Free Republic

In the 20-day period of the George Zimmerman trial, four minors – three teens and a five-year-old boy - were gunned down in Chicago, according to Homicides Watch Chicago, a Chicago Sun-Times publication, which details every murder that takes place in the city. On June 28, five-year-old Sterling Sims was killed in a double murder that also claimed the life of his mother, 31-year-old Chavonne Brown. Both were shot in their apartment, and police believe the motive was robbery. On July 1, 16-year-old Antonio Fenner was gunned down on the sidewalk next to the body of a 32-year-old man who...

The uproar over the Zimmerman verdict is misplaced, because as tragic as the circumstances of that case are, the real tragedy is found elsewhere. For well over a year now, the strains of the shooting death of Trayvon Martin have been heard almost nightly on the evening news and performed vigorously in the dailies’ op-ed pages. They finally reached a deafening crescendo in the hours following the jury’s verdict in State of Florida vs. George Zimmerman.

An armed man dressed in black fatally shot one of the managers at the Family Dollar store at 4900 North 40th St. on Sunday morning during a robbery, according to Tampa police. About 9 a.m., the gunman demanded money from an employee behind the counter, when Horsley Shorter Jr. ran out of the store's office to help his co-worker and was shot, police said. The gunman then took the other employee outside to the victim's vehicle and ordered them into the trunk, police said. The employee pleaded with the gunman, who eventually left the other worker, shut the trunk and...

Police are investigating after three people were injured in a drive-by shooting in northwest Miami-Dade Monday morning. The shooting happened in the area of Northwest 21st Avenue and 62nd Street. One witness said she was woken up by gunshots around 5 a.m. The three victims were taken to Ryder Trauma Center,where they were in stable condition, police said. Police said one of the victims was 15 years old and the others were two men. According to Miami-Dade Police, officers had been at the scene and had broken up a crowd of about 20 people just an hour before the shooting.