In today’s edition of Why We Carry with a side of Why We Avoid Known Crime Areas we have the New York Post reporting on a gun fight that took place in front of a Bronx, New York daycare center:
A broad-daylight gun battle played out in front of a Bronx daycare with eight children inside on Monday afternoon, cops and the school’s owner said.
Gunfire rang out at about 3 p.m. in front of Colorful Daycare Corp. at 2071 Walton Ave., police said.
“Everyone is safe,” but had the kids been leaving at the time, “that would have been a problem,” said a woman named Emma who identified herself as the owner.
Two men were wounded in the exchange:
A 26-year-old man was shot in the chest and a 28-year-old man was shot in the arm and leg, cops said. Both were rushed to St. Barnabas Hospital by ambulance and were expected to survive.
So, how safe is that area? Check out what the owner of the daycare told the reporter:
The daycare center’s owner said she wasn’t surprised.
“I’m familiar with the area,” she said.”
You have to assume residents of the area, including parents of those kids, are well aware of the crime in the area, too. And if they weren’t, a shooting in front of their daycare should hammer the point home. This news story could easily have ended on a far more horrific note.
If you knew an area was high crime, would you continue to frequent that area? Would you put your kids in daycare in there? This is a complicated issue with a lot of issues to take into consideration from income levels to time and convenience to differing perspectives on what is and isn’t “normal” now. Our opinions are colored by our life experiences.
How do you deal with crime and make your neighborhood a safer place in these circumstances? Be realistic and stay within the law, but fire away in the comments.