I don't feel sorry for him either. He and his accomplice are still the "villains" in this story. I just can't bring myself to treat this situation as a scoring round (i.e. Good guys = 1/Bad guys = 0). No one wins when someone decides to victimize another person.
Those involved with Qualynn Dabney are going to wonder, "Could I have done something different? Is what I'm doing with at risk kids having any impact? Should I throw in the towel and say forget it?" Really, can you imagine putting all of your work and compassion into a project and having something like this happen? Getting the exact result that you were working so hard to provide a deterrent for. And yes, I'll tell you right now that the people speaking the loudest on his side are going to be the ones that failed him. They'll be the ones that'll say, "The clerk should have just given him the money," or "He didn't have to kill him like that!" For every loud mouth there are probably two or three people that worked the hardest to get a different result for this kid, and they have a failure staring them right in the face.
For Mr. Kahn will be judged by medical staff, detectives, attorneys, and the general public - all sitting comfortably within their home or office for a situation that he had seconds to deal with AND imminent threat to life before him. I'm assuming he's probably 1st generation immigrant from the Middle East, where the government aren't always on the straight and narrow and he now has to put his entire future and life in the hands of his new government. All of this while being racked with guilt because he defended himself, did the right thing and he ends up paying for it.
I'm in complete agreement that the ones responsible are the two young men that decided to rob the store. And I understand the, "I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore," mentality of other folks, but I still can't bring myself to share in the celebratory mentality of Good Guy = 1/Bad Guy = 0. And maybe it is completely contradictory that I wouldn't hesitate to defend myself or someone else, but wouldn't feel an ounce of victory afterward.
All I'm saying (in a ridiculously long post) is that no one won. It's tough all around.
Those involved with Qualynn Dabney are going to wonder, "Could I have done something different? Is what I'm doing with at risk kids having any impact? Should I throw in the towel and say forget it?" Really, can you imagine putting all of your work and compassion into a project and having something like this happen? Getting the exact result that you were working so hard to provide a deterrent for. And yes, I'll tell you right now that the people speaking the loudest on his side are going to be the ones that failed him. They'll be the ones that'll say, "The clerk should have just given him the money," or "He didn't have to kill him like that!" For every loud mouth there are probably two or three people that worked the hardest to get a different result for this kid, and they have a failure staring them right in the face.
For Mr. Kahn will be judged by medical staff, detectives, attorneys, and the general public - all sitting comfortably within their home or office for a situation that he had seconds to deal with AND imminent threat to life before him. I'm assuming he's probably 1st generation immigrant from the Middle East, where the government aren't always on the straight and narrow and he now has to put his entire future and life in the hands of his new government. All of this while being racked with guilt because he defended himself, did the right thing and he ends up paying for it.
I'm in complete agreement that the ones responsible are the two young men that decided to rob the store. And I understand the, "I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore," mentality of other folks, but I still can't bring myself to share in the celebratory mentality of Good Guy = 1/Bad Guy = 0. And maybe it is completely contradictory that I wouldn't hesitate to defend myself or someone else, but wouldn't feel an ounce of victory afterward.
All I'm saying (in a ridiculously long post) is that no one won. It's tough all around.
