英语小故事第085期：Tagger Shoots Woman

A 58-year-old woman, mother of three, grandmother of eight, was shot twice in the head Friday night. She was driving to the Wal-Mart east of Pasadena. Only a block from her home, she saw two kids spray-painting graffiti on a new building. She honked at the kids. They continued to tag the building. She honked again. Then she got out of her car and started yelling at them to stop it. They turned around and shouted obscenities at her. She got back into her car, telling the boys that she was calling the police.

She did not notice another car behind her. The car pulled up next to her. The passenger window rolled down, and two shots were fired. The two boys, who had been watching, walked over to the woman’s car. One opened the driver’s door and grabbed her purse. The other opened the passenger door and dug through the glove compartment. Then they calmly got into their friend’s car and left the scene.

It is said, “If good people are silent, evil will win.” This woman was not silent, yet evil won. The police caught a 19-year-old who they think fired the shots. He will be tried. If convicted, he will go to prison for 20 years, where he will get free food, housing, and medical care. And where he’ll learn how to commit other crimes.

But because the prisons are so overcrowded, he will probably get out in 10 years. So, at the age of about 30, he will be out committing more crimes, while three children and eight grandchildren will never get to grow older with their grandma. For bravely speaking up, she was put down. People say that what goes around, comes around. But how often does that happen to cold-blooded murderers?