Wow.
In October 2017, an absolutely ghastly crime was committed — one poised for national headlines. Yet, there’s a good chance you’ve never heard of it.
Was Donald Trump wrong to characterized MS-13 members as animals (see more here)? Some on the Left thought so. Or, at least, said as much.
Regardless, the following transpired in Lake Balboa, California.
16-year-old Panorama High School student Brayan Andino was befriended by two female peers who were Mara Salvatrucha associates.
The girls lured Brayan to the lake. Members of the gang’s Fulton faction were waiting.
The gang beat Brayan to death. Afterward, they dismembered him and cut out his heart. His body was tossed into a canyon.
Oddly, after the teen disappeared, the school stayed silent. No announcements were made in an effort to help find him. Two months later — when the boy’s body was found — still nothing. No message to students. No condolences to the family. No attempt to alert parents, pupils, or teachers to the nature of the crime — horrifying evidence of the El Saldadorean organization’s dangerous and lurking presence.
According to the Los Angeles Times, Panorama High claimed there was nothing to worry about, given the gang’s very little presence on campus and the fact that no related violence had ever occurred on school property.
But just one month before, the violent group had struck nearby:
At least two MS-13 members, including two former Panorama students, are suspected of stabbing and wounding a student as he was leaving school, officials acknowledged.
Now get this: Of the 10 suspects arrested in Brayan’s murder, 5 were students at Panorama.
Unbelievable.
Of course, everyone is innocent until proven guilty; but all this adds up to more than enough to necessitate parental notification of the real threat to students’ safety.
But it gets a little more convoluted, as reported by The Daily Wire:
The arrests weren’t even announced for 17 months. Capt. William P. Hayes, commander of the Los Angeles Police Department’s Robbery-Homicide Division, told the Times that investigators were “concerned about the flight risk of suspects and the loss of critical information.” They also worried that if word got out around the school, students discussing the murder and the gang could wind up targets themselves.
“You’re trying to prevent people from saying stupid things that would put them at risk,” he told the Times.
Still, some parents and teachers are upset that they were never notified.
The Los Angeles Unified School District only this month acknowledged students from Panorama had been arrested for the murder. That admission came as a federal grand jury indicted 22 adult on racketeering and murder charges.
As per prosecutors, over the course of roughly two years, MS-13 Fulton killed more than seven.
School board representative Kelly Gonez told the Times it’s not the school’s place to get involved:
“In situations like these, we rely on the best judgment of the law enforcement experts who are working to uncover the truth and bring perpetrators to justice. The best way to ensure the safety of our students, staff and families at Panorama High School and the broader community is to ensure that these violent criminals are arrested and put in jail.”
As we constantly see in the news, public schools don’t mind getting involved in all kinds of things other than reading, writing, and ‘rithmetic. It seems to me that the school’s declination was grossly negligent.
Could there have been underlying political motives? Let me know what you think, in the Comments section.
-ALEX
Relevant RedState links in this article: here.
See a few more pieces from me:
Trump Takes Down Warren Again: ‘I Have More Indian Blood Than She Does, & I Have None’
Victoria’s Secret Grants Your Wish: Its New Underwear Angel Is A Man
Find all my RedState work here.
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