Our regular readers understand what should be axiomatic for all: Violent criminals cannot prey on law-abiding citizens if they are behind bars. Unfortunately, we are hearing more and more regularly that many in our criminal justice system simply cannot grasp such a basic concept; and that failure often leads to tragedy.
The New York Post reported about the October 2 stabbing of an off-duty New York Police Department (NYPD) officer allegedly committed by two illegal aliens who the officer said had tried to rob him. Officer Jose Mercedes said he identified himself as an officer several times, and after having been stabbed 10 times, still tried to chase down the suspects, but gave up when he was overcome by loss of blood.
The suspects were later arrested in Massachusetts by U.S. Marshals. According to the Post, “Both [suspects] had rap sheets but were repeatedly released without bail due to [New York’s] sanctuary policies that forced local authorities to ignore federal immigration holds.” In other words, in spite of their known criminal history, and the fact that they were in the country illegally, they were free to roam the streets of New York because of criminal justice policies that appear to give great deference to those who break the law.
CWBChicago recounts another horrifying example of violence committed by someone who should not have been free in the first place. On September 7, a 17-year-old allegedly shot a female classmate, paralyzing her and killing her unborn baby. The 17-year-old was out free while already facing charges in a carjacking case, and while a condition for his release was to wear a monitoring device, roughly three weeks prior to this shooting, a judge had the monitor removed.
To make matters worse, two days before the shooting, the suspect had been “arrested on charges of aggravated assault and unlawful use of a weapon,” with a witness alleging he had “shouted gang-related slurs…before pulling out a knife and swinging it at him.”
While the accused has now been detained, that is obviously a bit late for the young girl and her baby who were shot. CWB notes about the suspect in its report, “He is the 13th person accused of killing or trying to kill someone in Chicago this year while on felony pretrial release.”
Then there is the shooting at Eden Prairie High School in Minnesota, which also took place October 2. An 18-year-old has been accused of shooting two teenagers during a homecoming football game, which caused the crowd to panic (understandably) and led to the evacuation of the game.
FOX News reports that the shooting took place outside the stadium, after a fight had broken out, and “all participants of the fight and gunshot are believed to be associated with gangs.” It took several days to track down the suspect, as well as three other suspects connected to the shooting, while a fourth remains at large.
Three suspects remain in custody, but the one actually accused of firing the gun was released on bond after roughly 48 hours. FOX reports, “His release drew criticism from President Donald Trump’s Rapid Response 47 account,” noting the post on X stated, "A Radical Left judge immediately granted him a no-condition bail.”
An 18-year-old and a 17-year-old were injured in the shooting, but the wounds were not life-threatening, thankfully.
The idea of releasing an allegedly gang-affiliated suspect after a potentially lethal shooting and several days manhunt is outrageous, and we can only hope that the accused does not commit any other violent crimes while walking free until he faces his day in court.
Also outrageous, though, is the (predictable) response from an anti-gun Minnesota mayor. The Daily Wire reported that the mayor of St. Louis Park, Minn., Nadia Mohamed, stated through an Instagram post that her “solution” to these kinds of violent acts was to “ban guns.”
As we’ve often said, reducing violent crime in America is a complex problem, but banning guns for law-abiding citizens is a simplistic non-starter. First, you don’t punish the innocent for the actions of the guilty (unless, of course, you’re a gun control advocate). Second, there’s the Second…Amendment, that is. The right to arms of law-abiding citizens must, and shall, remain inviolate.
But there is one simple concept that really does need to be implemented in far more places; if you have a suspect in a life-threatening or violent crime, hold onto him. Catch and release is putting innocent lives at risk.
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