Murdered

I thought about this one... I thought for a while about it...

Earlier tonight as Patrick was on facebook he turned to us and asked if we remembered his friend that he used to hang out with a couple of years ago. We did...

He told us that he had died, we asked how and he told us that he was shot in a hunting accident and died this morning. He was getting reports from other people on line about it and was giving us details as he learned what had happened.

After a while he googled the names of people they were talking about. Turns out that the boy was shot Saturday afternoon during a dispute. He and his older brother were both shot. The younger child died this morning at a hospital in Atlanta. The nineteen year old that shot them has been charged with murder.

Patrick and this kid were friends for a long time until a little over a year ago... He was at our house a lot. He went places with us, we carted both of them around all over.... Patrick had just started running around with him and his older brother... When Patrick's fifteenth birthday rolled around last year he wanted a camp out type party in the front yard with his friends. During the party there was a bit of a falling out and they really haven't spoken much since then.

We saw him not long ago in town. I don't know any details as to what happened, but the impact has been profound. I have sat here this evening thinking about them together at the renaissance festival watching them act silly and play around.

I keep thinking about his mannerisms and the things he talked about. I have ran the last conversation we had through my mind over and over all evening. This is just beyond reproach. The child was too young to die. He was the same age as Patrick. He wasn't given the opportunity to live. I read articles on line about it and it appears there was a some sort of argument going on and other people showed up and gunfire broke out.

Many thoughts are swimming around in my mind, the injustice, the horror of their parents, the kids voice, and would Patrick have been with them if they had not have had the falling out they did.

That last one has weighed heavily on me....