Attorney Says Nashville Criminals Aren't Afraid, Criminals Not Looking Past Tomorrow

[TMMT]

Attorney Says Nashville Criminals Aren't Afraid, Criminals Not Looking Past Tomorrow

Attorney Says Nashville Criminals Aren't Afraid - Nashville News Story - WSMV Nashville

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- There was a day that even the meanest, toughest criminal will stop short of shooting it out with police. That day appears to be over, as about once a week someone decides they're willing to shoot it out with officers.

Police officers have shot suspects in violent, unpredictable situations five times in the last five weeks.

"They don't look past tomorrow," said Sgt. Gary Kemper, who's in charge of policing gangs in Nashville. "They really don't care. To them, a person being old is 25, 26 years of age. They're living for the now. They're not worried about what tomorrow brings."

On Feb. 26, officers exchanged shots with a drug dealer who didn't yield to their warrant.

On March 11, Pedro Barragan was allegedly beating up his girlfriend when police arrived and he stabbed Officer John Timm in the neck, back and groin. Police backup helped shoot Barragan.

On March 12, fleeing burglar and career criminal Reginald Wallace was beating up an officer and his dog at the same time, police said. He reached for something in his pocket, and Officer Joe Shelton shot and killed him.

On March 25, undercover Officer Justin Fox shot three men during an armed robbery at the Hyatt Place Hotel in Brentwood.

Tuesday, Nashville Crip Aaron Gooch got in a shootout and wounded Gangster Disciple Kenneth Ellis. Officer Gerry Hyder jumped out of his undercover truck and ordered Gooch to drop his weapon. When he didn't, Hyder shot Gooch.

Fraternal Order of Police attorney John Brown reconstructed all five shootings moment by moment and said he found a common criminal denominator.

"They're just not afraid. They're not afraid of police. They're not afraid of being injured. They're not afraid of going to jail," said Brown. "If they go to jail, they are not afraid they're going to go very long."

Brown also said all five shootings were unique in that they were life-and-death situations.

Two of the shootings involved two armed robbers who had been paroled after serving just two years of their eight-year sentences.

The armed robber bill that would force first-time offenders to serve six years or a minimum of 75 percent of their sentence has been flying through the Legislature and could be voted in to law as early as next week.

Previous Stories:

March 30, 2010: Suspected Gunman Shot By Nashville Detective

March 12, 2010: Child Sees Officer Stabbed, Man Shot

March 12, 2010: Metro Officer Fatally Shoots Burglary Suspect

March 26, 2010: Officer Shoots 3 Robbery Suspects In Brentwood

[TMMT]

Questions to he masses...

What outside variables are influencing this?

Is this just a blip or the start of a wider phenonomina?

Economic and social changes causing this?

X factor?

[Guest HvyMtl]

hmm. Bad Economy. Prisons = training grounds instead of punishment. Movies and TV showing the glamor of the sideways aimed and fired pistol?

Too many variables, from the lure of "easy" money to the crappy schools.

[Rightwinger]

Soulless beings. The guff is empty.

(I don't believe in the "guff" but I do think there are many amongst us that no longer have any morality whatsoever)

[Guest jackdm3]

I asked that of Shelby County Sheriff Luttrell point blank. He said it's all about the lack of true daddies, full-term schooling and a better sense of religion. Or better put, lack of the fear of God.

[TMMT]

I don't buy the movies and TV theory because I was raised on John Wayne, James Bond and Dirty Harry.

Every Sunday I always loved dinner at my grandpas and the usual afternoon selection of war movies.

Its gotta be something else.

[Motasyco]

I don't buy the movies and TV theory because I was raised on John Wayne, James Bond and Dirty Harry.

Every Sunday I always loved dinner at my grandpas and the usual afternoon selection of war movies.

Its gotta be something else.

John Wayne, James Bond, and Dirty Harry were on the side of good. Have you listened to any rap music? Glorify the gangster.

[Guest 10mm4me]

This is why no matter what, where, or when, I will have a weapon. I decided long ago I might die in a car wreck, I might die of cancer, I might get hit by a freekin meteorite, but I will not die from lack of trying to fight back against an aggressor. I believe if the rest of society shared my beliefs, the above would not be an issue.

[Hgunner]

Questions to he masses...

What outside variables are influencing this?

Is this just a blip or the start of a wider phenonomina?

Economic and social changes causing this?

X factor?

Were to begin, 4 generations of welfare,entitlement mentality, continuing to play the race card and there community leaders doing it and encouraging it. Total lack of regard for education..or moral values, lack of will to prosecute and make them serve there full sentences. Prisons that aren't prisions...goes on and on. In a nut shell lack of personal responsibliltiy and making them live or die by it.

[Guest db99wj]

Glorified life style from rap music, absence of morals, the deterioration of the family (not talking about divorced folks, talking about the absence of one or both up to the not knowing who). The lack of God, while I myself try to put God first in my life, there are many that don't and are great parents, have good morals and have not contributed to this growing problem. With that said, having God first in my family has helped my family grow, become better and made stronger. The video game era and tv era, while I don't believe is a factor, that causes this mentality, it contributes to this mentality. You take that mentality, and add the violence in these games and tv, there sense of reality becomes skewed. The thug lifestyle is glorified, promoted, taught, and expected in this type of mentality and the people these kids look up to are glorying this lifestyle. Rap music, being used as a vehicle to promote a lifestyle, that has done more to set back a generation than anything else ever has and destroying what the civil rights leaders fought for for so many years.

Edited April 1, 2010 by db99wj

[GKar]

I would toss "lack of respect" into the ring. Lack of respect for anything or anyone - even themselves. Respect drives so many good traits and desires...and the lack of it truly does leave an empty, soulless, hopeless shell of who/what we were created to be. A shell that evil is all too quick (and ready) to fill.

[TGO David]

Breaking with my normal tradition of not engaging in religious conversations...

Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator--who is forever praised. Amen. Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion. Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done. They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; they are senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless. Although they know God's righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them. [Romans 1:24-32]

Seems pretty accurate.

[Rightwinger]

Nuff said. AMEN

[Guest db99wj]

Breaking with my normal tradition of not engaging in religious conversations...

Seems pretty accurate.

This is a break for you!

Sounds a lot like what is going on in today's world.

[SkunkSlayer]

These want to be gangsta's if caught start praying and snitching alot when a Life Sentence of 51 years / Life without or Death Penalty is what the court is deciding on. These people have no clue what a great free life they are living is and how fast it can stop until it's to late. You better be ready to shoot them first cause they do not care. And I don't see anything changing as times get harder and they get bolder.

Edited April 1, 2010 by SkunkSlayer

[DWARREN123]

No matter what is causing it, it is a reminder to be prepared and ready to do what you have to for your and your loved ones survival.

[JAB]

And yet some folks think they will be afraid enough of an intended victim saying, "I'm calling the cops!" to leave said intended victim alone.

Honestly, though, do we really believe this is a new phenomenon? The 'rough parts of town' have always had a reputation that includes violence, bloodshed and a lack of concern for self or others. That is true whether you are talking about inner cities in 2010, Chicago in the 1920s and 1930s or train and bank robberies on the American Frontier. Were the soldiers for the Chicago mob, people like Bonnie and Clyde or even Billy the Kid all that different from these gang-bangers? We may romanticize historical figures such as Jean Lafitte or Blackbeard but they were no less brutal or unconcerned about causing pain and death - and apparently not all that worried about dying. Think of what history tells us of the time before most of the nations we now know even existed when hoards of marauders would rape, plunder, pillage and destroy everything in their path. Heck, many of the gangs, themselves, got their start thirty, fourty or even fifty years ago - they aren't a brand new thing.

These people are willing to die for whatever has their allegiance - be that money, street cred or their various gangs. How is that any different from suicice bombers being willing to die for Allah? How is that any different from people who, for hundreds or even thousands of years, have been willing to die for their religion, their country or anything else they hold important or believe in? How many entrepreneurs have risked everything in a bid to become wealthy and respected? Sure, it may be a warped, twisted version of those things - and their loyalty or the way they want to go about making their money and/or reputation is certainly dispicable but the impetus - the need - is the same.

Truthfully, I also see a strong correlation as being between these folks and young people willing to blow themselves up in the name of their religion (well, that and to get those 72 virgins they've been promised.) They have people they trust and respect (be they clerics or gang leaders) who are telling them that these things are good - that this is how life should be. This gives them a sense of purpose, of belonging and that they just might be able to get something 'better'. Why not take such risks? After all, what the hell have they got to lose?

It seems that prison isn't hard labor - more like a gang reunion. They get to hang with their homies on the inside, still get to sell and/or do drugs, watch TV, hit the weight room, etc. They are no more likely to die in a prison 'hit' than in a drive-by shooting while walking down the street in their neighborhood and they can get 'training' from the more experienced thugs so that they can hone their 'craft' and be better able to ply their 'trade' when they hit the streets - with the increase in reputation that comes from having been in prison. After all, it isn't like most of them will be serving their full sentence, anyhow.

In the end, I believe that God has nothing to do with it. Religion has nothing to do with it. Television, music and video games have nothing to do with it. It is simply a reflection of one of the darker aspects of human nature which has been the same since humans began writing their histories - and probably long before. Maybe we are seeing more of this type of attitude, now (possibly because the media has focused on it more than because there is actually more of it) but it isn't anything new.

Edited April 1, 2010 by JAB