City records year’s 200th homicide

People get all worked up over milestones but this article hit me because I read it just after writing the following for a grant:

The 25th Police District, which serves our target area, ranked highest of all Philadelphia police districts in murder and aggressive assault cases and second highest in rape and robbery cases in 2005. At a point in time when violence reduction is the order of the day, our children are at the heart of the battle. Not only is it important to keep them off the streets, but it is also essential to engage them in activities where they will learn to avoid participation in violence and crime.

Violence has become too commonplace. You just wake up and hope it doesn't come to your block. The Daily News summed it up pretty well:

Except for the yellow crime-scene tape, the neighborhood soon fell back into its daily routine two hours after the shooting.

A block from where McCorkle fell, a boy ran through the spray of an opened fire hydrant on Tioga at Sixth Street to cool off on a hot day.