If You Get Shot In Chattanooga - And Response (6)

I may be a little insensitive, but here goes. If you get shot in Chattanooga and your first words to the police are "I will not cooperate with the investigation" or "I will not prosecute", then let the chips fall where they may.

You should not get medical help (on the taxpayers' dime) unless you have your own insurance. If you are willing to take a bullet or two for the "cause" (whatever that is), then you should be prepared to die for it.

I'm sick and tired of reading the same story every day. Every day, someone gets shot in this city and won't press charges or testify. Every one of you who take this route are not only part of the problem, you are the problem.

Also, I don't want to hear that I don't "understand" or anything else. What I do know is if someone assaulted me, I would, A. Defend myself with any means necessary, case closed, dead perp. B. If I was not carrying (highly unlikely), I would at the very least give a description of the perp to the police and prosecute without fear. B

est of luck to you who don't speak out. I'm sure we will all read about you sooner or later. Have a nice day.

Jimmy McGowan

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Probably a gang or drug connection in the mix. Victim is scared and cannot protect himself or family against "revenge" if he talks?

Think about it.

Teddy Ladd
East Ridge 

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Teddy,
 
I’m just trying to grasp your response to Jimmy’s post.  “Probably a gang or drug connection in the mix. Victim is scared and cannot protect himself or family against 'revenge' if he talks?”  If that is truly the victim’s heartfelt belief, then the victim is already missing the fact he is already a target and not doing a great deal of justice to himself or family in the first place much less after the fact.   

The bottom line is these “victims” are already being targeted by someone.  What makes them think that the ones doing the shooting and stabbing won’t come back to finish the job and next time maybe their families will be present and caught in the crossfire or targeted themselves?   

If the police aren’t able to investigate these crimes then the victims will always remain just that and then we leave the criminals to be the judge, jury and executioner.  They are not only doing an injustice to themselves and families but our society as a whole.  

Chris Morgan 

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I appreciate the fact that Mr. McGowan took time to stand up and provide the comments he did.  I would humbly suggest that more people feel that way, but just didn't want to upset the tea cart by saying such things.  If you are victimized in Chattanooga and are not willing to participate in any type of investigation and/or prosecute the perpetrator, stop expecting us to feel sorry you, and, more importantly, don't waste the city of Chattanooga's Police Department by calling them to the scene and don't expect the citizenry of Hamilton County and/or the city of Chattanooga to pay for any type of medical treatment you might need -- just go home and put a "Band-Aid" on it. 

If you are "scared" of retaliation, I humbly suggest that you might already be involved in questionable activities.  I would also pose the possibility that the people involved care nothing for their family or friends because if they did, they would not involve themselves in questionable activities that would put their family or friends at risk. 

I, like Mr. McGowan, am prepared to defend myself, my family and/or my property by any means necessary.  As well, I am licensed to carry a gun, and just like Mr. McGowan, it is very highly unlikely that you will ever see me without it; provided my carrying it is not prohibited by law. 

Stop wasting the officers of the city of Chattanooga's time if you are unwilling to cooperate with the investigation and prosecution processes. 

Rusty Munger
East Ridge

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To be clear, I am a white male myself and have my CCW. But somehow I managed to avoid being blissfully unaware of the situation these folks are stuck in, and that makes my morally ok with providing them medical care. Crazy am I right? 

Allen Simmons 

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First of all let me say this, the largest majority of the shootings in Chattanooga are gang related and not random. These shootings happen in areas where gang involvement is rampant. 

Being in a gang is a choice, being on the street for no reason at all at 2:00 in the morning is a choice, not going to school and not getting an education is a choice. 

The bottom line is that people need to stop blaming everyone else for their plight in life and start taking responsibility for their actions or lack thereof. 

I recall the late Judge Bob Moon’s speech many times in court when he told young offenders or young ladies to “get your education because without it you will amount to nothing or be dependent on someone else”. 

If the Chattanooga community truly wants to do something about the violence then take the steps to combat it. Cooperate with police investigations. Stay in school and out of trouble and don’t be out on the street wandering around at 2:00 in the morning. 

No amount of finger pointing or blaming is ever going to fix the problem until those involved decided to do better for themselves. 

This is not a black or white issue, it’s not a poor issue, it’s a right or wrong issue. 

Mike Cox 

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For a white guy, Mr. Simmons has a pretty good concept on the situation where victims of shootings allegedly refuse to talk to police. However it doesn't go far enough and only explains a fraction of the problem. Here's another angle from closer more personal point of view. 

Depending upon whose hands that information filters, like all things, it too can become just another tool used to abuse. It can be used to stoke already burning fires, create new ones and even used to spread false rumors about innocent citizens, then just sit back and wait for predictable sparks to fly.  

It will take another three or four generations removed to figure it all out. And by that time it won't matter anyway because most of us will already be gone and the rest too feeble minded to care. 

By the way, this last one is for all the no-brainers who think hospitals should refuse treatment for shooting victims who allegedly refuse to talk.  I think it goes against some "code of ethics" thingy for a hospital to refuse treatment because the victim allegedly refuse to talk. What next? Refusing treatment for victims of domestic violence? Victims of sexual assaults who refuse to talk? Not to mention the potential for lawsuits that would result or the cut off from federal dollars. 

Brenda Manghane-Washington