Hoping For A Solution For Teenage Killings In Aurora
AURORA, Colo. (CBS4) -- A family has identified the teenage victim of a deadly shooting in Aurora Friday as 15-year-old Christian Lopez. Lopez was a student at Overland High School and was shot and killed on Asbury Circle nearby. It was the second killing of a teenager last week after the fatal shooting at the Quality Inn at I-70 and Airport Road on Wednesday evening where a 16-year-old boy was killed and three other young people wounded.
"Every single time, my heart drops. Because I work very closely with so many mothers who have lost their children to youth violence," said Shana Shaw, executive director of Compound of Compassion, an organization working on teen violence issues as well as efforts to create safe spaces for young people as well as adults and seniors. "We've got to teach humanity. We've got to teach compassion. But most importantly as a society, we have to create safe environments. So that our youth are not walking around with weapons because they don't feel safe in our community."
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Fear is spreading among young people in an atmosphere of violence. At Expo Park where young people were playing basketball Monday, some talked about the threats they deal with daily. "We're young kids. We want to learn, want to get better. We want to do stuff. We want to do what comes to our hopes and dreams," said 13-year-old Zerhans Samuel. "Nighttime is like really dangerous. You can't never walk out. You won't have anybody to protect you." He said he stayed inside at night.
"I don't think people take enough time to really solve the problem," said Samuel's friend, 13-year-old Cameron Wainwright thoughtfully. "They worry about me," he said of his family. Life amid the threat of violence has changed things for him. He likes math and hopes to get a job when he's 16. "I am scared. I'm scared not just for myself, but for my friends. I'm scared for my parents. I'm scared for my sisters. And I'm scared for everybody."
"They're just kids. They're just kids trying to navigate through a series of circumstances. Most of which they have no control over," Shaw said. The origins of violence that affect them she knows is a long list. "All the things that have always existed within our society that make it a situation where there's the haves and the have-nots." Behavior she fears is also modeled at home for some young people.
Domestic violence remains a significant problem. Young people have been through the pandemic in which human understanding was challenged. Just driving right now right. "If you drive down the street people are just so impatient and outraged, but they've been caged for two years." But adults she believes are to blame. The community is saturated with guns, which are easily turned to for answers. Children of this generation, says Shaw, grew up with TV violence and video game killing in which there are no consequences. "This is the first generation that was raised strictly on computer and technology and what they're doing is recreating their sense of reality. That's all they know."
Compound of Compassion is seeking some money the City of Aurora is offering for anti-violence programs for its job training classes it calls, "Money My Business." Shaw also hopes for a significant summer jobs program to give young people things to do. "But who doesn't feel good when they get that first paycheck?" she said. "That was the highlight of my summers being able to know that I could go get a job, make 12 dollars an hour, be busy all day. Come home and only want to eat and go to sleep."
Shaw worries about this week while students are on spring break and there is little to do. Violence, which has hit Aurora hard over the past two years, is still invading lives and ruining them.
