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I usually make a point not to watch disturbing videos. Even if I know the subjects ultimately are okay, I default towards avoiding them, because I know I’ll struggle to get the images out of my mind.

I watched one Monday night that I really wish I hadn’t. Even reading the caption that indicated it depicted a murder, I still clicked on it – maybe in disbelief? Because what the video portrayed was a shooting in broad daylight in an area of downtown St. Louis with which I am quite familiar.

A man casually shoots a homeless guy in broad daylight as others watch and do nothing.

Welcome to St. Louis. pic.twitter.com/07Qmp3udZN

— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) February 28, 2023

Not just a shooting – twenty-plus seconds of the shooter messing with the gun in his hand before stepping toward and firing at the man seated on the sidewalk curb just a few feet away from him – and just two blocks north of where another man’s reckless driving robbed a young girl of her legs just 10 days ago.

It all seemed so…mundane or routine. Just another day for you and me in paradise.

Another day in the city where I was born and have worked for the better part of 30 years. A city where criminals are so unfazed by the threat of arrest and prosecution – not to mention human decency – that they blasély point a gun at another man’s head and pull the trigger while cameras roll.

Something’s gotta give.