Teens Shot at Alabama High School Football Game

One story that’s getting a lot of media attention this weekend is the shooting in Odessa and Midland, Texas, that left seven people dead and 22 injured.  The perpetrator was a white male in his thirties, who apparently had a criminal history.

There was another shooting this weekend, less deadly but no less horrifying, that is getting very little media attention.

A 17-year-old was arrested after 10 people were shot falling a high school football game in Alabama, according to police.

The victims in the shooting, which happened in Mobile, ranged in age from 15 to 18.  They were rushed to area hospitals, officials said.

Luckily, no one was fatally injured.  The perpetrator, 17-year-old black man, was arrested and charged with nine counts of attempted murder.

It’s unclear what triggered the shooting.

Mobile Police Chief Lawrence Battiste didn’t confirm to reporters the shooting stemmed from an altercation, but he did admonish young people for “bringing their beefs that they have with each other in their neighborhoods” into public settings and “putting people in harm’s way.”

The incident “may have been a directed threat at one or two individuals and other people just happened to fall prey to their carelessness,” Battiste added.

Like I said, it’s lucky no one was killed in the incident.

You have to wonder why this shooting isn’t getting the same attention as the shooting in Texas, or the attention generally given to school shootings.  (Even though this event happened in the evening, not during classes, it happened at a high school football game and involved primarily, if not exclusively, high school students.)   Is it because there were no fatalities, making the story less sensational?  Or is it because the perpetrator was a young black man not even old enough to own a gun, so the shooting doesn’t fit the media’s narrative?

If the media truly cared about shootings and their victims, rather than their preconceived gun control narrative, they would report on ALL of these incidents, not just the ones perpetrated by troubled white men.

My thoughts and prayers are with these Alabama teens and their families as they begin the road to recovery.