Another senseless tragedy

A six year old, Jacob Hall, died today. He had been shot this past week as he was heading for the playground at the elementary school he attended. The shooter was a teen who had earlier killed his father and who, after shooting Jacob, drove to the high school he attended and opened fire on people there.

According to The Washington Post:

Jacob Hall had been in critical condition on life support since Wednesday, when he, another student and a teacher were wounded at Townville Elementary School, about 40 miles west of Greenville, S.C.

A bullet struck the boy’s leg as he burst through the school door for recess, striking his femoral artery. He was resuscitated twice and underwent surgery, but he bled so much from the wound that it caused brain damage.

I offer no political opinions here.

But, while homicides are generally down in the United States, we do have a disturbing problem with these kinds of shootings and killings.

They happen at schools, universities, shopping malls, and movie theaters with sickening frequency.

Other first world countries, I'm sure, have as many disturbed people per capita as the United States. But this kind of thing happens with far less regularity in other advanced nations than it does here. The carnage thus appears unnecessary.

I pray that God will give us the wisdom to find the combination of solutions needed to end this horrible scourge. It's almost unbearable to think that more parents and loved ones, like the parents and family of Jacob Hall, should face what they're now going through if we can find ways to prevent such tragedies.

[Blogger Mark Daniels is pastor of Living Water Lutheran Church in Centerville, Ohio.]