Communities in Mourning

2 senseless gun-related deaths occurred within 24 hours on Wednesday & Thursday, shocking the community in which I now live, and one I lived close to for over 9 years. The death of a 15 year-old leaves many unanswered questions, mainly, how did he get such a realistic weapon into the school? Many are outraged at the "excessive force" used by the Brownsville Police. My first reaction was, what if that gun was real, and the officers had been shot at? Would we be looking at this differently? Then early Thursday morning, the news broke that one of the 6 officers shot in Ogden Wednesday evening had passed away. The State of Utah is outraged as well, that someone sworn to protect and serve them lost his life in the line of duty. Which brings me back to my first reaction... The Brownsville Police were simply doing their job, protecting the lives of over 700 students who didn't bring a gun to school on Wednesday morning.

Brownsville police kill teen at middle school.

Officers shot and killed an eighth-grade student in a middle school hallway after he refused to drop the air gun he'd smuggled into school, police here said Wednesday.
Jaime Gonzalez, 15, was pronounced dead at a local hospital at 9:15 a.m., about an hour and 15 minutes after police responded to a 911 call reporting an individual with a gun at Cummings Middle School in downtown Brownsville.

“The suspect was ordered numerous times to drop this pistol and he disobeyed officers' commands,” interim Police Chief Orlando Rodriguez said at a news conference. “He pointed the weapon at the officers, at which point the officers that were actively engaged by the suspect fired at least twice.”
No other students or faculty were injured, he said.
The gun Gonzalez was carrying, a CO2.177-caliber pellet pistol, looked like a dangerous firearm, said Detective Jose Treviño a police spokesman.
“It has the exact appearance of Glock,” Treviño said.

Ogden Police Officer Killed, 6 Others Wounded In Drug Raid

An Ogden police officer has been killed and five other law enforcement officers wounded after gunfire erupted in an eastside neighborhood during an early evening drug raid Wednesday. The suspect in the case was also wounded. Conditions of the officers and suspect range from serious to critical.
The fallen officer has been identified as Jared Francom, a seven year veteran of the force, who was working as a member of the Weber-Morgan Narcotics Strike Force at the time of the shootout. He leaves behind a wife and two children.

Francom was shot while he and at least eleven other officers were executing a search warrant at a home at 3268 Jackson Avenue around 8:40 pm. Witnesses say there were prolonged exchanges of gunfire, including automatic weapons' fire.