I'm leaning a little bit more towards the Old Testament today...

Psalm 58