Blame The Gun

First off, the writers should be ashamed of themselves for the way they portrayed this sad accident and their ridiculous attempt at insinuating that the Gun was the underlying problem.
1. A citizen exercised their right to bear arms without understanding their responsibility.
2. Because of FEAR. Yes Fear of living in this city. Because, the family as everyone in Flint can see, except the Mayor and His cronies. That there is a "MAJOR INCREASE" in Crime and not the "MAJOR REDUCTION" that the Mayor has claimed!
3. If Leadership in Flint would require accountability in this administration starting from the TOP DOWN! If the Mayor would hire a Police Chief and then let him manage the Police Dept. Instead of the Mayor trying to manage the Police Dept. Quite possibly, the citizens of Flint wouldn't have to live in Fear in their own homes.
4. The worst part to me is how the Mayor and Mr. Buchannan are attempting to make themselves appear to actually care. If they cared? They would insist on having police responding to calls, and not hanging around City Council Meetings or Housing Commission meetings. It is this type of abuse of authority and poor leadership that has turned this city around from a city with a "CRIME TREND" that was going down for the last ten years. To a City with a crime increase that rivals record increases.

SHOT KILLS A 'PRINCESS'
Girl, 9, was wrestling champion
FLINT
THE FLINT JOURNAL FIRST EDITION
Friday, August 25, 2006
By Kim Crawford, Bryn Mickle and Robert Snell
JOURNAL STAFF WRITERS
FLINT - Victoria Taylor was unbeatable on the wrestling mat.

The only girl among 46 boys on her wrestling club, 9-year-old Victoria had a room full of trophies and two national championships to her name.

"She had more energy than I've ever seen in any little girl," said coach Kevin Lovell.

That energy disappeared in the roar of a shotgun blast Thursday morning inside Victoria's home at the corner of W. Home Avenue and Baldwin Boulevard on the city's north side.

The Gundry Elementary fourth-grader was shot and killed in the home about 11:30 a.m.

It is not clear who shot Victoria with the shotgun bought this summer after two break-ins at the home.

Her 10-year-old brother and their 10-year-old wrestling teammate also were in the home.

"Ten more days was all we needed," said her uncle, James Bard. "Then she would have been in school and this wouldn't have happened."

The shotgun had been purchased this summer after the Taylors' house was burglarized twice - once by a man who climbed through the window in the middle of the day, said another uncle, Marc Bard.

"That's why they had the gun," said Marc Bard.

Police late Thursday night would only confirm Victoria's name and age and that she had been shot to death. They said a male juvenile was detained and later released pending further investigation.

Mayor Don Williamson and 1st Ward Councilman Darryl E. Buchanan, who represents that area, hurried to the scene when they heard about the shooting Thursday and were given a quick briefing by police.

"I called my daughter," Buchanan said, "and told her to hug her children."

A young boy in blue shorts, who relatives said was Victoria's brother, was led away from the scene just after noon, crying, to a Flint police vehicle as relatives and on-lookers cried or looked on with grim faces. He was taken down to police headquarters to be interviewed.

As the terrible news spread by cellphone from relatives at the scene, other family members arrived. One woman cried "No, no, no" and "Oh, my God." Another of Victoria's relatives jumped from his car and ran up to the scene shouting, "Tell me she's just hurt, she's just hurt."

As they tried to console each other, one person could be heard trying to assure a crying woman: "It's going to be all right."

But she replied through her tears, "It's never going to be all right."

An A student who also excelled at track and basketball, Victoria started wrestling when she was 4.

"Her dad was a wrestler, so he taught his son about the sport. But Victoria saw her brother in it, saw that you could win trophies and prizes and she wanted to be in it, too," said Marc Bard.

Even though Victoria was her father's little "Princess," family members said David Taylor taught her to wrestle.

Soon, she and her brother were wrestling together on the Westwood Heights Battle Cats, where Victoria earned a reputation for hard work.

Her signature hello was a punch in the gut.

"I'm 220 pounds and she would say, 'Come on, let's go,'" said Lovell, 40, of Goodrich.

The 80-pounder with two long ponytails was a two-time national champion who in April won her weight class at the United States Girls Wrestling Association national championships in Lake Orion.

"She would have been a high-school All-American if she'd have stuck with it," said Kent Bailo, 56, founder of the USGWA. "She stuck out because she's cute as a button and physically chiseled for a kid that age. Oh God, what can you say?"

She also held at least one state championship - earned by beating the boys - and was a fixture at meets flanked by her parents.

"The girl was unbeatable " so full of life," Lovell said. "Unbelievable, just unbelievable."

Relatives said her death is the second child the Taylors have lost. One of Victoria's siblings died of spinal meningitis in 1994.

Cousin Stanley Dulaney fought back tears as he talked about Victoria.

"She was a true princess," he said.

James Bard agreed.

"This little girl had so much to give," Bard said. "She was impressive."

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