Second Arrest Made in Shooting of Palo Verde Teen
——UPDATED——
Metro police announced the arrest of 18-year-old Ezekial Williams. Police say Williams was the driver of the car that fired upon a group of students walking home from school last Friday.
Williams was booked into the Clark County Detention Center on one charge of accessory to murder and three counts of accessory to attempted murder.
The suspected gunman, 16-year-old Gerald Davison already faces charges of murder and attempted murder. Police say Davison opened fire on 15-year-old Chris Privett from the back seat of a car while Williams was driving.
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Metro and School District Police are investigating a shooting near Palo Verde High School and another near Whitney Ranch Elementary.
At the Palo Verde shooting, there are reports that one person was shot just as school was let out for the day. It is unclear if the shooting involved students. There is still no word on a condition for the victim.
The other shooting occurred near Whitney Elementary School off of Tropicana between Boulder Highway and Jimmy Durante. There are initial reports that two teens were fighting behind the school.
Categories: Clark County, Crime
February 15th, 2008 at 5:19 pm
One of the shootings was within maybe 1/8 mile of my house. My kids walk that all the time. This insanity must stop.
February 15th, 2008 at 5:24 pm
This really breaks my heart. As a parent, it makes me almost afraid to send my teenage daughters to school for fear that they won’t make it home due to kids and guns.
My condolences go out to the parents of these children and I pray that Metro catches these terrorists and get them off the streets.
February 15th, 2008 at 5:33 pm
This is horrible. Unexplainable….
February 15th, 2008 at 5:35 pm
When is the violence going to stop?
It is time that the community come together to end the violence.
No neighborhood is safe in this city.
Any ideas on how to put an end to the senseless shootings?
February 15th, 2008 at 6:01 pm
I can’t believe it. What’s this world coming to? It seems like the whole country’s gone mad. My daughter was picking up my son from Palo and must have just missed the incident by about two minutes. It’s so frightening to think of what can happen being in the wrong place at the wrong time. This country’s truly gone crazy.
February 15th, 2008 at 6:11 pm
I was driving a friend home from school (Palo) and saw nothing, then i drove right back up alta less then 5 minuets later and saw someone motionless on the floor with several cars pulled over helping the student. As a current student of Palo, this is truly outrageous.
February 15th, 2008 at 6:18 pm
Growing up in southcentral LA even I have to say this has gone much much too far.These little cowards are afraid to go head to head to prove their manhood. Got a beef settle it in the gym with the gloves on, take your butt kicking and let it go until another time there is no explanation for these senseless actions. I for one think parents should be held accountable for the actions of their children (under 17 yrs.) WE MUST OUTLAW GUNS…… There seems to be no other way. or… Get caught with a gun, no license, 2-5 years automatically 2nd offense 7 years.For Parents, 90 days- 2 years probation, 2nd offense 6 months 5 years probabtion. Let’s see whether that gets their attention or not
February 15th, 2008 at 7:09 pm
Unbelievable… no regard for human life. How about instead our govt. spending $64 million on the new 2900 acre shooting range going in NW Vegas, we put that money into our schools, and providing safety for our children.
What do you say Sen. Reid?
February 15th, 2008 at 7:12 pm
This is frightning and real and it proves that Metro does not have a strong presence in our community. There have been a lot of school shootings in the valley lately and now one in our Summerlin Community. The community of Summerlin must come together to make a strong stance with Metro to have them protect our children and the safety of our community.
February 15th, 2008 at 7:27 pm
the kid’s name was Chris Privett
February 15th, 2008 at 7:43 pm
I have 2 students at Rgech Middle School, just a building away from Palo Verde…The school was put under lockdown (the children were told it was a routine drill) for all of 10 minutes…then these children we released to go home. Not even warned of the danger that might await them as they walked home.
The shooter has yet not been found.
WHY were these middle schoolers allowed to leave the safety of their school to walk home less than an hour after a child was shot and killed? Why weren’t they warned?
I am so angry and baffled at this. What were they thinking???
February 15th, 2008 at 7:47 pm
I think we all as a community and parents need to accept and demand our school district and local government officials to implement a prevention and awareness program that talks to young people from young people about choices and consequences, alcohol and substance abuse,teen violence along with party crew and gang awareness.The program i am speaking of is called T.A.R.G.E.T and it stands for Teens At Risk Get Educated Today.This program was created by Anthony and Brandon Gallion formerly associated with the 311 boyz case.These 2 young men have been trying to stop teen violence and address teen addiction and peer pressure for the last year now.through there experiences and impact i think it would benefit this community 10 fold.I also think its time we stand up and support their efforts as a community. if you want to speak with them they answer this number (702)451-8336 for more information. they are true inspirations and are dedicated to helping stop the plague of violence in our communities
February 15th, 2008 at 7:48 pm
There is no such thing as “minor tagging”. It is no joking matter and I am appalled by the ignorant comments of Jose Montoya of Metro.
The Tagging in Las Vegas is out of control and it is far more serious a matter than giving people paint to cover it up. Tagging is a sign we have troublemakers who do not respect property and today we are reminded they do not value human life either.
Based on the attitude of Metro regards tagging, this is barely the beginning of what will be much worse this summer. Expect to see routine shootings in the Resort Corridor as there is tagging all over the Strip now not being addressed.
Better wake-up Vegas or you are going to be living in a War Zone.
February 15th, 2008 at 7:49 pm
I have seen there presentation along with my daughter and those young men are very passionate in what they are doing and really changed my daughter’s outlook on life. if you don’t believe me call them or set up a presentation with them.the are great assets to this community just give them a chance to stop this non sense.
i saw them for substance abuse and violence course
February 15th, 2008 at 8:41 pm
This young man senselessly killed at Palo is the son of a teacher from a local middle school. He is a coworker and a friend and I can not imagine how he is going to get through what now lies ahead of him. My heart breaks to think of saying goodbye to your child in the morning and then never seeing them again. My prayers are with you my friend and with your family. Your extended family at work will do whatever you need to get you through this tough time. May God shower you with comfort in your hour of need.
February 15th, 2008 at 8:56 pm
A Call for Action.
I’m a parent of a student at Palo Verde. This is every parent’s worst nightmare. I know all our prayers go to the family.
If the police and the family agrees to it, I’ll be the first to donate $1,000.00 to a reward fund. I believe there must be another 99 parents who will make the same commitment.
If you are an attorney and wish to commit your time to organize this or you wish to commit $1,000 to bring this to justice, please e-mail me… Randy@GilligansHideAway.com
Thank You
Randy Genovese
February 15th, 2008 at 8:57 pm
Let’s all pledge to watch out for each others kids, when they’re walking home, whenever. Lets be there for each one of then, when they need to talk, afterschool.
Mari
February 15th, 2008 at 10:20 pm
My son walks that way home from school every day. Today he was home sick. There’s one way to fix these problems and that is to LOCK AWAY these habitual law-breakers. Our justice system doesn’t get it. I’m tired to hearing about rehabilitation. You commit a violent crime once . . . and you go to jail for a very long time. No parole. No second chances. Period. I guarantee that these thugs have a criminal rap sheet a mile long. I’m so pissed.
February 15th, 2008 at 10:37 pm
As an Englishman living in Las Vegas, with a son in Palo Verde, I find todays incident both deplorable and quite shocking.
It beggars belief that I can drive around Summerlin for up to 5 days without seeing a police car; but head into downtown and the strip they are pulling people over every other intersection.
I really do believe that the US has to address gun control. But that is a trivial matter compared to the family of todays victim. My heart goes out to them.
February 15th, 2008 at 10:40 pm
The kid from the palo shooting was one of my bestfriends. I’ve known for about eight years, he was my nextdoor neighbor. He was like family to me,I still can’t beleive he’s gone now. People die these days of the stupidest things. I really hope the victims get caught.
February 16th, 2008 at 12:06 am
“i think through all of this stuff that is happening today in the world we need to be more aware. How are you going to know something is going to happen? your freaking walking home from scholl and you get shot. And all the people that shot must have some experience with guns, their was a group of kids and one kid got hit, one, what is this thats why people move to vegas or atleast summerlan you know it is a good place to be and also a safe place so what are we going to do now?”
February 16th, 2008 at 12:12 am
Sadness, disbelief, and anger! I have an overwhelming feeling of sadness thinking of the complete disregard for the precious life of an innocent child and for the family left to deal with this difficult tragedy.
Disbelief… I still can not believe that this happened down the street from where I live. Is there any place that is safe?! Obviously, allowing your children to walk home from school anymore is an absolute risk!
Anger… complete cowards, not human, heartless! How can anyone with any hint of love, compassion, or sense committ such a senseless crime? These individuals are not human beings…
What happened to the CCSD policy of locking a school down until the threat has been removed? My child attends Linda Givens Elementry School right up the street and there was not even an announcement made!!! Sig Rogich was locked down for 10 minutes and then released the kids??!! These administrators need to be questioned and asked why they dropped the ball on protecting the welfare of the kids at the neighboring schools!
God Bless the family and the child! Your community supports you!
February 16th, 2008 at 12:15 am
I was driving on alta with my 11 month old in his car seat to pick up my daughter at palo.I never take that route ( I go up the Anasazi way) and I thought it strange that more than a handful of cars were parked to the right. Some adults were standing with shocked and disbelieved looks. The other adults were apparently giving hands on aid to the young boy I noticed laying on the sidewalk. My heart skipped beats. Not knowing it was a shooting, I still felt a sense of urgency and started to pray. There is no need for this violence. My daughter is confused and sad. I feel for the family and for all that witnessed this senseless violent tragedy. Rest in peace and may god be with you and your family.
February 16th, 2008 at 12:35 am
My child also goes to PVHS and we were there driving by just minutes after this happened. People simply have no regard for human life anymore. Until that ethic returns to all of our lives, this ridiculous violence will continue. It makes me il that every day as I drop my kids off for school I have to worry.
February 16th, 2008 at 12:56 am
O my god when is this unessacry stuff happen? I know the boy that was shot i friends with his older brother and him and played football with both of them. What can be worst then to burring ur childern unstead of them burring you. My heart goes out to his brother and the rest of the family.
February 16th, 2008 at 2:14 am
My daughter was in classes with the victim at Palo since 4th grade. She and all her friends have nothing but good things to say about this poor boy. This was a great kid just walking home after school. My heart goes out to his parents and brother.
There is no punishment that is sufficient for the scum that did this.
Just another example of a good family with good parents losing the joy of their life to kids that have somehow been raised with no respect of life. Something needs to change in our society where kids can be raised this way.
The parents of these scumbags are as guilty as their kids.
February 16th, 2008 at 7:24 am
I am sitting here at work and still in shock at what transpired yesterday. May I first offer my heart felt condolences to the family of the young man who lost his life, I don’t have the words to express my sorrow. I have 4 children that attend Palo and I sat at home last night and watched as they were on their computers and cell phones talking with friends trying to piece together the madness that took place yesterday. One of my daughters went to the same physical therapist as the young man who was taken from us and she is having a very difficult time with this tragedy. I pray for the family and friends and although I have alot of anger for the people responsible for this cowardly and ignorant act I feel it is imperative that at this time we gather round and channel all of our energies on supporting the family who lost there boy.
February 16th, 2008 at 10:30 am
My 9th grade son also walks home this way everyday. This happenend within a block of my home. I have always felt very safe in Summerlin. That is why I chose to live here. My son was out sick yesterday or it very easily could have been him. I am so shocked and disturbed that this could happen here. I think I may seriously consider home schooling. My most heartfelt sympathy goes out to the family of this young man. It is truly heartbreaking.
February 16th, 2008 at 10:31 am
This Maddness has to stop. I have a 3 children, one being a HS student. She goes to DP and it is getting to the point that I feel sick everytime i drop her off in fear of something happening. What ever happened to schools being a “SAFE” place???
My heartfelt condolences to the family .
February 16th, 2008 at 11:10 am
Back when I was in high school, growing up as I did in New York, I used to be more for gun control. But as I got older I changed my views for both philosophical reasons and in light of a more mature understanding of reality.
But if I could say just one thing to people like calling for gun control on this comment list, I’d ask these people if, in the event that they were being fired on by a maniac, or by gang members, would they really want to be unarmed? Would they want to be the person who says that a victim in such a situation is not allowed to possess the means to defend himself? Philosophically, I think it’s pretty repugnant to say that law abiding citizens in such a situation should have no other recourse but to crouch down and wait to be killed. Think about the difference in how you’d feel in a situation where you’re being attacked by someone who is intending to kill you. The difference between just having to wait to be killed, to have no choice but to submit entirely to the type of person who would commit such a crime in the first place, and the difference to at least having a fighting chance for life! Personally, I’m going to buy firearms for my family now.
My condolences for the family. What an awful thing to happen in such a safe and peaceful neighborhood.
February 16th, 2008 at 12:15 pm
My heart is breaking for all the families involved in this tragedy…Here we are again all asking why? and saying I never thought this would happen here in this area.WAKE UP people this is an issue of “violent teen culture” although we don’t have all the info on who did this shooting I will venture to guess it was another young person.I know first hand how youth violence can effect a family.I agree we need to get a handle on the access to weapons, but we have to start by RE-SENSITIZING our kids.Youth today see violence as a sport, for their entertainment but until it touches them directly it isn’t real. I read the other blog about the T.A.R.G.E.T. program.Its proactive things like that from young people that will help,kids listen to their peers,so if peer pressure causes bad choices then it can also effect good choices.
Teens need to break this chain of Teen violence….
February 16th, 2008 at 3:41 pm
I first learned of this incident thru a ‘breaking news’ email while sitting at my computer at work. I was stunned as my son also attends PVHS. My son had driven by and seen the young man on the ground with parents around him coming to his aid. All I could do was bow my head and pray.
I too must say that we need to re-sensitize our children from an early age how precious life is. And part of that involves a connection one’s self worth. In one’s darkest hours when perhaps no one else is around, God always will be there. God in our homes is where we need to start to recapture the beauty of our children again.
This is indeed a tragedy — for the family who lost their son and for the family who will loose their son to the justice system because of this brutal act.
My heart and prayers go out to the families of these teens as well as to the students and administrators of PVHS who lost one of their own.
February 16th, 2008 at 5:38 pm
The gutless shooter should be identified, tried as an adult and sent away to prison for the rest of his no good life.
If The friends in the car don’t cooperate, they should be charged with accessories to the crime.
Throw away the key.
February 16th, 2008 at 7:10 pm
My daughter is a ninth grader at Palo and I cannot imagine the immense pain and grief the parents and family are experiencing. Back when we had prayer in schools teen violence didn’t involve guns and killing. We need to put prayer back in schools!
To the family, May God wrap his arms around you, comfort you and guide you and give you strength to get thru these the darkest days of your life.
February 16th, 2008 at 7:52 pm
As a parent who has children attending Palo, and Sig Rogich, my deepest sympathy goes out to the family involved in this tragedy. Now that the police have arrested the alleged suspect, I hope the news media doesn’t stop asking tough questions and determine if the administration could have done something to prevent this.
I’d like to know more about where the firearm was obtained?
What’s the family situation?
What type of school record did the alleged suspect have. Did the school take appropriate action if there were disciplinary issues or was he just passed along through the system.
Was he zoned to even attend Palo?
Was the firearm on campus during the school day?
What will happen to the other Palo students in the vehicle assuming they aren’t arrested as well?
Come on media ask the tough questions and put pressure on the school administration to provide answers. Palo is extremely over-crowded and we’re just lucky something like this hasn’t happened before this incident. What are the lessons learned from this? Lets make sure we can do all we can to prevent this from happening again.
February 16th, 2008 at 8:10 pm
My prayers and thoughts go out to the family of the young precious boy – my daughter is a Senior at Palo and we live close to where the incident happened. We travel Alta to get to Pavilion. I can’t imagine what his parents are going through. I pray for god to give them strength and please comfort them through this hard time.
February 16th, 2008 at 10:37 pm
I completely agree with Amanda. I am also a student at Palo Verde and I had absolutely no idea that anything had happened until I received text messages from friends.
I had been at school waiting for softball practice to begin from 1:25 until 3:00. I saw the helicopters and the police, but at no time was I told to go home, or asked to stay within the school building for safety. After school activities continued, and Rogich didn’t seem to get out late.
With those people on the loose and still possibly in the area the management of the situation was atrocious. What’s the point of practicing drills when in a real crisis they aren’t implemented? Our school is in mourning for one student, but with the lack of control of the situation we could just as likely be in mourning for five, or six, or seven.
February 16th, 2008 at 11:42 pm
Although I didn’t lose a child in a drive by, I have lost a child to a car accident. The pain that you feel every time someone else looses a child is a pain that unfortunately will never go away. This 9 grade boy has a name and a family and we all have to remember that nothing will ever bring him back nor make February 15th ever the same for his family again. The kids that go to that school are going to have a heavy week on their hands next week and parents have to be there to comfort them. Make sure that you let the people in your life know that you love them and never ever forget to say it. It will take time for the pain to somewhat stop, but it will never ever truly stop. I just hope that the kids that did this know that they have also ended their own life. They are now going to be locked up and behind bars and forever changed. It is all so unbelievable senseless. To the mother~find comfort in the fact that you are truly a mother of an angel and always have been, you just didn’t know it until now. To the father~be strong for your wife and she will be strong for you. To any siblings~never ever forget to talk about the fun stuff you all did together and the crazy made you pee your pants fun you had. We cannot protect our children from this messed up world we live in and never will be able too. But we can’t keep them in a bubble forever either. I hope that through this tragedy we can all work towards making what is around us better.
February 16th, 2008 at 11:47 pm
My heart aches for the victim and his family. A young life so senselessly taken, in front of his own school, amongst schoolmates. I am certain he will be remembered in everyone’s hearts. May justice prevail for him and his family. How do we prevent this from happening again? One life taken, is one life too many!!!!!!
February 17th, 2008 at 2:22 am
There needs to be a mandatory sentence of 10 years for anyone caught carrying a gun that is not licensed to them. Anyone under 18 with a handgun should be gone for 10+. We do this and we will see a marked decrease in the number of weapons at school. If a kid gets caught with a gun now what happens? They get kicked out of school and they go to an opportunity school? What kind of threat is that? We cant/shouldnt take guns from law abiding citizens but we should come down hard, no excuses, for those that don’t have them legally.
February 17th, 2008 at 3:07 am
All I can say is “What a shame!” Our kids shouldn’t have to deal with this kind of inhumane situations. We send them to school, to learn and get an education, so they can have a good, fulfilling future. Yet, something like this happens and how do we explain this to them?
I do place fault in the parents of these kids who did this horrible, cowardly act. Yes, cowardly!!! What kind of monsters did you raise? I have three kids and one goes to Palo. I know what my kids do 99% of the time and what kind of friends they hang out with.
I also live very close to where this happened. I was within minutes of the shooting as I was going to pick up my son at Rogich Middle school. I saw all of the cops going by, with an undercover car coming close past me. I had no clue at the time, but I found out shortly what an inhumane act had been committed.
As parents and responsible people in Summerlin, we all need to get involved and do something about this. This can’t happen again. It is wrong that we sit back and watch. Then we wonder. We can’t leave it to the people in the government. Everyone is out for themselves. I’m disturbed and upset over this. I hope we can all unite and make more changes. Laws must get tougher, and kids who act in any violent ways or break school laws, must NOT be permitted back to our schools no matter what. There are kids that attend all of our local schools, who were kicked out of another school at one point, and after some time away, they are allowed to pick another school to go to. What insane law is this?
February 17th, 2008 at 3:49 am
I feel horrible for the completely senseless crime that has taken place. My condolences go out to the victim’s family and friend’s. Having lived in different states (CA, FL, NY and now NV) my sense of awareness has been heightened tremendously. I’ve come to realize that choosing to live somewhere “safe” is no excuse to for complacency. Criminals are criminals because they don’t have any regard for human life or the law. I too used to believe in the whole get rid of guns and everything will be better. But now, my fear is if that happens, what’s next?! A weapon in a criminal’s possession is literally anything that, for them, will get the job done!! We as a society for the most part advocate training people, especially women, kids and the elderly, to learn how to defend themselves by other means of self defense. In essence, learning how to use your body as a weapon to stay alive in the event that you become a victim of crime. A firearm, although requiring a tremendous amount of responsibility and discipline, is just another extension of self defense that can and has been used successfully in preventing serious crimes. However, I feel that there is a much bigger picture that needs to be addressed here. First, what can we do as adults? Educate! Nurture! The basic values that will give children the ability to contribute everything they have to our society while making morally sound decisions. We need to take responsibility for actions and stop making excuses. Can we totally prevent crime from happening? No. But, we can minimize the chances of becoming victims ourselves by becoming educated, aware and prepared citizens when it comes to the protection of our own family and of those we love.
February 17th, 2008 at 4:44 pm
If this insanity must stop speak with your legislator. They’re the one’s that put these gang bangers in your neighborhood with their Section 8 housing bill thinking that they’ll curve the violence by breaking up welfare housing, when in reality they just move it to other nieghborhoods, nicer neighborhoods. Thats why the Southwest part of the valley is having their problems with robberies, burglaries, and violent gang members and now Summerlin is falling victim to it too. I feel sorry for the Police department and their officers who attempt to stop crime while at work only to find that their legislator moved the gang banger in next door. What a system…what a joke! Unfortunately without any cooperation with state and local lawmakers I fear more shootings in “safer neighborhoods” are inevitable.
No doubt a parent should be charged along with the juvenile suspect in the case of the shooting at Palo Verde. Why aren’t parents being held accountable for their children’s actions? You would see parents putting their children in check alot more often.
February 17th, 2008 at 6:08 pm
As a parents in Summerlin, we all do need to do something about this situation. A start would be to question the number of “choice” kids that leave non-performing schools and attend our community schools under the “NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND ACT”. These students, whom are not part of our community and most often do not have the same parental involvement, and morals, are attributed to many of the social ills in the summerlin schools. This is not a racist statement, but an accurate statement–check the statistics on this and you will be horrified. We have worked hard to try and have our kids live in the best place possible in Las Vegas, and our schools are polluted with kids that want nothing but to target our own children for their opportunities. This is all part of social engineering by the Federal Govt. AND the CCSD. It is a shame that this life was spared and every single person in that car MUST be charged with murder. We must demand this as a community! Go to parent meetings, demand the best, be vigilant, picket the streets of Summerlin if you have to do so, but we cannot let this happen anymore to our community.
February 17th, 2008 at 6:24 pm
this is so horrible. i mean things like this happens everyday. my sister walks home from school from palo, and the shooting happened literally seconds away from our house. it’s so scary. and it just goes to show us were not safe anywhere! even though we all thought ignorantly that summerlin is the safest, it obvioulsy isn’t. my heart goes out to the poor boys family and there isn’t anything anyone can say that will make this situation better. i dont know what i would do if something like this happened to my sister. justice needs to be served to the SICK person that did this but it will never bring him back home. my prayers are with his family and for everyone out there. .. we all need to come together and watch out for eachother.
February 17th, 2008 at 8:28 pm
This blog is out of control,lock everyone up throw away keys,don’t let them come to our perfect part of the world.are you kidding who do you think you all are.We need to promote programs that help youth.ALL our youth, violence didn’t just come to Summerline because a few kids were bused in, and for all you parents who think you know 99% of when,WHERE and what your kids are doing I pray you never fall from your perfect thrown,because you have a long fall…Kids are fooling parents everyday,peer pressure can be overwhelming and our kids are doing stupid stuff….I pray for the parents of the boy who was killed, but I also pray for the families of the CHILDREN who felt the need to use violence as a resolution to a problem….
February 17th, 2008 at 9:50 pm
It is amazing that the same news story is carried over and over by the local networks with not one iota of additional information. Are the local newscasters just incompetent? Do the local station program directors think that the same story over and over will make us loyal viewers or informed citizens? Why has no one asked Metro to explain:
- Who the other passengers in the car were.
- Why the other passengers were not charged with accessory to murder?
- Who the shooter was and what possible motive he may have had (if a minor is a murderer, his identity legal status should take a back seat to the public’s right to know).
- Who harbored this criminal prior to being caught and why has that person not been charged.
These are more than just voyeuristic curiosities. Members of the community have a right to know if Metro is doing a competent job, whether we have to worry about ongoing gang violence near our schools, whether -as tragic as it was- this can be seen as an isolated event, and whether the law affords society and releif whatsoever.
Who was this murderer? Why was he at Palo? What prior information might CCSD have had that may have alerted both the school’s administration and the community?
February 17th, 2008 at 10:14 pm
I have a son in at Palo. Before we all jump into conclusions, we don’t even know who the killer is and how Chris got tangled in this. Obviously this is NOT a random shooting. Someone was targeted. I know Palo has not bussed in kids from other parts of the city for at least 3 years. And if you think this type of thing doesn’t happen in upscale, white neighborhoods, just tell that to the parents of those Columbine kids. The problem is that we have a very transient community where few parents care about their kid’s education, and we have a huge bureauracy called the CCSD where teachers are overwhelmed and the administrators will tell you frankly they really don’t give a damn. I am fortunate my son is self-motivated. Hopefully he hangs out with the right crowd and will learn. Meanwhile I am taking no chances. He is getting a bullet proof backpack.
February 17th, 2008 at 11:51 pm
I do not think this Blog is out of control!I beleive the news reports have stated that their were adults in the vehicle carrying the murderers,I think everyone deserves to know who they were!I think parents of the students on campus deserve to know if the car was in the parking lot with the weapon or weapons prior to school being let out.
We deserve answers to tough but obvious questions.
We do have a broken society and broken families.
If legislators do not wake up with these gun laws we can only expect more of these types of horrible acts.
To this young mans family,it is very obvious that you raised a truly amazing son and a great kid.
Truly a life to CELEBRATE!!!God Bless you all
.
February 18th, 2008 at 12:04 am
Who was this murderer? Why was he at Palo? What prior information might CCSD have had that may have alerted both the school’s administration and the community?
EXCELLENT QUESTIONS, JOE! We as a community have the right to know these things. Additionally, your comments about the other people involved are right on point.
February 18th, 2008 at 12:13 am
I have been depressed all weekend after hearing this unimaginable news. You just never think it will happen so close to home. The family of this young man is forever deeply scarred and life will never be “normal” again. Memories will keep them going from here… Lets not forget the kids who were walking with this young man, one getting a bullet to his backpack, and how they will be terrorized by this senseless act for many years to come. Times have changed and our schools need to have crisis plans in place for such incidents. I have nephews who attend both Palo and Sig Rogich….and heard that Sig was locked down for a short time, and then the students were released with NO information about this deadly event. One of the kids walking was told that there was “construction” on Alta and that they should not walk that way!!! At the time, the killer was still on the loose….How could The Sig administrators release these kids while a killer was on the loose, without at least giving them the opportunity to call their parents for a ride home?!? Who could be sure that the murderers weren’t waiting around a corner to shoot at the next group of innocent children??? What was the point of conceiling this information??? At least college campuses inform their students what is going on… Get it straight schools! The home-schoolers are on the rise and your jobs are at risk!
To the family of the young man who was taken…Your entire community is mourning with you. Please know that there are many prayers being sent your way. May God be with you………..
February 18th, 2008 at 12:23 am
And another thing! If you think “Gun Control” is the answer, take a look at the increasing crime stats in Australia since they have taken away guns from law abiding citizens. NOT GOOD! Why not put the responsibility where it belongs….. The best influence comes from responsible parents from a young age. My parents had guns throughout my entire youth, and because I was educated by my parents about guns and the consequences of what can happen…. I was never “curious” and “knew better”. Parents…..IF YOU HAVE GUNS, and even if you don’t, EDUCATE YOUR CHILDREN BEGINNING AT A YOUNG AGE AND KEEP THEM OUT OF REACH!!!
February 18th, 2008 at 12:45 am
I agree that as parents and a community, we should have the right to know more. I’m hoping, over the next few days, more information will be released. With minors involved, and an ongoing investigation in progress, we are not going to get the answers we want so quickly. What I want to know is WHO’S gun was used in the shooting? If it belonged to one of the other kids in the car, why isn’t he or she arrested and charged? Whoever gave the gun to the shooter is just as responsible. These are the questions I have that deserve answers as soon as they become available.
I’m a mother of a student at Palo. I’ve been a stay at home mom since we had kids, and I disagree with L.G. regarding knowing what our kids do 99% of the time. Some of us do know. You have no clue what some home lives are like. I have many friends who are like us. For example, our family has sacrificed over the years for me to stay home and be a MOM? Of course, anything can happen to anyone at anytime, but one thing I know for sure is that my kids have been well raised, are respectful towards their elders, are exceptional students, and have wonderful friends. They don’t hang out in malls or the streets with their buddies anytime they want. They hang out at each other’s homes mostly. So don’t judge what another mother said about how she knows what her kids do most of the time. It might come as a surprise to you, but there are nice families in Summerlin that provide loving and caring homes for their kids.
One more thing, this blog is not out of control. People are angry and have opinions. What’s wrong with speaking up? My heart goes to the family of the boy who’s life was taken so suddenly. My prayer goes out to his loved ones. That is what matters right now!
February 18th, 2008 at 9:40 am
My prayers go out to the family who lost their son forever they will never see him finish school or have a family. But we need to all come together in Las Vegas you can live in Summerlin, Vegas, North Vegas, Henderson, this type of violence is happening through out our city and it doesnt matter if we put up a shoot range or not. It’s these young teenagers getting guns from friends, family memebers, that we need to stop we need to hold the parents responsible for the crimes their children do. Have the parents stand trial along with the kids who do the crime….
February 18th, 2008 at 5:07 pm
I cannot believe how many people believe that “gun control” is the answer to these kinds of problems. If you take the guns out of the hands of the law abiding citizens, then only the criminals would have them. Perhaps had there been a parent there who was armed and ready when this tragedy happened, then those responsible could have been stopped when the gun first presented itself or at least when the first shot was fired. Or would the same folks who are screaming for gun control now be screaming about the injustice of a child being shot down by a parent who was defending the innocent?
February 18th, 2008 at 6:57 pm
This is my daughters 3rd year at Palo. Something I’ve been noticing this year that is different from the previous 2 years, NO COPS. Anyone else?? They used to be around alot, especially in the morning for all the jack ass speeders through the school zones. I take her and pick her up and I have yet to see ONE cop this year……they must really be busy somewhere else.
My heart is breaking for you Ms. Privett, you are in our prayers.
February 18th, 2008 at 8:53 pm
I have to respond to the comments by Summerlin mom,I am happy that you are a stay at home MOM,its ridiculous for you to think i am the judge here.Read these blogs,we do not have all the information on this story….All we do know is on boy is dead and another is in jail.This is America,and we do have a judicial system that will hopefully sort out this mess.We have teens acting out violently all over this city,kids hurting and killing each other…PREVENTION>>>>>not reaction thats what we as moms need to demand from our schools,and public officials….As for knowing were and what your kids are up to 99% of the time…come on
think back..You may have been the best kid in the world but your mom didn’t know everything you did…
Bottom Line…WE DON’T WANT THIS TO EVER HAPPEN TO ANY CHILDREN IN ANY NEIGHBORHOOD….MY PRAYERS TO THE PRIVETT FAMILY
February 18th, 2008 at 9:37 pm
What’s wrong with you LG??? You part of the problem?? NOT KNOWING WHAT YOUR KIDS ARE UP TOO???? THAT IS THE PROBLEM!! I totally understand what she is saying, and that is I KNOW WHAT MY KIDS ARE DOING AND IN NO WAY ARE THEY GETTING A FECKING GUN TO GO SHOOT SOMEONE!!!
All we know is……………….WTF!!! All we know is some punk ass with parents that need to be in prison got his nasty hands on a gun and innocently took a wonderful life!!
I have raised my daughter with integrity, compassion, respect, and all that comes with that and you bet your but I ALWAYS KNOW WHERE SHE IS.
February 18th, 2008 at 9:49 pm
The point I am making is life is not like it was, thinking back. If you are 35 and up, 44 like me. We could and DID roam the streets SAFELY with our neighbors and we had better been home by the time the street lights were on. Life is not like that today and if you want to raise your kids right and keep them safe you have changed with the times, I certainly have and that knowledge is what makes me know whats up with my kid 24/7.
February 18th, 2008 at 10:02 pm
Why are the killer’s accomplishes not in jail? I read that there were 4 people in the car in the time of the shooting. This might be one of those gang initiation.
February 18th, 2008 at 11:14 pm
Come on give L.G. a break I understand what she is saying,and yes times are different, when I was young a fight ended in a bloody nose and a black eye. Not lying dead.Especially in the better sides of town.We need to stop blaming parents and start educating everyone.This absolutely needs to stop.
February 19th, 2008 at 2:18 am
It is interesting how LG capitalized MOM on his last blog. It almost sounds like jealousy. Excuse me if we have sacrificed our life and our lifestyle for me to be a stay at home mom. Because of that, I have a 19 year old going to a private college in Boston now, who is serious about doing something important with her life. I have a son at Palo, a junior who loves baseball and has a 4.1 GPA and 6th grader at Rogich, who is a great student also. None of my kids have ever gotten detention or have I gotten a call from the school regarding a problem. Instead, I get e-mails or phone calls saying something positive about them. And yes, I know what they do 99% of the time. Because we have good rapport and relationships with each other and my husband and I have been MARRIED for 21 years. That is called a family!!!! I quit my nursing career to be a mom and thank God I did that. I agree times our different now, but what makes you think I’m going to raise my kids differently. I allowed my daughter to date at 16, etc. We haven’t raised them in a plastic bubble, if some of you might wonder. I’m more aware and so are they. They have great, fun friends who hang out together doing kid stuff, not gang related crap! We have many friends in town that are just like us. We need more families like this, not just in Summerlin, or Las Vegas, but in America.
February 19th, 2008 at 3:07 am
My name is natalie.im 14 I new Chris since i was in elementary school. weve gone to the same schools. ober and fertitta but we ended up going to different highschools! he was so nice, so funny,so smart, he has never had problems with anyone! Everyone always liked him. ive never heard of someone, meeting chris and NOT liking him!!!!! Its hard to even realize that the kid I would see walking in the halls of my middle school. has perished and moved on to a better place. its almost as if im in a bad nightmare and I just cant wake up. I pray for Chris and his loved ones. I PRAY TO GOD FOR HIM TO TAKE CHRIS’S PARENTS HAND AND HELP THEM THREW THIS ROUGH TIME!
February 19th, 2008 at 8:47 am
I just want to comment on all the news crews that decided to make their presence with trucks and cameras set up right in the middle of the rush to get your child to school on time. Don’t you think for several reasons it would have been a better idea to do you news story at a different time? It is hard enough with this tragedy to deal with, and going back to school, then we are driving to school and seeing the circus of media vans blocking and slowing traffic and making more of a difficult morning by getting my child to school late… I’m sure it made a better news story to be right in the middle of it all.
February 19th, 2008 at 9:25 am
I just finished reading the article in the Review Journal where the family of the accused is having a difficult time coming to grips with the fact that they’re precious brother/son could commit such a henious crime. (cold blooded murder)I also understand that the accused did not go to school on the day of the crime because he was not feeling well. What I don’t understand is how a parent can let they’re child miss school yet allow them to go out with friends later in the day. We have a rule (yes a rule) in our home that “if you are too sick to go to school than you are too sick to go out”. I know this might seem harsh to the liberal parents out there who don’t know where they’re kids are or could care less, but for parents who are raising they’re kids in a home full of love and respect there must be rules and when those rules are followed there are rewards and when they are broken there is punishment. The unfortunate thing in our society now is the bad parents out number the good and even though we are out numbered we must not allow them to wear us down, we must remain strong and diligent in our efforts to raise our children to become responsible adults. To all the good parents I say “continue to do the right thing even if it is not popular” and to the bad parents I say “please don’t have anymore kids.” My family and I pray for the Privett family every night.
February 19th, 2008 at 9:30 am
OMG….your kidding right Summerline mom…you capitilized MOM as if you are the only good mother out there…Im happy you seem to have the perfect family….but there are alot of very niave parents out there who THINK they know everything….I sincerely hope you never find out your one of them…so instead of keeping up this battle of words with me…do something to help your community…kids need our help….all our help…It takes a village to raise a child…this village needs to come together dont you think..?Im sorry if I offended anyone that is not my intention..Im just very sad for our children today…..
February 19th, 2008 at 9:57 am
It takes good parents to raise a child not a village.
February 19th, 2008 at 10:38 am
To L.G. I capitalized MOM because you did in your earlier post and it sounded sarcastic. If I misunderstood, I apologize. I am not battling with you over words either. I never said I had a perfect family. No one is perfect. I was just stating what so many people on these blogs have been saying about us so-called arrogant rich Summerlin people. I want people to know what they are saying is wrong about a lot of us that live here. We do care about our kids a great deal. I help out as much as I can in my community, yet I’m one person. Hopefully, my kids and their good friends will continue being positive examples in our schools. This is a sad tragedy that none of us should ever endure. But this is reality and we are all part of it, no doubt.
February 19th, 2008 at 11:56 am
Thank you Jim,It does not take a village to raise a
child.It is a parent or parents or a guardians job to teach our children about morals,respect,life,decisions and that their are consequences for every choice they make.
If you truly are involved in your kids,knowing who their friends are,who they hang out with,how are they doing in school,their attitude,how they dress,not letting them make the rules,I think you might come out with a pretty decent kid!!!
There are no perfect parents or children but I truly beleive if you talk to your kids about all of these things daily and teach them how precious life is and how great it can be,your son or daughter hopefully would not be sitting in the Clark Co. Detention Center right about now!!!!
February 19th, 2008 at 12:57 pm
WHO OWNS THE GUN??? WHO OWNS THE GUN??? WHO OWNS THE GUN??? The registered owner needs to be held responsible as well….. These are the kind of incidents that make people “freak out” and call for gun control…..Responsible gun owners should not be punished! We have to be able to defend ourselves against these cold-blooded killers. A sixteen year old KNOWS what a gun can do even if the kid’s parents were neglectful enough to not educate their kid. TRY HIM AS AN ADULT!!!!!!
February 19th, 2008 at 1:07 pm
I too am a stay-at-home mom and have been since my first child was born. I am extremely grateful that I have been able to do this, it has not always been easy. My daughter is now an eighth grader at Rogich, and she was terrified to go to school this morning. She barely slept last night, I’m sure because of the anxiety she was feeling over this tragic situation. She cried for me to let her stay home today, but I made her go, and it broke my heart. She’s a good girl, smart and extremely sensitive. I usually pick her up from school but sometimes let her walk home. Thank goodness I didn’t let her on Friday. While I was waiting for her, she texted me that there was a lockdown drill and she would be late getting out. Ten minutes later, out poured all the Rogich kids, thinking it had only been a drill. Ten minutes?? They were let out half an hour after this poor child was shot and allowed to walk home with absolutely NO knowledge of what had happened right there on the corner with the killer still on the loose! What the hell were these administrators thinking? Not to mention the fact that the elementary school kids right up the street were let out of school with NO lockdown at all, no clue as to what had happened. Myself and most other parents knew nothing of the situation at that point, and my son rode his bike home that day.
I just feel sick about this whole thing. My kids will not be walking or riding their bikes to and from school again. I have the luxury of being able to drop them off and pick them up because of my situation, and I will gladly drive their friends who’s moms don’t have that luxury.
My deepest sympathy to Mrs. Privett. I cannot even fathom how horrible this must be for you.
February 19th, 2008 at 1:39 pm
Is it any wonder there is a sterotype regarding Summerlin residents? I’ve seen blame being placed on other parents, kids from “bad” areas of the city, teachers, CCSD, the police,the government, etc. When will be start to take responsibility as an entire community and work together to support one another? Had this happened in a “bad” area of town, there would be little discussion other than how that never happens in OUR area. Well apparently it does. I am ashamed that as a Summerlin Mom I am seeing what amounts to an old-fashioned “pissing contest” to see who is the better parent and who most closely watches their kids. There are plenty of great parents who can’t afford to be home and watch their kids 24-7 and their kids turn out just fine. We have no right to judge the alleged shooters family and how they were raising their son. Bad things happen to “good” families all the time….remember the football players that tried to burn down Faith Lutheran? The 3-11 boys?…why not stop pointing the finger and let’s work together as a city to keep ALL our kids safe.
February 19th, 2008 at 1:49 pm
The Las Vegas community has no idea of the juvenile delinquents that are in class with your kids everyday. We have a “revolving door” way of dealing with students who get expelled in Clark County. They are sent to “opportunity/behavioral school” and then “recycled” into ANOTHER school. Students who have had weapons, drugs etc. are placed BACK in the “regular” population and it happens OVER and OVER again. Until administration puts a stop to this and opens a school where these “troublemakers” STAY for the rest of their education we will continue to have these problems.
February 19th, 2008 at 2:23 pm
One thing that needs to occur near Palo is for marshals to clear out the group of 20-30 kids who loiter on the steps of the Leisure Center everyday after they get out from Palo. Also, the school police need to patrol the campus and stop standing around together laughing in the parking lot like they do everyday. I was a student in 1982 at Valley HS when our teacher Clarence Piggot was shot and killed by a student and I’m tired of this worsening disregard for life in this community.
February 19th, 2008 at 2:34 pm
I beg to differ with Jennifer, I have every right to judge a person that takes another life. A young man is shot in the back while walking home from school and you’re going to tell me I don’t have a right to judge! Please don’t confuse the term finger pointing with judging, they have two completely different definitions. I am not one of the “steroetype” residents in Summerlin, I work 60 hours a week and my wife has a 40 hour a week job. We taught our kids at an early age “bad choices lead to bad consequences” and if my kids make a bad choice I will hold him/her and myself completely responsible for they’re actions and accept the punishment. What we need to do as a “community” is send all of our kids and they’re parents back to school and take a class called Accountability 101.
February 19th, 2008 at 2:37 pm
GREAT COMMENTS JENNIFER…and a side not you did mention the 3-11 boys, did you see the two brothers that were associated with that are now going to schools and talking to kids in an effort to help stop violence in our community…as I recall the story they were only 16 when the issue happened with them,
and now the about 20 and doing good things for this community.I remember how everyone wanted those boys all to spend the rest of their lives in prison as well…I cant speak about all those boys, but atleast the two brothers and there T.A.R.G.E.T. PROGRAMS is a start …..Oh isnt it strange how from day one all those boys were plasted on the news,no matter there ages, and the kid that shot up the bus stop a few months ago,yet with this situation they protect identities.??especially of the other people in the car…????something is fishy to me….
February 19th, 2008 at 3:03 pm
Ask the teachers at Becker, Cimmarron HS or Palo HS. The killer was nothing but trouble. He never did any work when hid did show up and, when he did show up, he did nothing but cause trouble. He was one of those idiots who sit in the back of the class and make fun of smart kids. He thought it was “cool” to be dumb. He could barely read…and was proud of the fact. Everyone that knew him, knew he was headed to prison. We all just hoped that he did not hurt anyone on his way there.
February 19th, 2008 at 3:25 pm
Can anyone confirm the alleged shooter was kicked out of Cimmaron and simply moved to Palo? My understanding from teacher friends in CCSD, that is the usual policy, when a kid is kicked out from one school he is just moved to another school.
February 19th, 2008 at 3:42 pm
Dear Fellow Las Vegans,
Enough! Do not tolerate crime and violence any more.
Call or write your Sherif, Major, County Commisioner and State and Federal representatives and demand specific, positive change now. If you don’t demand positive change, you will not get positive change. Also, join your Neighborhood Watch,a dn let us all be vigilant and helpful. Today I emailed this to Sheriff Gillespie:
Dear Sheriff Gillespie,
I have lived in Summerlin for ten years. My daughter goes to Sig Rogich Middle School.
Friday’s shooting at next door Palo Verde High School, is to me, an unacceptable tragedy,
It is also yet another indication of the completely unacceptable levels of crime in all of Las Vegas.
As a prior Neighborhood Watch co- Block Captain, I learned a couple of facts:
1 – that a majority of citizens do not have the time, knowledge or fortitude to protect themselves
and their families against criminals. Nor should they, for in civilized societies, we the people, rely on you, the law enforcement authority, to serve and protect us against the scum of the earth.
2 – Metro’s North West Command states that they allocate about 80% of their resources to traffic
patrolling, presumably issuing speeding tickets, which we all see in Summerlin, whereas when we
have our monthly burglary per neighborhood, or prowlers sneak up and down the streets late a night,
it takes metro one and a half to three hours to get a car on the scene.
My questions are:
1 – what kind of new resources do you need to be able to crack much more vigourously down on crime?
2 – are you willing to substantially re-allocate resources from speed ticketing to crime fighting?
3 – do you believe harsher punishment of all crimes would help deter crime?
Finally, Sunday before last the LVRJ had a front page headline stating something like ‘Most Burglars Will Never Be Caught”.
Is Las Vegas then, still the wild west? Should we all just carry guns, so we can each carry out our own protection business?
Or – DOES Metro have a plan to improve its peformance?
I look forward to your response. Thank you. Sincerely
Henrik Yde
February 19th, 2008 at 4:34 pm
The comment by Jim is true. Gerald had a pretty long bad school rap record. Information is getting out slowly, but soon you will all know, I’m sure. Many teachers and administrators are aware of this now. He was a trouble maker in school and he was kicked out of Cimmaron. He didn’t move to an area for Palo zoning. He committed a horrible crime and that crime took the life of an innocent boy. This is what we are talking about here, not who is a better parent or lives in a better neighborhood. Parents must be held accountable for their children’s actions, and not the village, so to speak. Family values are going down the drain and these types of horrific acts will keep on happening. The system must change. It isn’t fair for those kids, like mine and many of yours on this blog, who like school, want to go learn and prepare for their future. They are slowed down and distracted by the Geralds out there in the classrooms. And on top of that, they now fear of walking down the street thinking they can be a target for some inhumane individual. How pathetic!! I want to know why no talk about who’s gun he used has been mentioned yet. That individual must be arrested right away. I’m sure since the investigation is ongoing, this can take some time, but I hope we hear soon and get some more answers.
February 19th, 2008 at 5:12 pm
My name is Rebecca and i’m a Junior at Palo; today was the first day back since the loss of Chris and there is a false sence of security; I no longer feel safe in the school. My heart goes out to Chris’s parents and family though I myself did not know him.
February 19th, 2008 at 5:13 pm
WHY WHY WHY Aren’t the other people in that car in custody???????????????????????????
JESUS I HAVE BEEN ASKING THIS QUESTION AND CANNOT FIND AN ANSWER!! Maybe I should call the police dept. and ask?
February 19th, 2008 at 5:20 pm
Such a tragedy in every way: for the young man that lost his life and for his family; for the shooter that didn’t think about the consequences and will spend his life in an adult prison; and for his family that has lost their son. Please pray for them all.
February 19th, 2008 at 5:29 pm
I completely agree with #80’s comment. I am a high school teacher in the CCSD. I commend my school for its security policies and feel safe when I drive up to the school and when I go to work. Newspaper and TV news are focusing on school safety. When are we going to talk about parental responsibilities? It isn’t school safety issues which caused this tragedy, but, clearly, the break down of the family. School administrators, teachers, hall monitors, etc. are teaching and raising other people’s kids nowadays. We not only teach the 3 r’s, but we have to model and teach good behavior. I acknowledge, too, there are many good parents/families here in Vegas, but I have also seen the worst of the worst! The questions to ask are; WHERE WAS THIS KID’S (along with the other 4 kids in the car) MOMs AND DADs ON FRIDAY? HOW DID HE GET A GUN? WHO OWNS THE GUN USED IN THE COMMISSION OF THIS CRIME? SHOULDN’T HIS PARENTS BE ARRESTED, TOO? HELD FOR QUESTIONING? I VOTE FOR HOLDING PARENTS ACCOUNTABLE. This tragedy did not happen in school!!!
February 19th, 2008 at 5:29 pm
I think the biggest issue is that this City chose to break up the “hood” and moved all of the Section 8 housing into your and my neighborhood. The kids that live in these subsidized houses come from low life scum that do nothing to improve their lives. You can take a person out of a bad/gang infested neighborhood but that doesn’t stop that person from being bad/gang member. All that happened is that the notoriously bad schools..Rancho, Vegas, etc(that were located in the bad neighborhoods) are no longer the “bad” schools. The government made sure to spread it all over the valley so no one is safe and no school is safe. It used to be if you lived in the West you were in a safer school/area but now it doesn’t matter where you live. I say the solution is to put the gang members and the scum back into their own segregated neighborhoods again..it sure made it easier to find them and the crime will go back down in the nicer areas of town again. That way when one of them walks down your street you know they don’t belong and know they are up to no good and the cops can respond properly rather than being stretched so thin like they are now. Letting them live in the neighborhood they commit their crimes in doesn’t do anything to help the situation. Get rid of the section 8 housing in nice neighborhoods and see your way of life improve as well as your house values!!!!!
February 19th, 2008 at 5:32 pm
My heart goes out to both these families…..one will try to cope with the tragic death of a child and the other with knowing thier son caused the tragedy. The alleged suspect is old enough to know right from wrong and is old enough to face the consequences needed in this instance. Parents can be/should be accountable for the actions of their children, but whith kids this age…they have aleady either deceided to be good and take the right paths…or to be bad and walk the wrong road. I only hope justice will be served and someone, some child, anyone….can learn from this…even if it only one.
February 19th, 2008 at 5:34 pm
As an educator and a parent, I completely agree with Linda. Summerlin, my community, must take a stand against the violence. CCSD MUST take a stand against violence and gang activity. In my former city, there was a “Zero Tolerance” stand against gang violence or any violence. If these students get totally kicked out of school if they are involved in any way with violence and/or gangs, the parents may think twice. WHY should thugs make innocent children live in fear with disrupted educational environments. Get rid of the kids who do not comply. Do not give second and third chances…..I call my coomunity, SUMMERLIN, to RALLY for a ZERO-TOLERANCE POLICY!
February 19th, 2008 at 5:41 pm
YES kids are shuffled from one school to the next – with a little bit of behavioral/opportunity inbetween. Until CCSD does something to stop the revolving door process this will continue and as “Summerlin mom” commented these students will continue to disrupt the education process.
I’d like to know where the other kids in the car are? Where is the car? Gerald KNOWS who these kids are and he knows where the gun is. I just watched the news and he pleaded “not guilty”. His family were all there today, what do you want to bet if the school called no one would be found to come and get him from school? If this kid was trouble as stated, the family should be pretty familiar with dealing with this kid. Today parents make excuses for their kids (not ALL) and I was hearing that from his family “we don’t know what kids are faced with today”. A child is dead puuulllleeaaasseeee wake up.
February 19th, 2008 at 5:41 pm
Why is everyone fooling themselves that schools in this District are safe? Maybe one of these comments on here should be from a student who actually goes and sees this everyday. I do. Whatever Metro is telling you is probably just cover up.
Why are all these parents and officials crapping themselves? You think our schools are perfect? What do you assume, that kids don’t smoke, drink and do drugs on a daily basis? That there are still girls getting pregnant at a WAY too early age? That even though your kid goes home, and looks fine to you, that he is not secretly wishing to kill himself [and everyone else] because he was tormented at school?
Why is all of this crap going on about school safety NOW, after someone was killed? You saw what happened at Columbine, Virginia Tech, and other places. What’s to stop it from happening right now, or tomorrow? And when it DOES happen, where will your crappy school security be then?
Gun control? Are you kidding me? No matter how many precautions you take, there will always be someone inventive enough to sneak one anyway. But why are we worring about something as trivial as gun control? It’s too late, he’s dead already.
This shit sucks.
February 19th, 2008 at 5:49 pm
What a shame, I do not have school children, mine are all grown, but who’s to say that one mine will not get shot just walking. The shooter should be an example, the death penalty for him.
Donna
February 19th, 2008 at 5:55 pm
In reguard of the Palo shooting, I do not think Gerald Davidson shot the freshmen boy. I’ve know him since I first moved out here from California. He was one of my first friends in Las Vegas. I know people change as they grow up, but Gerald was and is a really good boy. He’s good in school and has always been really good with sports. I know he was paced in the car, but I really don’t think he did it. He has a lot of potential and he’s really smart. I don’t think he would do something like that to ruin the rest of his life. He’s knows better then that. I think police should further investigate the crime before keeping him in juvie or moving him to county. The police should further investigate the other people in the car, if gerald’s in custody, why arn’t the other’s? How did they determine her was the shooter?
February 19th, 2008 at 5:58 pm
In reguard of the Palo shooting, I do not think Gerald Davidson shot the freshmen boy. I’ve know him since I first moved out here from California. He was one of my first friends in Las Vegas. I know people change as they grow up, but Gerald was and is a really good boy. He’s good in school and has always been really good with sports. I know he was placed in the car, but I really don’t think he did it. He has a lot of potential and he’s really smart. I don’t think he would do something like that to ruin the rest of his life. He’s knows better then that. I think police should further investigate the crime before keeping him in juvie or moving him to county. The police should further investigate the other people in the car, if gerald’s in custody, why arn’t the other’s? How did they determine her was the shooter?
February 19th, 2008 at 6:05 pm
Videos of the shooter’s face sobbing in the court room should be put on TV for all other wanna be shooters to see. Maybe they would think twice to see the reality of it all. This hot shot was not so hot after all!
February 19th, 2008 at 6:06 pm
Sick! This criminal murdering scum must not only be tried as an adult, but be made an example of so that his ganster peers perhaps will finally understand that shooting like a damn fool out of a car window because your millionaire rapper heros scream about it leads to pain and suffering to yourself and your family forever.
The KILLERS’ parents should be ashamed to show their faces in public. In fact, they too should be charged!
This is my Neighborhood, not your HOOD!
February 19th, 2008 at 6:12 pm
I saw the news today and witnessed the anguish of the family of the shooter. We have tried to raise our own son according to religious teachings, but at a certain age, it becomes difficult to monitor all their actions. We have also experienced anguish as we saw our son make choices the exact opposite of all we had taught him and he has had to pay the consequences of those wrong choices. My thoughts and prayers go out to the Privett family whose baby was shot down in cold blood, but my thoughts and prayers also go out to the family of the shooter. I cannot believe any family wishes their children to end up as this shooter has.
February 19th, 2008 at 6:12 pm
No neighborhood is completely safe anymore. The shooter needs to be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. May God bless and watch over the victim and his family and friends during this tragic time.
February 19th, 2008 at 6:18 pm
This boy murdered an innocent, un-armed person by shooting in the back then running like a snake to hide. Hang him! hang Him High!
February 19th, 2008 at 6:28 pm
The family of the shooter sobbing and crying on the News makes me sick! Sure, lets all feel sorry for the killer’s family, while the family of the innocent young man that was brutally murdered is so distraught at this time that they can’t even think straight! At least the killer’s family still has their son. THE RULES HAVE GOT TO CHANGE!!! If a kid is expelled from a school, they should be sent to a school for troubled students…..NOT SENT BACK TO PUBLIC SCHOOL WHERE INCIDENTS SUCH AS PEER MURDER CAN HAPPEN!!!
February 19th, 2008 at 6:28 pm
Parent’s prayer for your children before they leave the house or get out the car, and tell them you love them if that is to hard say something like, have fun at school or see you later, or have a good day, just to let them know you care, it could have been your child or mine.
February 19th, 2008 at 6:28 pm
OK for the people who dont know gerald he was a bright student he almost had all honor class an was good at sports but how do you know he did it wear is the gun or were is the bullet they arrested him on she said he said stuff. they also said i was in the car an i did it not true.they need to arrested him if they had solid facts
February 19th, 2008 at 6:33 pm
Too late to cry now….Gerald and family. Your tears MAKE ME SICK! If this kid was kicked out of one high school, I don’t want to hear about what a “great kid” he is. His parents obviously knew he was trouble then….yet they let him stay out of school “sick” and then go with friends later in the day to murder someone??? What kind of parenting is that??? No normal citizen thinks about holding a gun out of a car window and shooting randomly into a crowd of innocent kids. This kid needs to pay for Chris’s life with his own. He made the choice…He initiated it….he needs to finish it!!!
February 19th, 2008 at 6:37 pm
To Daniela Biby #92’s comment: This boy might of been a friend of yours. But, he is anything but a good boy. The police arrested him because most likely they had enough evidence, such as gun powder on his hands or under his fingernails. If you saw his school behavioral record from the last few years, you would see he is not a “good” boy. He is not smart. He was a trouble maker at school and now he has to pay for his actions. Let’s say he didn’t pull the trigger, he still fled a crime scene and hid at a friend’s house. Good boys don’t act like that. I hope you know better?
February 19th, 2008 at 6:39 pm
Gerald was a great student he almost had all honor class’s the police should not have arrested him without solid evidence. WERE IS THE SHELL OF THE BULLET AN THE GUN THAT WILL TELL YOU WHO REALLY DID IT HE DIDNT DO THIS HE IS NOT LIKE THAT.
February 19th, 2008 at 6:47 pm
http://youtube.com/watch?v=XjdVOfnYkyA
Were do the children play?
February 19th, 2008 at 7:26 pm
To 103: If he is not like that why isn’t he giving up WHO is? Somehow HE is involved. If he didn’t do it, he was there and he knows who did. Metro did not pull his name out of a hat and go after him.
It wouldn’t surprise me a bit if he was a student who has been recycled from one school to the next. That’s how it is done here in Clark County. The “bad” kids are in EVERY school!!!
February 19th, 2008 at 7:44 pm
THIS IS A HATE CRIME and all four should be charged with it
February 19th, 2008 at 8:33 pm
#85 comment that is brilliant! I love it…God bless the Privett family.
February 19th, 2008 at 8:58 pm
First of all I would like to send my condolences to the family and friends of this young man senslessly murdered by societal scum! I would also like to say I was sickened by News 8’s coverage of the murderer and his family’s reaction in the court room. I do not feel sorry for the family of this waste of human flesh and I hope they lock up his family as well as he and the other people in the car with him! It’s time we wake up and quit excepting the Ghetto culture as being an acceptable way to live in this Country. Wake up America…we would love to think we live in a Disney Sit-com but we do not. Make an example out of this punk and then crack down on the rest. It could be your child next! This proves you are not safe anywhere.
February 19th, 2008 at 9:14 pm
#85 Right on Buddy! I could not agree with you more!! You can take the gangsta out of the hood but you can’t take the hood out of the gangsta. CCSD quit insisting that our children be a melting pot experiment for your kicks. Color does NOT matter but CULTURE DOES!!!
February 19th, 2008 at 9:22 pm
Davidson shouldn’t have done the crime if can’t do the time. Try him as an adult and keep him locked up with the big boys. They’re gonna have a good time with him. This punk wanted to act all hardcore, shooting a defenseless, unarmed child who had an actual future, so let him enjoy what hardcore is really like on the inside for the rest of his worthless life. Palo Verde and more importantly Summerlin is no place for troubled youth. Keep them in their own neighborhoods amongst their own kind, away from residents and our children. Strictly enforce geographic lines for school attendance, and build a reform school for these useless criminals. The parents of the slain child should smack the family of Davidson with a wrongful death lawsuit and take them for what little they likely have. Set a clear example that losers like this do not belong here and will not be tolerated.
February 19th, 2008 at 9:42 pm
I’ll start with #109 first… How do you determine who has the proper “culture” for your tastes? Poor people can’t go to school with your kids? How about kids whose parents don’t have a high school diploma? Non-English speakers? And what do you do about those kids who don’t have the same “culture” as you? Send them to crappy schools and perpetuate their terrible “culture”? This kid should be punished severely, but not everyone else who don’t hold to your “culture.”
As for #110… Who are “their own kind?” How do you plan on weeding out the criminals from the lawful? Sounds to me like you’re a racist who would love to go back to separate water fountains…
February 19th, 2008 at 9:46 pm
I can’t understand all of the hate that seems to be coming from alot of these comments. I have three beautiful children; one is in middle school and one in high school and my youngest will start kindergarden in the fall. While I believe that I am raising my children to be intelligent, loving, and tolerant of all people and races, when I read comments like the others on this blog, I wonder how others are living/raising their children. This is a tragedy any way that you look at it. Two families have been torn apart and while one son appears to be nothing more than an innocent victim, the other son’s life has been ruined forever by what he may have believed would have been a prank. Any of us can sit here and think that something like that couldn’t happen to us, but I know that all I can do is send my children out into this world and hope that the beliefs I have given them will lead them to make the right decisions in life. I would not want to be in the position of either one of these families and I wish that something positive could come from this tragic situation.
February 19th, 2008 at 10:01 pm
Let’s all actually do something about this: Go to the CCSD website and contact the Board member representing Palo, Terri Janison. Tell her how sick we are of the district policy to “recycle” these troubled kids. The shooter was kicked of Cimarron and just transferred to Palo. The district policy makers have BLOOD on their hands. We need to voice together to change this insane policy!
February 19th, 2008 at 10:26 pm
he went to my middle school, two years ago. i just found out today when my first period teacher asked us who went to that certain middle school. even though i didnt know him personally, knowing he went to my middle school, and went to the same HS where my friends go, its scary. what is the world coming to?
February 19th, 2008 at 10:42 pm
EXCELLENT IDEA #113!!! I just did! You have to go into “Contact Us”, then click on Board Members and see their picture. To the left you click on “Contact your Board Member” and that is where you can email. Let’s all write in and let them know that we will not stand by and watch as our schools go down the drain! Recycling is insane and does NOTHING to discipline the trouble-maker. I am from S. FLA, where if the kid is expelled, they are sent home for the remainder of the year, and then return to the school for which they are zoned (the same school) the following year, having to repeat the grade. Repeating the grade is somewhat of a deterrent, as is the embarrasment of having to face the same kids and teachers. What is the point of paying SIDS so you can send your kids to the best schools if “recycled” kids are able to attend as well. How is that fair? So all a kid has to do to get into the best schools is get expelled from another? That tactic would save Summerlin residents a lot of Summerlin fees if they want to move! Lets band together — Write in TODAY!
February 19th, 2008 at 11:41 pm
Well i’ve lived here my whole life and right now im glad i already graduate… I had a lot of friends who when to palo.. This is crazy what it comes down to now of day… I only graduate in 06 two years ago.. This one scary thing and i’m so sorry for all you kid that lost a friend and the parents and losted there little boy… For the shooter need to be charged as an adult you can’t buy a gun until you are an adult right…. This is the scarys thing i’ve seen in a long time in las vegas… This can be a great city but i think that high schools need more security.. This might not be that best education but all of the kids need to be safe… SO DO SOMETHING TO HELP ARE KIDS NOT HURT AND BE SAFE…
So what are you going to do?
February 20th, 2008 at 12:33 am
Goodness! I agree with many of you. We all need to do something about the recycling of these trouble students. Why not build a school in the center of Vegas and put them all in the school. Let us contact the district and complain! I remember many years ago, when I was in high school in So. Cal. the kids who failed a grade or committed a crime ended up in this continuation schools. They either stayed there and got their diploma, eventually, or they dropped out. But, they were not EMBEDDED back into our schools. Schools are a place to go learn and not be distracted by the filth of today’s pieces of trash!!!!
My heart goes to the family of Chris. I have a 16 year old at Palo and I couldn’t imagine my life without my son. Like some of you said about seeing the family of the shooter on the news, I agree, it was pathetic. Who cares what they are feeling!!!! The parents of this kid have dropped the ball, not once, but a few times. He was kicked out of Cimmaron for more troubles most of you know right now. I know. I have my sources. The cops obviously have found enough evidence to not just arrest him, but to try him as an adult. Hello people!!!! Those of you who think he was a good kid. The cops most likely found gun powder residue under his fingernails or hands or other sure found evidence, therefore booking him. I can’t stand some of the people in this blog and the ones in the lvrj that are trying to protect this piece of trash, when an innocent kid was taken from his family so suddenly when he couldn’t even say goodbye to his mom. What stupid minds do these people have? All I’m reading is we are racists in Summerlin or maybe he didn’t do it, kind of crap. Get real!!! It is what it is!!!! I’m just waiting for the other 4 to get arrested and have charges pressed, since they were an accessory to MURDER!!
February 20th, 2008 at 1:41 am
This is so sad to hear about this innocent young man getting shot. my prays go out to this young man and his family as for the shooter that is being charged in the murder of this young man i hope the police did get the right boy. this boy will have his day in court. i hope that the court can sort out who shot chris privett. my son goes to polo verde and this has got me so upset and saying why,why why. i beleive we should all pull together to stop this type of thing going on in las vegas we all love this city but it must change now. i am reaching out to everyone lets make a change and we all need to be part of this change. as for the other people in the car i want everyone to be counts for there actions in the court of law. everyone in the car has taken a part of this murder its not fair for one young man to take the blame. i am asking the dist. attoney to file charges to everyone in the car we voted for you in office to be able to protect all of us in las vegas.so do your job that you need to do.
February 20th, 2008 at 1:57 am
The person that fired that gun is a murderer, the one who owns that gun is an accessory to murder, the people in that car are accomplices to murder, the owner of the place they hid out at is guilty of harboring fugitives. Point blank. The case will be decided and hopefully the truth will be found. The only thing that is left to wonder is the penalty. I don’t think that the perpetrator should wake to see another day past sentencing. You can not feel sympathy for the lion, only for the lamb.
The predator, like so many rabid or pit fighting dogs should be put down. No child should be a victim, even to another “child.” No gun law will stop this, no school, no policeman, no community. The children have to stop, they know it’s wrong. Make the penalty stiff enough, and it won’t be cool to be violent. It’s not a problem where I was stationed in Saudi. And Heaven help me if it were my child being charged with murder, he wouldn’t get the chance to “get out with good behavior.” I have children, sons, but the laughable saying “I brought you into this world…” (you know the rest) isn’t a joke in my home. I love my boys, and they know it. I hug the ones that aren’t “too old” for it yet, each and every night.
And pray for their safety when they’re away from me.
To the family of “Able,” God will heal and uplift you. Gather close; He’s there. Find peace in eachother and try to seek counseling if possible.
February 20th, 2008 at 1:59 am
To the shooter parents if your son did not do it for a fact i how he is not going to be sentenced. but you know everyone in the car help the police to find the right one that did this crime. if your son did shot this young man dont try to protect him let him go and face the music and looking at the dad in court dont you own a suit man if not rent one this is las vegas they rent suits in this city this is your sons life on the line. and if i say if your son pulled the trigger he should get the death penality and for you being the parent you need not to have any more kids and take a parenting class and educate your child to do right not wrong. i hope the court will exacute the right person that did this crime.
February 20th, 2008 at 6:44 am
The answer is Private Schools – misbehave and you are out – not recycled to another school. My kids could bring home good report cards but until they got THAT letter inviting them back next year – their grades meant very little. Citizenship and academics are hollow without the other. Yes private schools are a huge financial sacrifice but my kids were worth it!
February 20th, 2008 at 7:33 am
I know this blog is about the shooting and the families and my heart goes out to both of them. But does anyone but myself see that the “kids” writing in can’t even make complete sentences and in some cases make sense? From #116 “I only graduate in 06 two years ago.. This one scary thing and i’m so sorry for all you kid that lost a friend and the parents and losted there little boy” – this is a highschool graduate writing??? Doesn’t say much for our education system.
February 20th, 2008 at 7:54 am
In a city where we have a basically re-active police department we as citizens must be pro-active in protecting ourselves. We cannot rely on others to protect us and our families, we must take the initiative and take matters into our own hands. I have been a registered gun owner for 20 years and I am prepared to defend my family and property if an unwelcomed individual has the desire to come into my home. I also have a security system, a dog and additional locks on my windows and anti home invasion devices on all of my doors. It is sad when you really think about it, being prisoners in our own homes, but when you look at the alternative the choice is simple. Although I cannot protect my children 24/7 I can at least give them some comfort knowing that they can feel safe while they are at home. I know Chris was gunned down from behind by 5 cowards and all of what I stated above could not have prevented his death however I still will control what I am able to and pray during the times I am unable to.
February 20th, 2008 at 9:05 am
My heart goes out to the Privett family. Such a terribly thing to have happen. Something has to be done. This senceless violence has got to stop.
February 20th, 2008 at 9:26 am
Me being only 23 years old, when I see this type of things happen at a school it just makes me wonder… WHERE THE HELL ARE THE PARENTS. Everyone keeps saying CCSD needs to step up and do something. I believe the parents are the responsible role models and teachers to their kids. My mother asked where i was, who i was with plus a million more questions. Parents need to watch there children and guide them through becuase its only gonig to make our WHOLE COMMUNITY worse. I am very sorry to the parents of Chris. My thoughts and prayers are with your family. Justice will be served. And just remember it can happen ANYWHERE!!
February 20th, 2008 at 10:23 am
#122 I could not agree with you more!! Here is a tip, do you parents SNOOP on myspace like I do???????? Very interesting when I searched the name Gerald Davison. There are 2 myspace’s under that name and age in Las Vegas. One of them was set up in July, 2006 and hasn’t been logged into since 8/06 so it has not just been set up for some sort of joke. The headliner of the page is “If You Aint Cripin Then You Aint Wit It”. A coincidence? I doubt it! How the parents of this boy did not know this was going on, and for his “aunt” on TV saying he’s a good boy, OH MY GOD WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU THINKING!!!!!!!!!!!
February 20th, 2008 at 10:33 am
Well, I have sat back a read everyones comments. Some I agree with and some I don’t. If this kid(The shooter) was such a good kid. Then why was he with the other 4? Where did they get the gun? If he stayed home from school(sick) why did the parents let him leave the house? I’m also a stay at home mom. I’m glad to be at home. I know what my daughter is doing all the time. We are a racing family spend about of time together. Keeping your kids busy is the key. The family that playing together stays together. I also agree if this kid was a problem child then why pass him from one school to another? Kick him out of school and make his parent teach him. There is home school. As for rascism well listen to the news people. Every morning my husband and I listen it’s always those people who break into homes or drive by shootings. I agree build a school in the center of the city let them all go to one school together. Stop busing them all over the city. Keep them in one area if they feel like killing let them kill each other. Not innocent by standers. Sorry if that sounds bitter but what else can be done. I agree with Bill Cosby. It all starts at home. This kid is 16 he should know right from wrong. Right??? It was his choice to get in the car and pull the trigger. Why shoot at a bunch of innocent children? How crowdly is that. I feel for the victims family my condoleces go out to them. My prayers are with you. I can’t image what it would be like to have my child shot and kill in cold blood. Like I said what a crowd. They are all crowds in my eyes. I can’t begin to tell you have angry this makes me. It’ stupid… Lock him up and throw the key away. This killer should be tried as an adult. He made this choice not us or the victim. Poor kids now all these young kids are scared to death and can you blame them? As for as the family of the killer you should be a shamed of yourselves for even crying about how your son is innocent. Not in my eyes. Hang this punk.. He doesn’t deserve to even live. He took a life and should pay with his…. Like someone said if you do the crime do the time. I don’t really care what his family has to say. They talked about how they are praying for the killer why not say something about the victims family. How sorry they are that their son die for no good reason. Why did this innocent child die? Because some young punk thought it was funny? Well how funny is it now? I hope you never see the light of day. I hope everyone involed rottens for what they have done. Make an example out of all these little punks all 5 of them. Someone said this is rascial? Yes it is. 5 young black men shot and kill a young white boy. What do you call that… Eqaul opportunity? This is an outrage! No disreguard to human life. I have nothing father to say. I’m just discussed by the whole thing… Like someone said Chris is no long with his family. The killer is still alive… What a shame…
February 20th, 2008 at 11:50 am
Many of the statements promoting a stronger sense of community are excellent and should be obvious.
The behavior exhibited by these teens is explainable and expected. My wife and I have just decided to start a family (I am 42; she is 35). What is unbelievable to me is how many parents on this blog seem so confounded at this event — there is a sense of helplessness. While life offers no guarantees, parents certainly have power, and this type of event was surely expected.
What I have seen over the past 20 years is a growing number of parents who are essentially gutless worms, seemingly affraid to discipline their children, to layout a strong moral foundation and live by it. Finances must enter the picture, as well. Simply put, if you are not mentally, morally and financially ready, then you have no business raising a child.
When parents are weak or otherwise disengaged from the lives of their children, then this is what we get; it has nothing to do with video games, guns or violent movies, though individuals without a strong moral compass will certainly be influenced. This lies squarely with the parents, and I, for one, am tired of hearing the excuses. Humans are made through the application of love, discipline and education; humans are not born.
The result of poor parenting (and this includes all social strata) is plain to see; we now have self-serving subcultures that operate outside the norms of society; they have no understanding or appreciation for life. By the time these individuals are in their early teens they are lost, and innocent individuals, like Chris, suffer the consequences.
By the way, please don’t try to ascribe this problem to the educational system or the government. Parents are solely responsible for raising humans, not the schools and not the government. Parents, please wake up, and start making the necessary committment to raising a human being — not an animal! Or…please do not have children!
February 20th, 2008 at 12:08 pm
My prayers go out to both families. In a tragic situation like this, two families are going through an emotional time because of the actions of one or more people. My heart goes out to both families.
February 20th, 2008 at 12:23 pm
It is clear to see by all of the comments on this blog, that the community is as outraged as I am. Is anyone surprised to see that the murderer is a formerly expelled student from another High School??? At least that High School had the sense to get rid of him before it happened there! I guess that behavioral school they send them to for a few weeks after they are expelled REALLY WORKS, huh??? PLEASE….email CCSD and let them know how you feel! Tell them that the “policy” of recycling troublemakers in with the rest of our kids who want to learn and lead a productive life is INSANE! Who came up with this rule??? We have to stand together now and do something about it as a community. It’s too late for Chris, an outstanding student and citizen of the community…..let’s not wait until another innocent child is taken down. Its time to take responsibility as a community and get this policy changed!!! PLEASE HELP NOW!
February 20th, 2008 at 12:29 pm
I am not putting this all on CCSD. I agree with #128 that the PARENTS need to be held accountable. Did anyone read LVRJ’s article this a.m. about the shooting? BOTH of Gerald’s parents have police records. Sadly enough, there will ALWAYS be people out there having children who are not responsible enough to have them and raise them as responsible adults. Therefore, we have to band together and DEMAND that the CCSD change the recycling policy! It would be nice if all of the parents in the world were as affected by this as I am, and would take a look in the mirror as to how their children are turning out. However, in the real world, there will always be parents who don’t own that type of “mirror” and will try to place the blame elsewhere. All we can do is stand up for the safety and well-being of our own children and GET THESE KNOW AND DOCUMENTED THUGS OUT OF OUR SCHOOLS!!!
February 20th, 2008 at 12:57 pm
Amen JHM I totally agree with you…. Thugs is exactlly right.
February 20th, 2008 at 1:24 pm
Its funny…my son, who attended Silverado, was sent to one of the behavior schools 1 month ago…not for fighting, gangs, distruction, drugs or weapons, but for acting up in class one to many times and “disrupting the learning environment of others”. He said the behavior school is much better than his “regular” high school. He said the kids are able to talk in class and no work has to be completed, just a name at the top of the paper for daily credit….and even with the body searches and metal detectors, uniforms, 1 minute passing, 20 minute lunch and no potty breaks during classes, he would much rather stay there than go back to his “regular” school. And he feels safer there than he ever did at a “regular” high school.
I would think a “behavior school” would/should be a place where kids would hate to go…and would want to leave and never return to. Seems a bit odd to me…..hummmmmmm, hello CCSD!!
February 20th, 2008 at 1:33 pm
I am glad he is being tried as an adult. Kids are not of legal age to have a gun. (As far as I know) By him having a gun and firing it, choosing to be an adult, he should face the same consequences, same with drinking and driving, if under 21, they too should be tried as an adult. If kids wanted to do what adults do, they have to pay the same too.
February 20th, 2008 at 1:35 pm
You should all be ashamed of yourselves! All this moral superiority! All this whining about your elitist neighborhoods and the sad sense of security because we live in a neighborhood with money? I too live in Summerlin, my child was walking in that same spot and I too am relieved that it wasn’t my son. At first I was sick to my stomach with the pain and devastation this has caused. Now, that has been replaced with being sick to my stomach over these blogs. What haters you people are. I understand the anger, but the hate? All of you are touting your “good family values” but teaching that hate to your children with your comments. Yes…I have witnessed the good, straight “A” student bullies! Now I know where they get it. Where is waiting for the facts? Most of you are talking about things that haven’t even been confirmed yet. Where is a little human decency – there are two families devastated and hurting. Where is the tolerance for differing opinions, the blatant attacking of each other because someone might have a differing opinion. What a sad world we live in.
I am reminded of a story:
There was a man and his two children on the city bus. The kids were running around wild and crazy but the man was doing nothing to stop it. You could see it on the faces of those around him; everyone on the bus was annoyed that the father did nothing. Finally, after several times that the children stepped on one passenger’s foot, the passenger said to the father. “Hey, you mind getting control of your kids.” Many other passengers nodded in agreement. The father looked at the passenger and said. “You’re right. I’m so sorry. My wife just recently died and in my grief I have not paid much attention to the discipline. My wife always took care of it. They never used to act up like this and I don’t know what to do.”
Until you walk in the shoes that you are so quick to judge, maybe you should consider that you don’t have the full picture and stick to well wishing. Yes…there are serious problems with the system…from top to bottom – from the school to parents – from the police and the neighborhood. The truth is, you are ALL right. You are just spending so much energy trying to prove your point that you can’t see the bigger picture.
Go ahead; write back with your response of hate, I imagine you don’t like my comments either. However, don’t expect a response, because I regret reading these blogs and will not be back.
February 20th, 2008 at 1:49 pm
I have a breif statement,I don’t mean to offend any person here,this is America and we do have free speach as a right.We also have a judicial system,although it is overwhelmed, its there non the less.Innocent util proven guilty is our fundamental right.Not guilty because you all think so.Remember all of the accused will have their day in court, and we as citizens will have to sit on jurys,as unbias peers….PLEASE LET ALL THE FACTS COME OUT…NOT JUST THE RUMORS AND SPECULATION……
February 20th, 2008 at 1:57 pm
Its such a tragedy to see the right children get harmed and the family of the accused blow it off.I understand you can’t watch your kids 24/7 but you NEED to know what happening with your children. for the aunt to say on TELEVISION that we dont know what goes on with these kids,Well you should.I just graduated and even now my mom knows who I hang out with and where I go because it’s important. If you can’t be a parent to your children.Than dont have them. I don’t know the family personally but my heart goes out to them.I am so tired of seeing the violence on tv and I fear for the life of my 8 and 6 years old nephew and niece when they go to school. I know that when I was in the CCSD I was stalked at school and told by another student they were going to slit my throat but the school said we didn’t hear it so we can’t take any action but if you want we can get you a restraining order? When is the school District going to wake up and see their only endangering lives, and if this student wasn’t in school as much as the students claim why wasn’t the school activly seeking out why. There are so many questions and yet not enough answers and the children are paying the price for it such a shame…
February 20th, 2008 at 1:59 pm
I agree…parents are the key….or whoever is acting as a “parent”. Be it good or bad, home is where kids learn most of their life skills/values. If parents are vigilant and get “on” their kids when needed, HOPEFULLY it all goes well. I am a single mom, I live in an “OK” neighborhood….I ask my teenage son WHERE? WHEN? HOW? WHO? I know all of his friends and their parents. Sure he thinks I am to nosey and I (in his words) “care too much”…but I tell him “Damn right I do!!!”. I would rather have an argument with him that I care too much than have to argue with a judge wether or not to charge my 16 year old as an adult for murder. PICK YOUR BATTLES PARENTS!! Only then can you win the war and look back to see what a great kid you have. And include other family and friends…our kids can’t have enough love and support….even if they think its too much….when it comes to our kids, too much of that is never enough!!
February 20th, 2008 at 3:26 pm
Let me get this straight, palo parent is comparing a complacent widow and his two children acting up on a bus to a situation where one boy is murdered by another boy. I am really trying to understand this analogy but it just keeps slipping through. I understand the saying “before you judge someone, walk a mile in they’re shoes”, however I don’t think you can ever justify murdering someone no matter what the situation that person is in or where they have walked.
February 20th, 2008 at 3:40 pm
I agree with #135. I am a graduate of Palo Verde and have 2 children of my own now. I am appalled by the fact that this happened at all, let alone on streets that I used to walk daily. My thoughts and prayers go out to the family and friends of the victim.
Why are people attacking each other on here? We are all outraged and hurt that an innocent person was killed so brutally. We are all scared that someday it may be our child, or us for that matter. We have to know what our children are doing and we have to know that there are going to be parents out there that are not fit to be parents. Our society needs some major re-vamping if we are to ever change things. Our child welfare system is over crowded and does not have the capacity to handle as many children as it should. This leads to children being returned to homes and situations they should not be in. Our jails are over crowded, our schools are below standard, and our welfare system is inadequate. We have parents in our communities that are struggling to make ends meet and are not able to be involved in their child’s life as much as they want to. Until a call for action is made and we unite in truly fixing our societal flaws, we will have to deal with things like this. The change starts with each and every one of us. WE are responsible to report a crime when we see it, even if we are afraid that something could happen to us because of it. WE have to teach our children responsibility and self worth, charity, and the value of each and every life that is here. WE have to sacrifice to help a person in need. We have to stop thinking about us and start thinking about others. Know what your children are doing, know your neighbors, know what is going on in your community. Be involved. That is all we can do.
February 20th, 2008 at 4:10 pm
my prayers goes out to the family. I also live less than a mile away from where it happened. Something does need to happen and parents are to blame for their children’s actions. parents need to teach there kids about respect, to be humble. if the kid’s man enough to shoot someone, then he deserves life in jail, no parole. People only live once!!
February 20th, 2008 at 4:33 pm
Parents are responsible to a certain degree. These kids were old enough to know right from wrong…when are they responsible for their own actions?? They knew where to get an accessible weapon and bullets to “retaliate”…they knew to run away and hide. The other “kids” in the car didn’t even think twice about what happened. Not one called police, not one told a parent/responsible adult a gang sign had been “thrown” at anyone. All these kids knew to do was to shoot to scare someone?? What ever happened to good old fashioned fist fights?? Not that violence is anyway to solve a problem, but…..no one would be grieving, planning a funeral or watching their kid go off to jail.
February 20th, 2008 at 4:38 pm
Here’s a wakeup call for the parents of these animals. Put parents of kids in jail who are charged with felonies.
February 20th, 2008 at 4:41 pm
I KNEW CHRIS PERSONALLY, AND HE WAS A GREAT PERSON. HE NEVER TRIED TO PICK A FIGHT WHEN WE PLAYED FOOTBALL,HE JUSS PLAYED THE GAME.. ALSO I KNEW GERALD PERSONALLY TOOO, WE HAD OUR PROBLEMS BUT WE GOT OVER IT, AND I HAD HIM IN P.E WITH HIM… IT WAS FUN PLAYIN BASKETBALL WITH HIM…HE WASENT A HOT HEAT..HE ONLY GOT MAD WHEN PEOPLE TALKED SMACK ABOUT HIM,OR HIT HIM HARD WHEN PLAYING,BUT EVEN THEN HE SOMETIMES STAYED QUIET…BUT I DONT BELIVE GERALD WOULD DO ANYTHING LIKE THAT
February 20th, 2008 at 4:44 pm
I came from an Italian neighborhood in NY. You know what we did to scumbags that came through OUR neighborhood and caused trouble? We busted their F’ing heads with baseball bats. These low life scum should not be going to our schools in Summerlin. We pay a lot to live here away from these pieces of shat.
Let me cath one of them tagging or causing trouble in my area.
This shooter was black. No surprises. Thug life is glorified on TV and this is the byproduct of it.
February 20th, 2008 at 4:50 pm
#135 — Sorry you will not be back, because I want to thank you for being the only voice of reason among these bloggers. My heart and prayers go out to both families. What has happen is tragic, a child should not be killed while doing the right thing, ever!!!! And yes the child that pulled the trigger should be punished as an adult to the full extent of the law. But as #135 has said, voice of reason. Yes, anger but not hate.
Please use your energy to contact CCSD. Their system, in so many ways needs to be fixed. Even if it is only to help the High School graduates to have better communication skills.
Comment by An Observer from another neighborhood
February 20th, 2008 at 5:23 pm
Right on #135 ITA and would like to add that most of these comments appear to be coming from a bunch of SNOBS! Exccuuuuseee me, but I used to live in Summerlin, and also the Lakes, and my son was shot and killed right on the corner of Charleston and Rainbow, hardly the hood. He attended Cimmaron HS. I now live in North Las Vegas and I must say that I’m really not noticing that much more crime, just a whole lot less SNOBBERY!
My sincere condolences to the family. It is a dreadful small club we belong to, we parents of murdered children. I pray you feel God carrying you thru this ordeal. Without faith, I’d be dead also. God bless the shooters family too, as I’m sure they are going thru their own personal hell right now.
February 20th, 2008 at 5:24 pm
Respnse to entry 135 (palo parent). You are just another misguided person who applies the word hate (or replace with racist) to anyone who takes a stand or disagrees with your world view.
There is NO EXCUSE for the violence demonstrated by those animals. After they are incarcerated, hopefully for the remainder of their worthless lives, their families will be banished from the state (wouldn’t that be nice?)!
We moved from the Bay Area and have watched for years as the beautiful city of Oakland wasted into the dump it now is. All this because of adults who had no business raising children.
Because of my moral foundation, drilled in through love and discipline as a very young child, you could insult the very core of my family in the most foul manner, and I would not even consider for a moment that is would be OK to react with deadly violence. Does anyone remember — sticks and stones…?
This tragedy is just another example of what we get when an unviable subculture is allowed to flourish within our society; we end up with creatures worse than rabid animals. There is not an ounce of humanity in them.
It angered me greatly to see that father crying and holding his criminal son’s hand in court. Where was he before this happened? Children do not accidently become like this. It comes from neglect and ignorance, and it is not the responsibility of school teachers or society-at-large to try and fix it.
You are right; I do HATE seeing these stories repeated again and again because of ignorant, non-supportive parents, who sluff the rearing of their children onto society!
Good citizens of Clark County, I am proud to have moved here from an area where these problems are more prevalent. Don’t let this subculture get a foothold here and ruin the strong moral foundation you’ve worked so hard to build for your families. Recognize it for what it is, and make certain your government representatives take the action necessary to thwart it.
February 20th, 2008 at 5:32 pm
“This shooter was black. No surprises. Thug life is glorified on TV and this is the byproduct of it.”
Tommy Boy is 100% right in this statement, say what ya will.
February 20th, 2008 at 5:35 pm
Las Vegas Review-Journal reporter Alan Maimon would probably like to hear from you if you have any information that the accused are not getting competent legal representation.
February 20th, 2008 at 5:41 pm
As a community, we need to do something!! Seems there is a school shooting every week. Kids today do not realize that shooting and killing someone is serious. These kids need to be punished and made as examples, so those considering similar actions may think twice. What ever happened to fist fights?
February 20th, 2008 at 5:48 pm
Sorry for your loss #147.
The corner of Charleston and Rainbow was not the hood just a few years ago but it is considered it now.
The Lakes in the late ’80s and early ’90s was the better part of town. Now look at it. I need not say more.
February 20th, 2008 at 5:50 pm
To Summerlin Mom #117…This is a terrible tragedy but not the time for hate, name-calling, intolerance and superiority…is it any wonder our kids are in trouble? Now it’s all about reaction..In the past, have you attended your school’s monthly parent meetings and voiced your concern over violence throughout the city or is it just now a problem because it hits close to home? Contacted your legislators to find out what they are doing to stop it? If an alternative school is the answer, would you mind if it was built in Summerlin? Why would you assume that the middle of Las Vegas would be a good place for it? Is condeming the family of the alleged shooter going to bring Chris back? We are all angry but its time to work together in a POSITIVE way to keep our kids safe. Please remember that hate solves nothing, it only causes more tragedy.
February 20th, 2008 at 6:08 pm
Well, the father of gerald has been in trouble with guns, last november, firing into a house, and other charges as well as drug charges. Those of you screaming THERE’S MORE TO THIS STORY, there you have it.
February 20th, 2008 at 6:08 pm
What a fine example of “blogging”. It makes one wonder what has happened to proper grammer and spelling correctly. Proper rules and discipline at home, while growing up, might be a first step in eliminating the need to “retaliate” when someone flashed a gang sign. This child did not grow up with a need to kill someone who upset him. This child did not grow up wanting to use a gun, in order to “get even”. Look to the source people. And, for god’s sake, learn to express your thoughts with proper use of the English language. You might gain some respect from others around you. It begins at home! This was written by a single parent child, who was taught to respect the rights of others.
February 20th, 2008 at 6:57 pm
If you really want to stop it execute these thugs. He took a LIFE a LIFE a LIFE. No instead we will have to pay for him the rest of our lives, he’ll do a short sentance and be out and commit more crimes. If these punks knew that they would have to pay for thier action, they MAY think twice.
I was shot at by some punk and don’t think I’ll ever fully recover and I wasn’t even hit. They have thier sport figures commiting serious crimes and they see them pay thier way out of it.
February 20th, 2008 at 7:25 pm
The reality is that like it or not, there is a hate crime involved. Had this been a carload of 5 white kids going into a black neighborhood and shooting someone in the back I guarantee that the NAACP would be screaming “hate crime.” Hate involves motive, not one-sided color choices. The shooter obviously grew up in a dysfunctional home and in all probability would have grown up as a dysfunctional adult…at least this way the rest of his life will be spent with fellow criminals.
February 20th, 2008 at 7:25 pm
I understand everyones concern for their children. I didn’t know chris privett but gerald davison is like a brother to me. This is not something gerald meant to do. I know playing around w/ a gun is rediculous & nothing to do but why you guys call him a terrorist a devil etc .. he is realy a good person .. It’s hangin out w/ the wrong crowd. Reguardless what everyone may think of him .. Gerald is always gonna be like my brother. & I’m extremely sorry it came to this, rip christopher privett. Gang banging, violence, & guns has done nothing but send young, innocent people/ & friends of mine to jail or death .. I’m sorry on the behalf of Gerald Lamonte Davison.
February 20th, 2008 at 7:26 pm
My sympathy to Chris’s family.
To #135 and supporters, “Get the whole story??”, “a Widowed Man on the bus.” Pleeeaase, that is silly!
This kid and the 19 year old ADULT are plenty old enough to know what is right and wrong. It comes down to decision and making the right ones, or at least attempting to make the right decision. Gerald made the decision to shoot a innocent child on the street.
The gun did NOT magically appear in Gerald’s hands and kill Chris. Gerald used the gun and killed Chris. This was no accident. Gerald is a murder! This is not a hateful statement. It is simply the fact.
Now, gerald and his friends should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. Gerald and his friends took a innocent life by choice. That is the ONLY story!
February 20th, 2008 at 7:36 pm
Everyone should also click on the link above to read the official Metro arrest report….I think it answers all questions about what a “nice boy” this shooter was….even his so-called friends turned him in.
February 20th, 2008 at 8:12 pm
I THINK THIS SHOWS A LACK ON OUR SCHOOL DISTRICT 1ST AND FORMOST THEY HAVE NO PREVENTION PROGRAM GEARED TOWARD VIOLENCE,PEER PRESSURE, CHOICES AND CONSEQUENCES, AND PARTY CREW AND GANG INVOLVEMENT. THE SCHOOL NEEDS TO USE THOSE 2 BOYS I SAW ON CHANNEL 8 THE OTHER NIGHT I THINK THEIR PROGRAM IS CALLED T.A.R.G.E.T…….. I THINK THEY OFFER ALOT TO OUR YOUTH AND ALSO US AS PARENTS. LIFE IS ABOUT CHOICES AND CONSEQUENCES AND WE LEARN THIS THROUGH LIFE EXPERIENCES, IN TODAY’S SOCIETY YOUNG PEOPLE ARE REACTIONARY. I TOOK THE TIME AND CALLED THE GALLION BROTHER’S FROM THAT PROGRAM AT (702)451-8336 AND SPOKE WITH THEM FOR AWHILE ABOUT THIS AND OTHER INCIDENTS THAT HAVE HAPPENED OF LATE. AND I THINK IF YOU ARE PASSIONATE ABOUT MAKING THIS STOP AND BANDING TOGETHER YOU NEED TO CALL OR EMAIL THESE 2 GUYS AND HELP THEM GET THEIR MESSAGE OUT. THE ANSWER IS THERE WE JUST NEED TO REACH OUT AND HELP……… EMAIL THEM AT TARGETPROGRAMS@AOL.COM IF YOU WANT TO HELP THEM OUT SO THIS TRAGEDY DOESNT HAPPEN TO ANYONE ELSE………
February 20th, 2008 at 8:43 pm
As a resident of Summerlin for 16 years so what if we’re snobs – we are human beings who work hard to live in this GORGEOUS community. We went to college, got a degree and became professionals in this great city. We choose to give our families the lifestyle that Summerlin offers because that is our preference. We drive Mercedes and BMW’s because we CAN!!
To the people that think everything came easy maybe you should get a job or two…don’t hate…participate.
#85 Brilliant…God Bless the Privett family
February 20th, 2008 at 8:49 pm
As far as 161 goes your an IDIOT!!! As usual we have people like you blaming the system yet again. From your post the system needs to raise the kids great why don’t you do it? Step up take care of it since you are so “all knowing”. The bottom line is this a young kid with promise was killed by a group of punks. Where did this kid get a gun? What right did he have to pull the trigger? Parents… where are they?? Yup this kid had no problems can’t attend school can’t come home on time. Stayed home from school as he was ILL and his parents both have records. Great wonderful the apple does not fall far from the tree. I hope the KILLERS get what they deserve and even that will be too good. Three squares a day a clean bed and all the stuff we have to pay for because they are kids the HELL with that. This country needs to stand up and take it back. Hiding under the age limit does not CUT IT. It broke my heart to see that family hugging in court when one family was thrown into a nightmare that they will never ever wake up from. You get to hug your kid and should not have the right. How dare you!! I am so sick of this crap going on and it seems that will continue.
February 20th, 2008 at 8:56 pm
Oh gee now they’re saying Chris was throwing up gang signs?? How ridiculous is that and why in the hell would they listen to those fools? Like anything that comes out of their filthy mouths are the truth? Go sing a rap song or something. Why aren’t they all in jail? #157 is correct they would’ve had Al Sharpton down here.
February 20th, 2008 at 8:58 pm
TARA, TO SAVE YOUR OWN FUTURE YOU BETTER TAKE YOUR OWN ADVISE…………….”It’s hangin out w/ the wrong crowd.”
Wake up girl.
February 20th, 2008 at 9:02 pm
#157 you’re right
February 20th, 2008 at 9:06 pm
I agree #161 we do need programs that kids will understand, and listen to.I cant believe that #160 is telling people to read the arrest record.I hope you all understand that is just a report,not fact.It is statements made by people that have to be gone through and then investigated.I am in law enforcement and this is not C.S.I..Far to many times I have seen witness statements that turnout to be misleading,some of them have actually resulted in innocent people being arrested ,having their lives turned upside down.So like I said before let the legal system work through EVERYTHING ..
February 20th, 2008 at 9:08 pm
There needs to be medal detectors at every high school at the font door. Be just like an airport, keys go around, cellphone go around, have a pacemaker? go around and get patted and or wonded. But if you don’t have a pacemaker you have to go through the medel dedector and recieve your keys and or phone on the other side.
February 20th, 2008 at 9:24 pm
There needs to be medal detectors at every high school at the froot door. Be Just an airport, key go around, cellphones go around, have a pacemaker? go around and get pattet and or wonded down. But if you don’t have a pacemaker you have to go through the medal detectorand recieve your keys and or cellphone on the other side.
February 20th, 2008 at 9:27 pm
I want to send out my deepest condolences to the family of Christopher Privett, it saddens me to think of the pain they must be going thru. And as a parent I can not imagine the loss of what happened. There was no reason for those kids who is guilty of this crime to do what they did. I truly hope and will pray for justice and honestly I hope everyone who was in that car receives the maximum punishment plus an additional 40 years.
February 20th, 2008 at 9:33 pm
I totally agree with #157
February 20th, 2008 at 9:40 pm
#167 The program begins at home with parents like myself that piss our kids off with wanting to know THE WHO WHAT WHERE AND WHEN. We do our job no matter how hard it is what about the rest? I will tell you they blame it on the SYSTEM. What ever I am so done with it. Throw the scum out with the bath water.
February 20th, 2008 at 10:12 pm
My heart goes out to the family. I have children that age and I just can’t imagine the sadness. God be with them.
February 20th, 2008 at 10:23 pm
I agree with previous people. SECTION 8 housing has to removed from our nice neighborhoods. It’s ruining ours as I write.
February 20th, 2008 at 10:38 pm
Well put # 128
February 20th, 2008 at 10:53 pm
I am all for “innocent until proven guilty” as I too worked in law enforcement for 10 1/2 years. I also know that the police are not given permission to actually arrest someone until they have a VERY solid case. However, for all of you who wanted to “get the facts” and not “speculate”….the arrest report, although is written based upon the opinions of the witnesses, states that Gerald Davison CONFESSED to shooting the gun. He also said he did it to “scare” the group because of an altercation that occurred (as if that’s a reason to shoot a gun 4 TIMES into a crowd of living, breathing creatures), yet the driver who was recently arrested said there was no altercation at all. Oh, and by the way, everyone else in the car said Gerald did it too! Gee…..who should we believe??? Does it really matter? Let’s just say, THE FACTS ARE IN. HE CONFESSED! HE DID IT!!! As far as this blog being racist….I don’t care if the killer is white, black, purple or green, this kid killed an innocent, thriving young man for NO REASON and we have a right to be angry…VERY ANGRY! As far as I’m concerned, the black community is the first to pull the “race” card when something happens. I was just as upset when I heard about the Sean Taylor (Redskins Center) shooting in Miami. Sean was a black young man with a VERY bright future, considered one of the best in the NFL, and was shot and killed by 4 black thugs who committed a home invasion to steal $500.00. Black on black….black on white…white on black…purple on green….Who cares??? Chris is gone forever….Why? Because some idiot decided it would be “cool” to scare a crowd of kids with a gun. Well, I wonder how scary it is in the detention center and being treated like a murderer now! He may as well be charged with the murder of Chris’s entire family because I am sure that every morning when they wake up and realize that this was all not just a bad dream, they wish they were with Chris. Very sad and something that no one understand unless they have been through it. This is no time to come to the defense of a CONFESSED MURDERER. Lets give the Privett family the respect of laying their son to rest now.
February 20th, 2008 at 11:10 pm
#167…My husband was a police officer for over 20 years on Metro. An arrest report is not a ficticious doument, as you would most certainly know if you worked IN law enforcement. What I said in my post was that the shooter’s friends all helped police track him down. The arrest report is provided on this website for everyone else to view and make their own opinions. No one who works in law enforcement would ever suggest that an arrest report is misleading. My son goes to Palo, knew Alex and Chris, and we were across the street when this transpired… it is an unacceptable way for anyone to react- regardless of what you choose to believe or disbelieve based on the investigation.
February 20th, 2008 at 11:24 pm
In resonse to #85, were the Columbine killers from the “hood”? Just curious. Maybe you should “Google” school shootings, you’ll find that most of the perpetrators have been young white males. That’s not the issue though, unfortunately parents of all colors are not making their kids number one. With the exception of the Summerlin Mom, who knows what her kids are doing at all times.
February 20th, 2008 at 11:27 pm
Why are the two girls who were in the car allowed to roam free at Palo Verde High School. Do they think this is a joke. The need to be expelled and arrested. They are criminal instigators. They are assessories to murder!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
February 20th, 2008 at 11:38 pm
I have a 9th grade boy at Palo who played football with Chris. He was angry with me on Friday for not letting him hang out with his friends after school. Now all I can think is thank God that I picked him up and he did not witness what happened. Who is to blame for all the senseless violence? The parents are to blame and the schools too. There are drugs in our school hallways. There are gang members being bussed into our schools. Wake up parents who say it is just up to us to make things better. You need a license to own a dog but any idiot can have a child. There will always be parents out there that are felons, drug addicts, abusers, neglectors, etc…. They will never teach their children proper values because they have none themselves.
Our school’s need to take some blame for not caring enough to keep these creeps away from the kids who attend school to actually learn something. Will it make our children safer if the school district stops bussing in kids from gang ridden neighborhoods? Probably. It is sad and I don’t care if it sounds racial. After all you don’t think about Summerlin when you here the words drive-by for a reason. The truth of the matter is that kids from better neighborhoods typically have more involved parents who at least try to know and care about what their children are doing. We may not be perfect, but I don’t think it is snobbery to hope that your children will be safer in a nicer neighborhood. After all, growing up has become dangerous enough. What parent intentionally moves to a crime ridden neighborhood to raise a child? We will never live in a perfect world in which all parents are positive influences on their children, but we can do something about our school district’s policies regarding trouble making students. What we need to ask ourselves is would this ever have happened if the district’s rules regarding troublemakers was different? And what are we parents willing to do to effect change? I hope it doe not stop at simply writing letters to the district. Instead of sitting at home being outraged and contented to blame others, I will be standing outside their doors demanding change!
February 20th, 2008 at 11:53 pm
Let me know when you’re going Palo Mom…I’ll meet you there!
February 21st, 2008 at 12:43 am
To #178: This was not a “in school shooting” like Columbine. This was a typical drive-by by a gang bangin thug, not the same. It just happened by the school, not IN SCHOOL. Big difference.
How about that other punk who shot up those kids at the bus stop a few weeks ago? Same as this. This was a street crime that happened after school.
Don’t try to make this a black or white thing and keeping score of how many whites have shot kids at school.
February 21st, 2008 at 1:53 am
This recycling of troubled students is hurting too many innocent people, including our children who want to go to a good school to learn and eventually become responsible adults. I know for a fact, Palo has too many students that have been sent from other schools due to expulsion from another school. That is wrong!
These kids who commit these crimes don’t care. They are misguided and have the lack of desire to change. In any given moment, they act out in anger and boom, another innocent person’s life is taken.
I’m tired of people on this blog blaming us Summerlin parents as being snobs. The majority of us are caring and loving parents. I have lived here for almost 8 years now, and I’ve never seen so many wonderful families with great kids. Of course, there are the selfish ones who live for money and their own selfish desires, and nothing more, and yes, they might also have kids who are not the best, but what town/city/neighborhood in the US doesn’t have the good and the bad? This isn’t just a problem here, but in many areas of our country. Why? Because parents are becoming lazy. Most of these kids who commit these crimes come from troubled homes. Unless someone has a mental illness, you won’t see a good kid from a good home, skip school, go driving with his buddies and then, oops, happen to find a gun under his seat, and shoot some innocent person walking down the street. That is not the norm. Let’s stop the racist comments and do something here!!! I know I am.
February 21st, 2008 at 7:00 am
I agree with #162, my family is not wealthy by any means but we make sacrifices to live in Summerlin. I worked 40 hours a week while going to UNLV as a full time student so I could raise a family in a beautiful and safe neighborhood. Please don’t hate me for having drive and ambition but my Mom and Dad set the standard and instilled those qualities in me when I was young and I am know passing those same qualities along to my children. I lost my wife a few years ago and I know the pain of losing a loved one, however I can’t imagine the pain one feels when they lose a child. I will have Chris and his family in my thoughts throughout the day as his family prepares to lay him to rest this evening. I am comforted in knowing that he is with our Lord and that he has eternal life!
February 21st, 2008 at 7:37 am
First I want to say how proud I am of the Palo Verde and the Sig Rogich kids. Traveling past the high school on Tuesday I saw the overwhelming support these kids had for there fellow classmate and friend, all wearing white shirts. Next I am very concerned that this THUG was moved to Palo Verde to attend school(which he rarely did and when he did he was a pain in the — to the teachers and other classmates. WHY WAS THIS KID MOVED TO OUR SCHOOL. These trouble makers need to attend an alternative school. Why does the school district take a troubled teen that has been kicked out of his school for bad behavior, and move him to another. This is terrible. I myself stay at home with my children and my husband works very very hard so that we can live in Summerlin, yes this can happen any where but I think the school district needs to take some responsibility for this. WHY WAS THIS THUG TRANSFERRED HERE? This tragedy has affected all of the community in some way or another. Our thoughts and prayers are with Chris’s family. Maybe this kids family (Gerald) can get there crap together so that they can be bwetter role models for any other kids in the family. Seems to me this boy was a product of his environment (both parents being thugs) what a shame. Karin
February 21st, 2008 at 8:03 am
According to ccsd.net Regular school board meetings are held the second and fourth Thursdays of each month in the boardroom of the Edward A. Greer Education Center, 2832 E. Flamingo. So, the next will be March 13th. That is plenty of time for us all to clear our calendars. Let us honor Chis’ memory by coming together and demanding change before another child is harmed.
February 21st, 2008 at 9:10 am
Okay I’m going to comment on all the poeple who think that if your a stay at home MOM they your son / daughter will turn out to be great kids weel I hate to say this but your wrong. My husband spend also five years of his young life in a Nevada prison and charges from a stolen car to drugs charges. When I met them he was clean and getting his life together we have a baby and he is also raising my daughter who attends Desert Pines. When I asked why he got into trouble his answer was my mom stood at home with and always kept me under her watch the first chance I got I ran aand got in to trouble. I have never been a stay at home MOM I have an adult daugter who attends college and as for my daughter at DP while I think she is doing pretty A student a softball player yes she does go out but I have taught her a lesson just because your friends do it you dont have to do it and my kids are coming out fine with me as a MOM working. I say this Summerlin is Vegas people who live there need to open their eyes this can happen any where to any kind of family. We just need to teach are kids the right choices to make in life you can go the right away or worng way. Please wake up people we are one community not different ones. My prayers go out to all of Chris family and friends. Like every other parents says we need to know your kids friends and family and what they are doing all the time. But they also need to have a little freedom but know how to make choices in life…………….
February 21st, 2008 at 9:10 am
Why aren’t the girls who were in the car in jail? They are the instigators arent they? I don’t want them going to school with my children. Palo isn’t safe with these girls still attending the school for all we know someone might blow their nose and they’ll accuse them of throwing gang signs and have someone else shot??? Please Metro get these girls and throw them in jail also!!!
February 21st, 2008 at 9:20 am
#162 and #187
You are still snobs. I drive a BMW also. I am educated and make good money. I worked hard to get what I have too. But I’m not delusional like you to think I’m better than anyone else. We all put our pants on one leg at a time.
February 21st, 2008 at 9:22 am
I mean #162 and #184
Sanctimonious snobs both
February 21st, 2008 at 9:26 am
I live in the Napa Hills subdivision(next to Palo Verde HS and Becker MS)of the Arbors, even though the KLAS news is reporting this heinous murder was motivated by retaliation due to “gang signs”, one of our neighborhood kids who attends Becker MS, told us a different story. On Friday, the day of the murder, she stated that one of the girls in the car(who are bussed to Palo Verde) was angry with Chris P. because “he would not help her cheat on a test”. As far as “retaliation”, this account seems more plausible to me. Clearly, there needs to be more investigation into what is really happening in our schools with our kids.
February 21st, 2008 at 9:43 am
Now a days it seems like it’s the “norm” for there to be shootings in our schools, this is very disturbing. I have brothers and sisters in school, and that question lingers in my mind. What if it happens to one of them? This needs to STOP. As a community we need to come together and keep a watchful eye for the signs of trouble, these are our kids being murdered at our schools.
February 21st, 2008 at 9:52 am
“surprize” the murders are blaming the dead victim. and the “good girls” called the police over 5 hours later.
February 21st, 2008 at 9:53 am
My comment that section 8 housing is the problem still stands(see #85). As for anyone comparing this situation to Columbine or any other big school shooting, there really isn’t a comparison..different cultures, different types of shootings. But as a side note…didn’t those boys in Columbine live in trailers..again you can take the person out of the trailer park but you can’t take the trailer park out of the person…low life scum are what they are. Our society has become an enabler society. Our tax dollars, yes OUR hard earned money, pays for pieces of crap to move into our neighborhoods, into $300,000+ homes and invite their gang member friends over, have gang parties, show off their stolen guns, drive their stolen cars and ruin your and my neighborhood. Our tax dollars pay over $75% of the housing dollars to these thugs. Average rent $1200, their portion $350 and we PAY the rest. Does anyone see this as a problem? I certainly do. Oh and they pay rent so they don’t have property taxes to pay(you know those taxes that go back into the schools for funding and for the police department too). So they basically are getting free housing, free education and food stamps too. I am all about helping others but when you give someone everything, they will do nothing to better themselves because what you have given them is more than they had before so why try to do better than that! These people need counseling, they need education(the adults/parents) and they need to stop getting excessive handouts from the government. And I won’t even get into the illegals living in our community getting the same benefits and more. I am not racist and I do not live in Summerlin but I do work hard for a living and I have lived in Las Vegas all my life and have seen it go from a beautiful little town to the major city we are in now. The taxpayers in this community need to stand together and demand our dollars are spent to protect and educate US and our children. We all need to wake up as a society and be heard. Tell your congressmen, tell the Senators, even tell the President that WE ARE DONE with all of this ridiculous enabling. Send the illegals back, close the borders and put those on death row to DEATH. Clean up our judicial system and prosecute people who commit crimes against others. I am so sorry for those that have lost their children either by violence or accident it has to be the worst thing any parent can go through. God help us all.
February 21st, 2008 at 10:01 am
#190
Sorry I took so long to respond, I was putting my pants on both legs at a time.
February 21st, 2008 at 10:14 am
To have this happen to an innocent person in my community has me hopeless. I moved to Towncenter and Alta to get away from the needless hostility in other areas in LV plaqued by violence/murder. I run up Alta everyday. I refuse to be in the wrong place at the worng time, I’m buying a treadmill. My heart goes out to Chris’s family and friends. This is so senseless.
February 21st, 2008 at 10:31 am
I agree w/ Palo Mom #180.
It is about change; between the parents and the schools. However, after reading about 20 different comments regarding RACE, MONEY/STATUS, and “THUGS,” our community lost a young member of society…
And we are comparing wealth status, race, education and other HORRIFIC school shootings! The parents are to blame first and foremost. Then society as a whole.
Maybe I am simple minded, but aren’t WE suppose to make the changes? Aren’t WE the ones to make things better for our children? I agree with metal detectors in schools! BY ALL MEANS! I would never want to go back to middle school, let alone high school NOWADAYS! We need stricter rules in and around school grounds. Tougher laws! IF you kill somone you should be tried AS AN ADULT regardless of your status, age or race!!
I hope that the young man who woke up that day, DECIDED to take a gun, then SHOOT someone gets tried to the fullest, along with everyone that was involved with “helping” him (the driver, people in the car and those who knew about it prior to it happening)
“Let he without sin among you cast the first stone.”
February 21st, 2008 at 10:37 am
#188 the girls,l.walker and cox
February 21st, 2008 at 10:46 am
Chris Privett has to be the last child killed in the United States due to gang violence. We need to do as the Israelis do to suicide bombers. The parents of minors who kill minors need to be socially banished. They need to loose all their children, food stamps, housing allowance, welfare and right to live in our community. If they own their home is should be bulldozed. We have to make the punishment so terrible people trimble. Murderer’s relatives stood on the courthouse steps and said “who knows what goes through kids heads today.” SHAME ON THEM. They should know and control their kid. I teach mine to respect everyone’s life even gang bangers.
February 21st, 2008 at 10:52 am
#162 #184 WERE ARE ALL YOU SUMMERLIN SNOBS WHEN KIDS ARE INNOCENTLY GUNNED DOWN IN WEST LAS VEGAS, GETTING YOUR BMW’S WASHED.WHY DONT YOU GET INVOLVED UNTIL IT HAPPENS IN YOUR FRONT YARD… WAKE UP ITS IN EVERY COMMUNITY,IN EVERY CITY….
WHITE, BLACK,YELLOW,BROWN…
RICH ,MIDDLE CLASS,POOR..
STOP POINTING YOUR GOLDEN FINGERS AND GET INVOLVED IN ALL THE COMMUNITIES ….
AT LEAST THE KIDS #161/#12 are talking about are trying something…
HOW MANY MORE CHILDREN HAVE TO DIE FOR …NOTHINGGGGGGG
February 21st, 2008 at 10:54 am
The “confessed” bastard should be EXECUTED for his actions immediately or at least, thrown in jail with NO CHANCE OF PAROL. Let him ROT!!
February 21st, 2008 at 11:09 am
Why don’t we elect a sheriff like the one in Phoenix that has the gonads to take care of killers like these two.This was a senseless killing that should have never happened.These type of people have no purpose in life or feelings for others.They have a one track mind and thats how to hurt someone else.There is no safty in this city anymore.It was a nice place to live but thats gone to the gutter.The people who run this city only care about the mega resorts and the money it makes(including you Mr. Mayor).I hope that the parents of this boy find away to cope with this the best way they can.
February 21st, 2008 at 12:07 pm
Wow….my mom and dad live out in Vegas (retired). I get the news emailed each day. Mom and dad left us grown kids up here in Wisconsin. We are raising our children here and vacation out there. We are dealing with 78 inches of snow this year (YUK) and 45 degrees below zero wind chills this week…and I complain about it! Living in a town of 8,000 and excellent schools with no crime…I’m not complaining anymore. God Bless you ALL.
February 21st, 2008 at 12:20 pm
I am encouraged by the words of PaloMom and I agree that something has to be done to stop the senseless violence.
I am also a mom and an educator. I live in Summerlin. On this blog, I read many comments that express our collective and individual anger and outrage at what happened to Chris last week. It is beyond sad. The fact is that the comments regarding snobbery in Summerlin are irrelevant and a waste of time. We would be better to put our efforts toward change.
I have seen first hand the impact of violence in our commnity and our schools. I teach in the north part of Las Vegas and just this year two of my former middle school students were killed. Both were shot in gang crossfire. I have to admit that these two boys, one of whom was killed at Thanksgiving time of last year, did not get as much attention as this recent incident in Summerlin. Yet, those boys were also innocent victims. Their lives were taken.
I extend my sympathy to Chris’ family and friends. This loss has been so upseting. I previously felt so safe in Summerlin and now that has changed to a degree. The sad fact is that Las Vegas has very high crime rates, especially if you look at the statistics that include North Las Vegas. It is appalling. The TRUE statistics are shocking. The CCSD has had too many incidents of violence.
I wrote a comment two days ago in which I expressed the need for action. I saw this quote on the tv last night. In another blurb, I mentioned the need for a “Zero Tolerance” policy for the CCSD. Now is the time to fight for change. We cannot kid ourselves. There has been TOO much violence in our schools.
We can take action. I agree with PaloMom, who says we should gather at the next CCSD school board meeting on March 13th. I will be there. The district has to see that parents will fight for change. Why does our tax money pay for students who are involved in gangs? How many chances should they give? Why are students sent to Behavior Schools and then put back into regular school? Why are disturbed and violent students allowed to just switch schools?
Ultimately, the question is….
Why does this school district tolerate so much bad behavior and violence? It is not fair. It is not fair to the children to actually go to school to get an education, whether they live in North Las Vegas or Summerlin!
The answer is that the CCSD MUST adopt a tougher view. A “Zero Tolerance” policy needs to be adopted.
Show up at the March 13th school board meeting. Make your wishes known!
February 21st, 2008 at 12:39 pm
Am I reading the blog correctly? It was my understanding if you were not zoned for a school system you were not allowed to attend. Is CCSD really bringing kids in from other parts of the valley to attend different High Schools? I realize the magnet schools do as my son is in one. I for one will be at the March 13th meeting.
February 21st, 2008 at 12:40 pm
This blog has been a “constant” for me the past few days. It is inspiring to see how much interest is in the Summerlin community to “fix” things and make something happen to strengthen the safety of our youth. I think all of the “snob” talk is a little over the top though. I do not live in Summerlin. When we bought our house, we did not have children and did not want to pay the excessive Summerlin fees. Now I have a 3 year old and am sorry we did not buy in Summerlin. Everyone knows that Summerlin has wonderful schools and PAY A LOT OF MONEY in Summerlin fees to be able to send their kids to them. It’s not about being a “snob”…..it’s about caring enough to be angry about what has happened. This may be an epidemic throughout the country, but after reading the comments of the Summerlin residents, it is evident that Summerlin is the place to be! This community WILL NOT STAND for senseless violence in its community! I am truly inspired by the energy these parents have and THANK GOD that we have a community that cares so much! As soon as the housing market comes back, I’M MOVING TO SUMMERLIN!!!
February 21st, 2008 at 12:43 pm
my mom work for the Las Vages Metro Police as one of the his which stand for hispanic interpriters basicly what they do is they go out on feild with one of the normal police officers and translate for them in to English since the person the usely deal with are latino and only speak spanish so that what they do in a nut shell. and this is sad to say but my mom co worker son was the best friend of the boy that got killed so i send my condolences to the family and to all the youth that have lost a DEAR friend. he was honestly to young to dye but that is what happens when you hang around the wrong people and kids please let this be a leasson to you all
February 21st, 2008 at 12:51 pm
Hello to all of you who care so very much, as do I…I too have children that attend Palo and walk home after school. We live a couple of blocks away. There are no words to express my grief…
Fifteen years ago in Ventura County, California, some similar situations occurred that resulted in the production of a mini-documentary (28 minutes) that I funded with help from the community, and produced, directed and reported myself. The goal was to raise awareness of the same issues that we in Summerlin now face. These terrible crimes that occurred are preventable. I believe that this documentary, though dated, would be of service to this community now and I am more than willing to make it available free of charge. If anyone is interested you may contact me via email at digitalnewsgirl@gmail.com.
The documentary aired across cable stations in southern California and was entitled, “Violence In Your Backyard.” There was also a write-up in the LA Times.
February 21st, 2008 at 12:54 pm
I TOTALLY AGREE, LETS GET INVOLVED…SEE YOU THERE #204
February 21st, 2008 at 12:56 pm
To keep everything straight, the next meeting of the Board of School Trustees is Thursday, 28 Feb, at 4 pm. The 13 March meeting was changed to Monday, 10 Mar, at 9 am.
It is time to let Mrs Terri Janison and the rest of the Board Members know our concerns and hear face-to-face what they propose to do.
February 21st, 2008 at 1:08 pm
I have been reading several blogs. The schools can’t stop the violence when they can’t stop BULLIES. Time and time again I have had friends take their kids out of the schools due to bully violence. The Bully stays in school with no repercussions and the good kids leave the system. This leaves gang bangers and bullies controlling the hallways and sidewalks. Put the blame on the PARENTS AND SCHOOLS.
February 21st, 2008 at 1:25 pm
As a point of clarification…the two girls and the alleged shooter were all ZONED for Palo, not “bused” in or sent there from another school. I think we all agree that the community cares and wants to do all we can to ensure it doesn’t happen again. It needs to be done calmly and rationally, not by attacking the school board. They are all parents just like us and care deeply about the safety of our children. Why don’t we ask them how we can all work together instead of against each other to keep this from happening again? Nothing will be accomplished if you attend the meeting angry and ready for a fight…the fight isn’t with them, its with the individuals who commit such awful crimes.
February 21st, 2008 at 1:25 pm
As a Summerlin resident and a Palo Verde parent, we as parents in general must ask of our children every day, “Who, What, When, Where and Why”!
The truth is “the Apple doesn’t fall far from the Tree!
Teach them well! They are our future!
February 21st, 2008 at 1:46 pm
To #194 The bottom line is people are dead as of result of senseless violence, so yes there is a comparison.
February 21st, 2008 at 2:15 pm
Watching the news of Gerald Davison in court was absurd. Holding his dad’s hand and having his mother cry that she felt she was shot was absolutely over the top. I have no sympathy for the kid or his parents. He made the conscious decision to have the gun, shoot the gun and kill young Chris Privett. Don’t cry young man….you deserve to go to jail as an adult and live the rest of your life with the rest of the criminals brandishing guns. You killed someone! Nice parenting job as well! Why does your son have a gun in the first place and carrying it to school? Next you will probably blame it all on race.
February 21st, 2008 at 2:59 pm
My heart goes out to BOTH families of these young teens. Both families are victimized by this senseless encounter. I used to live on Bernini Street which is right around the corner from Palo Verde. That is such a busy intersection where this incident happend!!! This is a great school and a wonderful neighborhood!!! However, crime can happen anytime and any place. Again, my heart goes out to BOTH families. As far as post #194 you cannot stereo type anyone because they are on section 8.. that is UNFARE.. who is to say that either family is from there??? I too WAS once on section 8 for 16yrs and I am a college graduate with very respectful children in which we ALL are very successful now and able to do it all on our own WITHOUT assistance.. so to me that was a lil racial on YOUR behalf to say. According to the police report and witnesses.. the victim was throwing up GANG SIGNS and lives in that Summerlin area in which I resided as well. However the person that retaliated in a senseless way, lived off of Decatur and Rancho… So to judge without facts is wrong.
Again, BOTH families are victimized in behind this senseless murder. My heart goes out to the victims family.. also to the assailants family because they too are losing a child. As for post #213, you cannot say that the apple doesn’t fall too far from the tree because we have doctor’s, lawyer’s, actors, presidents…etc.. etc.. that have dysfunctional children that they cannot control… just a lil food for thought for you.
My prayers will go out to all the victims in this matter…
From a loving, concerned mother & former Las Vegas resident in the Summerlin community.. now living in Baton Rouge.
GOD BLESS
February 21st, 2008 at 3:01 pm
**UNFAIR** Sorry typo
February 21st, 2008 at 3:19 pm
Bonanza high school now. Wow, these are NOT isolated incident’s. Gillespie, you had better get busy. Time to post all the fecking cops at high schools I guess.
I know this, I AM MOVING OUT OF LAS VEGAS. This is not happening in any other big city, NOT LOS ANGELES, NOT NEW YORK. Soon, this city will be the muck of the universe, all the good people will be gone, I KNOW I AM.
February 21st, 2008 at 3:37 pm
If we had stronger punishments for those who break the laws then maybe we wouldn’t have the influx of criminal activity we see on a daily basis. It scares me as it seems the gangs and criminal element have taken over the streets and that the average Joe citizen is powerless to do anything to protect themselves and loved ones what is this world coming to? I am sickened and saddened that our streets are no longer safe to walk and kids walking home from school are getting shot at. We need to rid every area in this valley of the criminal element. To inlcude even the minor offenders. ZERO tolerence.
February 21st, 2008 at 3:43 pm
Sandie, I suggest you do some research It is happening in Los Angeles, New York and other big cities. Just “google” it. Sadly, the stories are there too.
February 21st, 2008 at 3:54 pm
we should not at all be too surprised, even in Summerlin. This is Sin City after all and a lot of transient and shady people come through this town.
I don’t at all feel safe here, especially in the evenings. This may be a random shooting, but criminal activity is all over the Summerlin area (assaults, robberies, burglaries). Check the police crime blotters.
This one isolated shooting should not scare anyone out of Summerlin. A shooting may never occur again at PV, who knows. What we do need and should demand is a bigger police presence in the area.
February 21st, 2008 at 5:23 pm
Well thank God that the Bonanza High School shooting did NOT include any of the students. The media just made it seem that way for ratings in which was not right. I just read the story online. For Sandie, crime is in every big and little city.. including small towns. It is up to us as a community to try to do our best to make where our children and ourselves live a safer place. We as a community need to pull together and stop focusing all of our energy towards anger and hate instead of pointing fingers and slandering whomever is involved. All the negative energy can be focused on how we all can make not just Summerlin but everywhere a better place to live and be safe for not just our children but for ourselves.
Mrs Walker
February 21st, 2008 at 5:28 pm
@ Tommy Boy – I agree… I used to live on Bernini, which is right around the corner from Palo Verde and one reason why my husband and I moved is because our neighborhood was experiencing a lot of burglaries just houses down from us and it put me in fear!!! We had moved to Summerlin to get away from so much crime but realized that not even Summerlin was not safe. You are right.. it is a FACT… look it up like Tommy Boy said.
February 21st, 2008 at 5:58 pm
Two more gang bangers filling up our jails. I feel nothing for disgust for these two punks and their miserable parents.
February 21st, 2008 at 7:04 pm
I have read all 223 blogs on this story and it saddens me that some of the focus left Chris and the Privett family and became a debate between the haves and have-nots or between black and white. Criminals do not have a geographical boundary or a moral compass. They seem to do what they want, when they want and where they want. The Privett family experienced this first-hand and now are left to try and go on without their wonderful son, Chris. God Bless them.
February 21st, 2008 at 7:21 pm
Sorry, Mrs Walker and Lisa S, you are wrong. I grew up in Hawthorne, calif. I moved here 14 years ago. My Mom lives in Ca. as well as 3 of my sisters. I know what goes on in Los Angeles and this kind of violence is NOT in the schools Lisa, you google it!!. Now I’m not saying there is none there, but Las Vegas has simply turned into a sespool for killings as far as I’m concerned. There has NEVER been a shooting at ANY of the 3 schools my 3 nephews go to.
I hope to God something changes here but this has made up my mind for sure I am moving out of Las Vegas. Mrs. Walker it says alot about this community if people cannot come together to do something, it’s just getting worse, while more and more people move here. Ya’ll can have it, I’m out!!
February 21st, 2008 at 7:34 pm
i knew gerald for awhile i went to becker wit him and cimmaron and now palo nd he was a good kid. he was good at sports and funny. summerlin mom ur an idiot for writing that stuff. comment number 85 use a dumbass too. gerald didnt do it wheres the gun? hes innocent and shouldnt get locked up for sumthin he aint do
February 21st, 2008 at 7:46 pm
this hole story dosnt add up rite
February 21st, 2008 at 7:52 pm
My heart goes out to the family of Chris P. I didn’t know him but I will never forget how the community came together to remember him. But I agree we need to come together to try and prevent this from happening again. We do pay more to live here for a reason. Snobs or not. There are two board meetings in the next few weeks, we should try and attend one as a united front. I would think the 4pm meeting on Thursday 2-28 would be the better choice. I know I will be there!
February 21st, 2008 at 8:02 pm
To #189 CAROL can you read???? #162 AGREES she is a snob and she has good reason to be this is America she worked hard, has an education and is a professional in this city…you damn straight she can be whatever the hell she wants to be.
I think her point was for those who are unemployed … to get a job and strive for a better life instead of hating on us rich folks who live in Summerlin…like she said don’t HATE – PARTICIPATE!I’d rather be a snob like she is anyday than a MURDERER.
Also, yes God Bless the Privett family.
February 21st, 2008 at 8:20 pm
Despite that not having been my son that was murdered by callous murderers, it could have been MY son as well as any others that a feeling caring human being would mourn over. Senseless. It’s time Teachers, Police, Parents, every adult be more attune to their childrens whereabouts & behavior to curb these barbaric senseless acts. I grieve for the Privetts.
February 21st, 2008 at 8:48 pm
Some of you speak of this incident as a racial shooting – have you noticed that the group of students with Chris was a racially diverse group? As stated by #200 this is not a Las Vegas issue; children are being killed in schools nation wide: elementary schools, middle schools, high schools and colleges from the east coast to the west coast. Children from all economic levels and of all races are being killed and killing. Yes it is the parents responsibility to raise the children to know right from wrong and the consequences of making the wrong choices; but it also takes a village to raise the children – to teach them that if the parents are not their they are still being watched. How many of you have actually ever seen a child do something wrong but didn’t want to get involved, maybe it’s something as simple as going to a school board meeting or writing your legislatures regaring pending issues, or it may also be confronting the child with the issue. We as a nation need to work together to battle this on-going epidemic of children killing children.
February 21st, 2008 at 9:13 pm
Why is it that every time there is a violent act of crime, the first thing someone says is, “Its a Hate Crime!” This wasn’t a racial issue here. That doesnt even make any sense because the four victims were all of different origins! I have a family member that goes to that school and it is very scary to think that one day something might happen to him and I won’t ever see him again. And it’s not just the Summerlin area, so don’t blame them. This is happenening all over the United States. Innocent kids are being murdered in high schools, middle schools, even elementary schools. Please tell me why on Earth an elementary school student needs to be shot, because I just don’t understand. And what worse is that kids the same age are doing the shooting. Its just not right. And for all you parents who are just standing by, it’s not enough to just teach your child right and wrong. You have to take charge and do something about this, otherwise start planning where you are going to bury your kids because this isnt going to stop itself.
February 21st, 2008 at 9:29 pm
Wow! I really hope either of the two families see this. Have some sympathy for both the Privett’s and Davison’s family, my gosh.
This is Las Vegas, one of the most crimeful cities. Thank god I wasn’t born here but unfortunately live in Summerlin, not Summerlin exactly but just a bunch of stuck up thinking-their-all-that-people. This goes to the bloggers.
But I do agress with some, that its mostly parents fault rather than CCSD. Their already getting enough as it is. Give it a break.
February 21st, 2008 at 9:50 pm
First and foremost, my thoughts and prayers go out to the Privett family. Nothing can EVER measure the amount of sadness and pain you are feeling right now. I don’t know what to say other than as a parent– I grieve with you. Such a senseless act of violence from a bunch of jealous cowards on your child…. I can’t imagine the depth of sorrow you feel…..your heart is broken…your dreams for Chris shattered….I just can’t imagine…..God will look after this child!! I promise you that!!
I’ve read most of the blog today and I am just amazed at the comments of everyone. Some I agree with, some I don’t…..my mouth has been hanging on the ground with some comments. I’ve been here since I was 9 years old (1978)from a small town on the East Coast and let me tell you– VEGAS has changed so much as has the rest of the country. LOOK AROUND PEOPLE! There is no SAFE place…but you can’t blame it all on the CITY!! It is up to parents, citizens to do the right thing, to raise your family up right….there is no excuse– regardless of what kind of damn car you drive– they all run off the same thing!!– or what kind of paycheck you bring home…who gives a crap??!?! I don’t — and I do have a Bachelor’s degree, but it wasn’t always this way…EVERYONE MAKES A CHOICE TO CREATE THEIR PATH!! Get off the pity party and get REAL!!! Nothing was handed to me- I worked my ass off for everything I have!!! So don’t you dare knock those who you know nothing about!!!! If people want to give the best they can they SHOULD!!! Snobs or whatever; what it boils down to is right and wrong– which side are you on?????
I’ll tell you another thing– the shooter’s parents are responsible just as much as Gerald Davison!!!! If not more!!! What the hell?!?!? I’m having trouble wrapping my mind around this to understand?!?!? I DON’T CARE WHAT YOU THOUGHT WAS HAPPENING ….GANG SIGNS, WHATEVER…..YOU HAVE A PROBLEM WITH SOMETHING, SOMEONE–REPORT IT, DO NOT GET A GUN AND GO KILL A CHILD!!!
More questions……
1) Has this boy been taught anything about right and wrong???? His father has a rap sheet himself!!!
2) Yeah, police need to step up patrol on ALL schools!! Haven’t we seen enough of shootings on colleges and other schools?? ( Yes, I know they can’t be everywhere at every time, but beef up your presence!! )
3) DOES THIS BOY REALIZE WHAT HE HAS DONE???
……..it has got to stop— all the violence, all the pain….school is supposed to be some of the best years of a child’s life– LET’S GET BACK TO THAT WITHOUT FEAR OF BEING KILLED!!
EVERY PARENT —-STOP, TAKE A LOOK AROUND YOUR LIFE AND YOUR CHILDREN’S LIVES….WHAT IS GOING ON?? DO YOU TALK TO YOUR KIDS??? YOU DO BELIEVE IN BEING A LAW ABIDING CITIZEN??? DO YOU HUG YOUR CHILDREN??? DO YOU REALIZE YOU SET THE EXAMPLE??!?!?!
God Bless the parent’s of Chris……and parent’s of ALL CHILDREN !!! Realize what is going on in society–do your part before another tragic killing happens!!
CHRIS– God rest your soul sweet child, something beautiful is going to happen because of your untimely departure!! Smile on that sweetie
February 21st, 2008 at 10:35 pm
I am also a mom of a Palo Verde student. I have been shocked and heart broke since this tragedy.
I am proud of the way my community of Summerlin has reacted Chris’s murder.
I am sick and tired of people asking where I was when the shootings happened in the other neighborhoods. I really do not understand why the people did not react horrified when it happened in their back yards but I will not apologize for raising heck because it happened in mine!
February 21st, 2008 at 11:46 pm
Our condolence to the Privett family.
With the society now, i have noticed that most of the children are lack of discipline and respect. Parents,you are responsible of your own children’s behavior. We need to add more law enforcements at the school ground especially now that the school is being targeted by these cruel,heartless kids for no reason. I feel that my children should just do home study for their safety.
February 22nd, 2008 at 12:00 pm
#227 — You realize the Gerald kid confessed to the crime, right?
“Police say 16-year-old Gerald Davison admitted to shooting at the group Privett was with, but only to scare them, not to actually kill anyone. An explanation Chris’ friends don’t accept.”
I’m sorry but he forfeited the right to be called a “good” anything when he started shooting at people. Moreover, you hear the “he seemed so nice” bit about virtually every sociopath.
February 22nd, 2008 at 12:33 pm
I have been emailing anyone and everyone, CCSD, Gov. Gibbons, etc about this case, demanding something to be done to make our schools safer….metal detectors, a stronger police presence before and after school, a specialized school for troubled kids, etc. All I have heard back from everyone is a bunch of statistics. Don’t look for anyone from the government to help….their attitude is very much “all is well”. While I don’t wish to see our taxes raised, I would like to see some of the money reallocated from school lunches, etc to SAFETY. The people that receive free lunches already, in most cases, receive welfare. Why can’t the parents pack a lunch??? The entire educational community is so liberal, I received comments back like, “The percentage of homicide in schools…” ……The words “Homicide” and “Schools” should never be put together in the same sentence! The country has become WAY too accepting of school violence…and if you write the CCSD or the Governor, you will see that it’s not something that is priority. I KNOW it happens everywhere, and it is wrong to justify this incident by saying “it happens everywhere.” IT SHOULD HAPPEN NOWHERE! Having a stronger police presence at schools for ten minutes before and after schools will cost the educational system NOTHING. Yeah, the police may lose twenty minutes of traffic citations a day….so what! I have come to the conclusion that if we want to get something done, we have to unite and stand together as a community. It is our tax dollars that are being spent to feed the kids that are shooting our children. PLEASE…..make your feelings known!!! Show up at the meetings everyone is talking about!
February 22nd, 2008 at 2:19 pm
JHM #239,the once proud USA now runs on GAS (greed, apathy and stupidity)
February 22nd, 2008 at 2:19 pm
Police presence is a necessity but the parents have to be held accountable as well. Everytime a young adult gets into trouble, what’s the first thing out of the parent’s mouth “Oh, my child would NEVER do that.” Are these parents clueless about their offspring or is it wishful thinking? And the parents have got to start teaching their children about the ramifications of violence. This young man was killed because of preceived “gang signs” being thrown? What the heck does that mean? It’s time to teach these children to turn the other cheek and walk away. You hear, so many times, about these young adults retaliating because of preceived behavior. You know what “LET IT GO” and move on.
February 22nd, 2008 at 4:53 pm
Maybe these little darlings are finally learning that gang signs are really fashion statements: handcuffs and prison suits that have been personalized with their very own unique numbers.
February 22nd, 2008 at 6:04 pm
I am sorry to step on any PC toes but this IS a racial issue. Currently African-Americans make up about 6.8% of the state’s population and yet 27.3% of this population is male and incarcerated. Approximately 45% of black households in Nevada are headed by women. So what is that saying? Black men are failing in their responsibilities to raise other healthy, responsible, productive young men. Government and other social systems can only do so much. A father who functions as a role model can do everything. I do not feel these young men were truly gang members rather they were “wannabes” trying to impress those around them with their bravado and swagger. I see this everyday when I go to my school to teach. Pants are slung low, signs are flashed, words are recklessly tossed and this behavior is reflected in whites, blacks, Hispanics…. The difference here lies in how these young men were taught to respond to such provocation. A man of integrity teaches a young man how to be a man. Without the strong influence of positive role models, these boys are lost in the chaotic world of manhood without a map.
February 22nd, 2008 at 7:07 pm
I say if found guilty,(reember were in the USA inocent untill found guilty) life in prison and be made a poser child, see what happens if you take a life spend your life in prison. what he will be there 60 plus years behind bars
February 22nd, 2008 at 7:28 pm
If the military draft were still in place, these punks might have a chance at turning into men. You could join the Navy at 16 with your parents permission.
But the military requires getting up and not calling in sick. The military give you an opportunity to shoot people for the good of fredom, not killing your own.
The jails would be less full if the Army draft was still in play. We would be a stronger nation. These punks think they are tough, put them in Iraq, now how tough are you. With role models like Snoop Dog you can see why these men are on the right track, the track to hell.
February 22nd, 2008 at 8:17 pm
Frist off, My heart goes out to BOTH families of these teens. Both families are victimized by this.
But to everyone who is talking about “good kids and good parents” I know a lot of good kids with bad parents and great parents with bad kids. No should judge these kids or their families unless you know them, their backround and you have all the facts. Before you point your finger make sure you own hands are clean. No one is perfect everyone makes mistakes, everyone loses their cool and does really dumb stuff. I am not saying what they did was right at all but all of your kids have/will make mistakes you can pray that you taught them to do the right thing but when your kid loses his/her conscience and **** up really bad remember all the things you’ve said about these kids and their families. I know this is an extreme case and these kids most likely lost their conscience a long time ago and never were able to find it but even GOOD KIDS WITH GOOD PARENTS SCREW UP. So don’t be to quick to judge cause you never know when you will be the one getting judge. and I am not saying your kid is gonna go shot someone but he/she might get arrested or cheat on a huge test and get caught. I am not trying to say these are compareable to murder but everyone makes mistakes and wish they could go back in time.
February 22nd, 2008 at 8:33 pm
Police presence isn’t cutting it guys. Did you know “plastic bb guns” don’t “count” towards the total of guns at the end of the year? Did you know two students were outside a middle school this afternoon with 2 such bb guns pointing them at the school, and Metro and CCSD PD had to let them go. The dean’s at their school will handle the discipline. I’m sorry but this falls back to “WHERE ARE THE PARENTS?”. How are these kids getting these guns – even bb guns (that look like real handguns)?
The “system” is broken and we don’t have enough police to stop the violence with the help of the PARENTS and the community.
February 22nd, 2008 at 9:12 pm
I am in SHOCK. What happened to the days when people would fight instead of being a coward and shoot someone to death, I know that the young men that killed this boy will pay for this senseless death. I ask as well as everyone else WHERE ARE THESE KIDS PARENTS……and WHO TAUGHT THIS BOY TO JUST PICK UP A GUN TO SOLVE HIS PROBLEMS. Chris is not alive because someone decided to be a COWARD and solve his problem by shooing someone, I NEVER will understand why. I can only pray for Chris’s family. I hope the young girl that started all of this rots in hell. And you know who you are……
February 22nd, 2008 at 9:27 pm
First, my thought and prayers go out to Cris’ family and friends. I am very impressed with the class his parents have shown during their time of sorrow. However, I am appauled at some of the comments I have read. I can not believe that adults would behave the way they have on this Blog. I can only hope that you are not parents yourself if you are you are a poor example for your children. Before you write such rude and disrespectful comments you might want to think that some of these comments might lead to the violence we see on a daily basis. I also pitty you ignorate people..
February 23rd, 2008 at 2:58 am
Why are people these blogs blaming Summerlin parents, or racism or whatever else? As Mrs. Rivers said, this is mainly the responsibility of the parents. A young man needs a dad. Granted, many kids have grown up without one and have never committed a crime. We all know there are all kinds of situations out there. However, look at the statistics and look at the norm. Look at the jails. Look at the kids that constantly get in trouble at their schools and get kicked out. I bet if you took a survey right now in the Vegas area, you would see a substantial number of kids who have been in trouble in school and/or with the law, and they have a parent(s) who has lacked responsibility in raising him or her. This has nothing to do with race. I’m talking about black, white, Hispanic, Asian or you name it.
I’m just disgusted with the system that allows these troubled kids to come into our schools and disrupt others who are there to learn. I’m disgusted at the media for painting such a picture of parents of the accused killer and driver and saying how they are victims and their lives will forever be changed. No duh!! They killed an innocent kid! I’m not saying the media said that, but they are showing family members and now William’s attorney making comments, like let’s wait and see until all the facts are in or let’s not jump to any conclusions. Or the dumb dad of Gerald saying he was a good father and that he was in jail twice. Sure, he was a great dad! Can you adopt me, Mr.?
We have confessions. We have witnesses. What more do we need? A televised or recording of the actual shooting? Come on! Stop blaming the innocent and get real. Take the responsibility for a change.
February 23rd, 2008 at 8:30 am
Gangs are wrong! Gun control? Guns dont kill people the person behind the gun Kills people! But my heart does go out to the child shot at Palo Verde! One of my sons was shot 11 times and by the Grace of God made it threw, but I sat 3 days by his side praying unable to move, gang related. Just the other day his younger brother was beat up pretty bad and the school he attends has brushed it aside and accused him of a crime without any evidence? If he had the evidence he wouldnt of gotten beat up but I dont think thats our answer because 2 wrongs still dont make a right. I THINK OUR ANSWER IS THIS; CASINOS HAVE LIVE VIDEO CAMERAS FOR ALL THE GOINGS ON IN A CASINO AND THEY HAVE A FEW LIVE PEOPLE BEHIND THOSE CAMARAS ALL THE TIME WATCHING NOW IF MONEY IS ALL THAT IMPORTANT I FEEL OUR CHILDRENS LIVES ARE EVEN MORE IMPORTANT. I ALSO FEEL THAT IF THIS WERE DONE THE SCHOOLS STAFF COULD INSTANTLY TAKE ACTION? OH YES THEY SAY THEY HAVE CAMARAS BUT THEY HAVE TO GO BACK AND WATCH THE TAPES IF THEY WORK AND BLAH BLAH BLAH. I ALSO THINK NEVADA AS A STATE SHOULD HAVE THE DEATH PENALTY FOR THOSE WHO CHOOSE TO TAKE ANOTHERS LIFE.
I dont blame parents for not wanting to send their kids to school, wether stay at home or work, lets get real here their lives are in danger. The schools staff are not being responsible for our children! The schools staff where my son went didnt even know he was on the bus hes been riding all year long? They didnt even know the day he was attacked? They approved of the tagging in the bathrooms and were more concerned with the scratching off of this tagging? They lied to my husband and I about a few things and tried even harder to blame my son, than help him. Now I know each and every one of our children are not angels and perfect BUT when it comes to physical damage to them and nothing is done to the ones who inflicted this damage, theres something real wrong with our schools staff and their way of thinking. They are responsible for our childrens safety while at school and they are not taking on that responsibility! I agree that as parents we need to be more involved in our childrens lives! We need to know where they are and what they are doing at all times because that is our responsibility but when we send them to school for an education the kids need to know that their safety is a priority to the staff members of the school also! There are alot of good ideas on this blog and the officials of this town should take the time to go threw and note some of these ideas and put them to use! Gangs and Gang violence has gotten way out of hand and its soooooooooo senseless! Thank God for the Sultan lady and TARGET and those who are really trying to get this disease out of our communities! We all need to be more aware of our surroundings and take more action. This truly needs to STOP!
February 23rd, 2008 at 10:46 am
If he only wanted to scare them why would he shoot 4 times instead of once? And why would you aim it at them instead of in the air or on the ground? He meant to harm someone and ultimately killed one of our precious children here in Summerlin. The girls must be taken out of Palo Verde High School and put in jail. They are definately the instigators of this crime and we need to stop that from happening also. We have to try everything we can to protect our children here in Summerlin. We have great kids here and wonderful families we can all help each other.
February 23rd, 2008 at 1:45 pm
Ventura county, has ALWAYS been a less crime filled county. Cities like Simi Valley, The TOP crime free city in the US. I don’t get it. I would love to see the documentary, but why wasn’t it shown at Inglewood high school, Compton high school, or maybe in the san fernando valley, reseda, or inland places, Pomona, other places like that. Prolly says something about the powers that be. Ventura is awesome, I am there all the time, but no city in Ventura has EVER been riddled with crime, and so allowing something like this in schools maybe has kept it that way. Is the film on youtube?
February 25th, 2008 at 1:55 am
I wrote #199 and #211,I expected attacks on the idea. No one committed. #200 !98 and others were agreed with or insulted. When I refer “gangs” I am referring to white, asian, hispanic etc. Our teenagers love to copy them. Use their signs. Teen fashions even glorify them. Our teens are gang wanna bes. I have taught my sons a BRAVE MAN fights his own battles without the use of cars and other gangs. Our teens have to understand driving really fast and shooting is cowardly. The parents of the gang members live off the BLOOD MONEY of their children. They should LOOSE EVERYTHING. Gangs are Terrorists. It will never end until Ezechial’s neighbors ban the word SNITCH and start turning in the cowards who can’t fight their own battles w/o out numbering its victim. Chris’s death means nothing if we don’t pass city, county, state and national laws to punish these cowards and banish their families beyond any other laws we have used. I am not Jewish but I love the Israeli attitude. You are only fooling yourself if you think running to the school board is better than running to the House of Representatives and Senate to put an end to the spoiled cry baby brats and their families. PASS LAWS PASS LAWS PASS LAWS.
February 25th, 2008 at 2:18 pm
I can believe all the hatred that goes on in LV…. I am failey new and have a 15 year old and new of the crime activity and gang violence but I never thought that there would be so much hate among parents…..neighborhoods, who is better, who has the money, who is on section 8 or what ever the case may be. Las Vegas needs to wake up and realize it is not just in Summerlin and its not just gangs or black kids or kids who are raised by one parent. Has any one looked at the news about the 19 year old who has pleaded guilty to murdering 5 people and it was not done with a gun but with a vehicle and I don’t hear any one screaming murder but the thing is it did not happen in Summerlin and the people that were killed were not from Summerlin or white……they were hispanics that were out following the rules and going to visit family but some 19 year old boy intoxicated to no end who had an alchool level of .19 decided to get behind a wheel and go through a red light and kill 5 innocent lives and left 3 others strggtling for theres in the hopital…….Mother’s having to bury their son, daughter and grandson….. it this any fair. I feel sad for Chris’s parents but we need to come together and do something for all these kids not just the ones that are in trouble. Las Vegas should have choices for these kids like places where to go after school that will keep them out of trouble, sports activities that every one can afford because now a days you pay an arm and a leg for registration and that is without equipment or uniforms. We need to save these kids they are our future…….ALL OF THEM.
February 25th, 2008 at 4:52 pm
All i would like to point out is this… It amazes me the fact that 90% of people in this blog are spitting racist terms, calling names, etc. and you all sit back and wonder why we have hate crimes. I think all you parents saying you are a good parent in the so called Summerlin Community that teach your children well and what is right forget the simple thing that you aren’t as good as you think you are. I am sure you are trying you best like every other parent but do you not realize that you are teaching your children hate. White, Black, Mexican, Asian, it doesnt matter… The fact that you speak such hatred is past done to your children which is then vocalized in our school and which then prevokes these hate crimes to happen. You want to change you community, start with your perfect self.
February 25th, 2008 at 5:19 pm
BLAH BLAH BLAH What the hell!!?? KELLY, WHERE IS THE DOCUMENTARY???? AMANDA MY DEAR, HOW CAN WE SEE IT??
I WILL PERSONALLY START SOMETHING TO GET THIS IN THE SCHOOLS! ANOTHER YOUNG PERSON SHOT TODAY! THE TIME IS NOW FOR ACTION.
February 26th, 2008 at 11:18 am
#256, that may be the most ill-conceived piece of tripe I’ve ever had the misfortune of reading. Congratulations.
February 26th, 2008 at 5:32 pm
In response to a blog written in todays (Las Vegas Sun):
As a memeber of the middle class; I was disgusted to read a comment written by a so called “upper class” Summerlin resident, refering to the middle class as leeches who are cramping their space and need to return to Vegas.
First of all, what planet are you from? Summerlin is in Las Vegas! Secondly, that arrogant, mindless behavior is what cause racism, hatred, and violence! You stay hidden in your high end Summerlin neighborhood because I’m sure many of us leeches would love nothing more, but to shove a large object up where the sun don’t shine. Remember these simple quotes: “One does not know how dumb they are until they open their mouth;” and “Your fecal matter stinks like everyone elses!”
March 11th, 2008 at 12:10 pm
I THINK THAT GERALD SHOULD BE CHARGED AS A JUEVENILE NOT AS AN ADULT. JUST BECAUSE THE WILLIAMS WAS DRIVING DOESN’T MEAN HE SHOULD GET BAIL. HE WAS INVOLVED AND HIS INTENTIONS WERE LIKE GERALDS…MAYBE EVEN GREATER. WILLIAMS IS AN ADULT. GERALD IS STILL A BOY. LET THESE KIDS LIVE GOD D****T
March 13th, 2008 at 12:54 pm
My prayers to both of the Privett Family and the family of the young men who pulled the trigger. In Indiana the schools are protected by NO TOLERANCE ZONES, anyone caught within a certain distance of a school with a firearm and or drugs receives mandatory sentencing…no plea agreements…uniforms district wide will cause the fights and violence to decrease, it will weed out those who arent interested in being in class. Parents need to take the video games and violent music and throw it in the trash. It is causing the youth to be insensitive to violence and its consequences. Children are not making a difference between entertainment and real life. Most of all, we all need to pray. Seriously…. Peace and Prayers
March 19th, 2008 at 10:54 am
I know the two girls in the car at the time of the shooting. They are filthy instigators. They should not have been allowed to walk. They helped the police, you say? Yah to save themselves.
March 19th, 2008 at 12:48 pm
Someone mentioned that “young men need dads.” Nonsense, that’s just another excuse for parent(s) who are suddenly faced with having their child go to prison for killing someone. What they need is a loving parent/guardian with GOOD MORALS AND ETHICS, THE DESIRE TO USE RESOURCES THAT ARE AVAILABLE, OPEN COMMUNICATION with that parent, and a GOOD SENSE OF CHARACTER. I worked very hard to make sure that my son is a respectable person, that I knew who his friends were, and where he was almost all of the time. My son hasn’t seen his ‘father’ in 17 years. He finished school early, worked a job since he was 15(at his request), and KNOWS the difference between right & wrong. He NEVER resorted to gang bangin’ becasue his ‘father’ wasn’t around…its a LAME ASS excuse and an old scapegoat that so worn out I can hardly stand it…GET A CLUE!!!
Those people in that car are all guilty of murder, they should all pay equally. A 17 year old knows just as much as an 18 year old, that killing someone is BAD, ILLEGAL, and WRONG!!! A 10 year old KNOWS THAT!
When I saw Gerald Davison in court, crying and holding his father’s hand, I was infuriated that he even got TV time! He is pathetic, so is his family. If they had DONE A BETTER JOB AT BEING PARENTS AND DECENT PEOPLE, THIS NEVER WOULD HAVE HAPPENED!!! Same thing for his accomplices! Who cares that this MURDERER is boo-hooing because HE GOT CAUGHT! This kid will never be a productive member of society, he just wasn’t raised that way…obviously.
The rest of my comment is being said, becasue it seems that almost everyone is pussyfooting the issue and won’t say it out loud because they are afraid of being construed as a racist…I am not one, by the way. This is a product of my experience in two different states.
Where were his parents before hand? Why weren’t they MORE INVOLVED in his life? Why didn’t they give a sh*t when his performance at school was horrible and he was out at all hours doing God knows what? I bet you they weren’t around AND THEY DIDN’T CARE! Why do they care now??? Because its another black kid who’s life was “so bad,” that he didn’t have the “same opportunities” as all the other kids…and he was only in trouble at school because he was black…yeah, right! Thats a bunch of malarky!!! His parents/family need to stop making themselves and their kid a victim because they can’t get past their own skin color.
After many, many years in the school district, I can’t tell you how many times I have heard that sorry excuse, that the parents themselves have imprinted on their children that they are always going to ‘be a victim’, that they can always accuse a white person or an educator/police officer/any person of authority, of being a racist or an “Uncle Tom,” to intimidate or re-direct the issue at hand when they get caught doing something wrong, like violating school rules, being confronted about gang activity, robbing another student of an iPod, beating up some kid ‘becasue he looked at ya funny’, breaking into someone’s house for a quick burglary, etc…”
You get caught, you go to jail, regardless if you’re White, Hispanic, Latino, Black, Asian, Middle Eastern, etc…
Frankly, I’m tired of it…I’m tired of the excuses, the poor reasoning behind being a criminal and a gang member, shooting people…this will NEVER stop until we, as a community(I mean EVERYONE), starts taking the word “RACE” out of our vocabulary and realize that SKIN COLOR DOES NOT MAKE THE PERSON!
On that note, I hope Gerald Davison and his murdering accomplices go to jail for the rest of their lives. And, I think the Death Penalty is inline for this one. Obviously, Davison and his accomplices enlisted their own Death Peanlty on Chris Privett and showed no remorse.
March 19th, 2008 at 2:29 pm
All I can say is I remember when you could swat your kids to punish them…now its called child abuse. Maybe if some kids got a few more spankings…..and parents learned to say no, read a book, or help me out at home…instead of allowing kids to run around with no supervision…kids would have more respect for others, life, themselves and their community.
Bad stuff happens everywhere….every community. Sometimes it is on a large scale, but it happens EVERYWHERE. Even in Summerlin (lest we forget the 3-11 boys and the boys that firebombed Faith Lutheran..ahh, Summerlin kids
)….Spanish Trail, Seven Hills…..North Las Vegas, Green Valley….all over.
Parents, learn to watch your kids, know their friends, check thier cell phones and my-space and take a minute to reconnect….otherwise the streets become more important and the role model they follow….ask yourselves….when was the last time I really talked to my kid?? Cared enough to stop my life and ask them how they are, how’s school?? What’s happening with you? Do you help with anything???? Or said I’m proud of you, you mean the world to me….I love you. When have you last taken your kid to lunch?? A movie??? Sat and played cards with them?? Baked a cake?? Made dinner??
Think about it.
March 19th, 2008 at 4:27 pm
there are alot of issues but for me i see the problem is that parents let there kids live as they are and by that i mean they treat them as adults..they let them come and go as they please, and if they do something wrong it pretty much always goes unpunished…your kid is not your friend wake up!!
If you really pay attention then you can see that pretty much all of the trouble makers try to act older then what they are without respect for anyone, no home training..they mimic what they here in music and think its cute or that its just the thing to do, or cause some girl thinks there cool.there all brave until they have to pay for there actions then they act like a kid again…you did the crime i dont care the age so now do the time…
no time for regret now, you had more then enough time to think about what could happend and could have stopped it..
P.S and i dont want to hear about broken homes and sob stories because we all have a story to tell some alot deeper then others, thats life take responsibility and grow up.
March 19th, 2008 at 4:39 pm
to linda 199, 200 people dont want to help it takes too much of there time…and alot of them feel like it wont do any good anyway…its hard to reach a kid that is making up his or her life as they go. think about it if the parents let them go as far as they do theres not many people out there that will make much of a differnce…and you cant help everybody unless you have everyone helping.
March 19th, 2008 at 5:39 pm
85.167 Snob, you have to go deeper with that word but the way you talk just goes to show why other things happen the way they do..I come from one of those neighborhoods you speak about and i was never in a gang, I went to college and i live in two parts of the world i have a business and im sure alot more money then you will ever know…its people like you that give the city a bad name…I sent someone to buy a home for my mother who raised me the right way and the person that works for me was asked if the family was any other race then white..i couldnt beleave it and wouldnt sale him the home its ok cause i wouldnt want it anyway after that. trust me when i get back im goin to speak on it, and i dont need Al Sharpton or anyone else to fight for me i was born and raised in Vegas.. 33 years, the city is not the problem its the people that come from other places….and for number 157 get a clue..also why is it soo hard for you to beleave that the young kid chris was throwing signs? cause he white? you people need to wake up and join the human race this world does not belong to just you. that kid shouldnt have died but at the same time dont sit here and act like he had no part in it.
white skin bleeds just like black brown and every other color out there.
April 23rd, 2008 at 11:49 am
267 is an idiot—who cares if he was throwing sings it is the mentallity you have that thinks then it should be OK to shoot him–The point and only point is an innocent kid is dead because iof the actions of others–they should be punished by every means possible. They should never see another free moment the rest of their lives.
April 23rd, 2008 at 5:15 pm
I noticed when this story was aired on the news that the Defendants pictures were shown even though one of them is a minor, but a minor testifying in court could not be shown on television. Why was Gerald Davisons’ picture and face shown????
April 23rd, 2008 at 9:02 pm
Didn’t the 311 boys come out of Summerlin?
April 23rd, 2008 at 9:30 pm
To answer the two questions:
First, we do not show minors in court unless they are defendnants charged as adults. If you look back through our archive, you’ll see video of Davidson in juvenile court. We did not show his face or name him until he was moved to adult court.
Second, the 311 Boys were not from Summerlin.
April 26th, 2008 at 6:04 pm
dave wake up!!! the boy was in a gang stop thinking the white boy was clean…
April 28th, 2008 at 8:52 pm
This case is a no brainer. I wonder how these defense attorneys would feel if their kid was gunned down while walking home from school. The defense will fail in ANY court and the lawyer needs to stop coming off like an idiot smoke blower. It’s entertaining how he is losing this thing in the biggest and worse way and he keeps trying to throw out weak sound bites to the media in an effort to beg for much needed respect. This guy needs to grab a clue and select his cases better. Negative press is not the way to go but this guy must have been absent the day they taught that in law school 101 class at acme university.
April 29th, 2008 at 10:59 am
DAMN ITS CRAZY THAT I SEEN THIS ON THE NEWS WHEN IT 1ST HAPPEN AND THE WORSE PART ABOUT IT ALL WAS THAT ZEKE WAS MY BESTFRIEND AND LIKE A BROTHER TO ME I AM GOIN 2 MISS HIM AND I DNT GIVE HIM ANY SYMPATHY BECAUSE HE WAS APART OF A KILLING I WOULD NEVER THINK ZEKE OUT OF ALL PEOPLE WOULD BE GOING 2 PRISON OVER A MURDER ALL I CAN SAY IS THAT I LOVE HIM TO DEATH AND I WILL ALWAYZ BE HERE FOR HIM AND TO THE FAMILY OF CHRIS I AM HONESTLY SORRY FOR THIS I WOULD NEVER THINK IT WOULD BE MY BESTFRIEND….