Exercising the Right
“How He Gonna Get His Money?”
While it is certainly understandable to expect family members who are grieving the loss of a member killed while committing a felony to speak their minds when talking to the media, some people in Miami made statements that drew national attention. CBSMiami reported on March 11 about a deceased 17-year-old named Trevon Johnson, who police say burglarized a house not far away from where he lived. The 54-year-old homeowner, who was not home at the time of the burglary, was alerted to the break-in by her surveillance system. She rushed home, armed with a firearm, and found the teen climbing out of a window of her house. According to Miami-Dade police, the woman confronted the suspect and shots were fired. Johnson was rushed to a nearby medical facility where he succumbed to his injuries.
CBSMiami interviewed his relatives after the shooting. Johnson’s cousin Nautika Harris said, “I don’t care if she have her gun license or any of that. That is way beyond the law … way beyond.... He was not supposed to die like this. He had a future ahead of him. Trevon had goals.... He was a funny guy, very big on education, loved learning.” Johnson was a student at a nearby technical college.
She tried to explain that, even though Johnson was burglarizing the house, he was behaving normally for someone of his age and background: “You have to look at it from every child’s point of view that was raised in the hood.... You have to understand.... How he gonna get his money to have clothes to go to school? You have to look at it from his point of view.”
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