U.S. Has Competition in Prize for Violence

There was recently a shooting in Hollywood that should tell us something about the severity of the (gun) problem. The fact that I watched the papers for several days and didn’t see any mention of it (there might have been, but if so, it was not readily apparent) tells us something as well.

It was a Sunday evening. My nephew and his roommate were making an emergency service call on a customer in the Hollywood area. They are in the construction business.

As they got into their car, they heard shots and found themselves being shot at. Not having any idea what was going on but feeling like sitting ducks in the car, they tried to slip out and under the car.

After the shooting stopped, a stranger came up and apologized, saying that he was the target. My nephew crawled out of the gutter and found his roommate dead.

The irony is that the victim, a Lebanese immigrant, had left Beirut because his father’s business had been destroyed in the civil war there, and he had come here to support the family.

LINDEN MALKI

San Bernardino