A question: are you among the Americans who wonder often, maybe every morning: Will It Be My Turn Today? Our Turn?
”Our Turn” for — ?
You know: Our Turn for — what else?
For a mass shooting, or some other act of violence.
I’m one of them. Or rather, us. Further, like an ever-increasing number, I’m now one who has had a close call.
Not only me; family members too. And not just one; close call, I mean.
No casualties yet, by (take your pick) luck, happenstance or grace. But it doesn’t feel all that lucky to me. More like being forced to play Russian Roulette. Especially after the second one: it’s not over.
Last October, there was a mass shooting in Raleigh, the city just east of us. I think it was the biggest we’ve had yet; but not really major league, mayhem- or big-media wise. Five people were shot and killed and two others wounded, most of them running or walking along a greenway in a “nice neighborhood” there.
On cue, governor Roy Cooper intoned, “Tonight, terror has reached our doorstep. The nightmare of every community has come to Raleigh. This is a senseless, horrific and infuriating act of violence that has been committed.”
It was also a senseless horrific act committed by a 15-year old white boy; most of the victims were white. Russian Roulette.
A bit of background: Overall, I like living in Durham. Clearly, other people do too: my house was a bargain in 2012, at the bottom of the post-2008 market crash. But now it’s hot: I get a steady, annoying stream of letters, emails, texts and phone calls from real estate agents wanting to buy me out.
So do my neighbors: the agents are part of the move by private equity predators, who are buying up whole neighborhoods of small or medium-sized houses, turning them into high-priced rentals, and then securitizing and speculating with them. I’m not interested; I bought my little house to live in, hopefully til the end.
But while the parasite investors work to grab everything and force us out, I’m favored to have three generations of family living in the same neighborhood: myself, a daughter & a grandson (and a fourth generation is just a couple hours away).
My grandson, let’s call him Mike, is is one of the closest. He’s in 8th grade, looking at local high schools. He and his mom were leaning toward Hillside High: It’s a big school, been around for generations, once segregated Black, still mostly, with a modern campus and substantial computer offerings.
That’s what Mike wants. He’s multiracial, and would blend in. His mom liked it too, and for a couple months, that piece of future seemed settled.
But then, on Tuesday February 8th, two Hillside High students were shot very near the school; one died. Their names have not been released; no arrests made. The brief news media report didn’t say this, but I’m pretty sure the wounded survivor was not cooperating with the police; that’s the rule on the street here.
Mike’s mom, my daughter, manages a dollar store. She came home from work the day after with word from a co-worker, whose kids are already in Hillside. This was not the first incident there: the co-worker said there had been several lockdowns involving guns since her kids arrived. She said they had come to Durham from New York City, looking to escape gun violence.
Her story about many lockdowns was unconfirmed; but a search did show that two students were arrested at Hillside in September last year for bringing guns to school. And we know that many similar incidents don’t make it into our woefully understaffed local media.
So mom, who’s not having it, immediately crossed Hillside off the list. There’s another high school, Jordan, not far away Mike can go to; plus a couple of charters with admission by lottery.
Much of Durham is not a peaceful place. There were 47 confirmed homicides here in 2022. Of these, sixteen were age 21 or younger (nine more were unidentified by age, but likely very young), and most victims and arrestees were male and of color. Mostly this violence happens in other parts of town from us; but not all.
“I am concerned about the gun violence, and the fact that these kids are getting younger and younger,” Durham police chief Patrice Andrews said. “Fourteen years old, that’s young. That’s way too young. Those are adult issues, adult things that they are either victimized for or they are committing.”
And Andrews noted that violent crime was actually down a bit in Durham for 2022.
So the Hillside shooting was one close call. Not that close as these things go: Mike would not have been enrolled there yet anyway.
But still. Makes you wonder.
The second happened earlier, but came to us later, more shockingly:
Since last fall, Mike’s mom had been visiting a therapist at a small, recovery-oriented clinic in Durham. She liked the therapist, named June, a lot: warm, lively, understanding, a family person.
Then in mid-October, mom arrived for a session and found the office closed. A sign on the door said to call a partner clinic in Chapel Hill, the next town west, to reschedule. No explanation.
Mom made the appointment; but there was no June. Where was she? mom asked. The query was deflected.
She kept asking but it wasn’t until last week that she got an explanation: the office clerk said the shift was because of “the incident.”
“The incident”? What incident? mom pressed.
More hesitation, then the clerk ‘fessed up:
It happened on October 18, 2022. About June Onkundi, her brother Andrew Nyabwari said. “The same very population that she had the passion and desire to help, is the one that finally took her away from us and left us grieving with four children and a husband,” said [her brother Nyabwari. . . .”
“She was somebody who values family very much. Everything that she would do is family-centered. That is what I’m going to remember about her,” said Onditi Nunda, who traveled to Raleigh from Texas after learning his cousin’s wife had been killed.
“To then come back and work within this mental health community, you know that just basically sees who she was,” Nunda said.”. . .
Family members said Onkundi was set to begin a doctorate program at Duke in January 2023 to further her education and help.
Her alleged patient/attacker, James Gomes, has an extensive criminal record, mostly involving violence against women. He’s being held without bond, awaiting trial for murder.
The NC Nurses Association issued an angry statement:
“We are heartbroken by the senseless death of our colleague and fellow NCNA member, June Onkundi. . . . Violence in the workplace is one of the greatest challenges facing nurses, and the problem has grown exponentially over the last few years. It is my desperate hope that June Onkundi’s death serves as a turning point and that those of us in healthcare can truly begin to address this problem.”
So; guns are the big kahuna here. But there are other deadly weapons. Many opportunities. And few explanations.
Which brings me back to the Damocles-like hanging question: Will It Be My Turn Today? Our Turn?
What to do but shrug, lock the doors at night, don’t keep cash around, and pray as much as one is able.
And follow the news. Or maybe not? Just half an hour ago (not making this up), a new bulletin flashed on local internet news:
A 14-year-old has been taken into custody after The Durham County Sheriff’s Office said they were found in possession of a loaded gun. . . .
The sheriff’s office said the gun was found in a bag the student was carrying. On Friday, a juvenile petition was obtained, and the teen was taken into custody.
Just before 3:45 p.m. on Friday [Feb. 24], the Durham County Sheriff’s Office School Resource Officer at Jordan High School got a tip that a student had brought a firearm on campus. The school was subsequently put on a lockdown.
During a search of the school, the 14-year-old boy was found and the weapon he was carrying was secured. The lockdown was then lifted.
Wait a freekin minute. Was that Jordan, the school we were looking at after the Hillside shootings?
Yeah.
What the — ?
Russian Roulette.
But wait — we blame a lot these days on Russia, overall with cause. But this mess is not some Kremlin export.
This is our own invention. So let’s speak plainly and call it what it really is:
American Roulette.
Do I hear the cylinder spinning again?