Berwyn boy, 14, convicted in fatal stabbing of classmate
Tribune staff report- 11:48 PM CDT, May 8, 2008
A 14-year-old boy was convicted Thursday of first-degree murder for stabbing a classmate as they walked home from a Berwyn middle school in February 2007, according to the Cook County state's attorney's office.
Circuit Judge Edward Pietrucha found the boy guilty of stabbing Ricardo Hernandez, 13, near 31st Street and Euclid Avenue as the boys were returning from Heritage Middle School, said Assistant State's Atty. John Somerville. Hernandez of Berwyn died at the University of Illinois Medical Center, Somerville said. School officials told police the boys had a lunchtime altercation.
Pietrucha will sentence the boy June 4 to between 20 and 60 years in adult detention. The boy would serve the adult sentence if he violates any law while in juvenile detention until age 21.
*What bothers me the most about this article is not that Berwyn is close to where I live in Brookfield, but rather that a 14 year old boy STABBED a 13 year old boy. Does anyone else see a problem with this or are we all so numb to the horrible things happening in the daily society that it can go unnoticed? A thirteen year old is now dead and for what reason? Because officials say they had "a lunch time altercation." To whatever extent that may be, two questions should be raised: How safe should we feel knowing that our children are now walking around armed? And also what has our society come to that 14 year olds are killing people. At 14 years old no one has even begun to live, that's right before you graduated from middle school. Do you remember that? I was at S.E. Gross Middle School and there was never a thought in my mind that anyone around me was carrying a weapon that could potentially end my life, and I got to see that graduation stage. Unfortunatly for both those boys, neither of them will because of "a lunch time altercation." Just think about that.
3 comments:
this source is from the Chicago Tribune
wow. this is extremely disturbing. I also wonder what this 14-year-old's parents are like. Sometimes the apple doesn't fall far from the tree, and if he grew up in a household where violence was a daily activity, he probably grew up with the mentality that violence is the only way to solve things. As a 14-year-old, I never could have even had the thought of stabbing someone to kill them. It is really sickening to read something like this
Ya - I went to that school too (and I'm fairly certain my younger brother knows of the kids involved in the stabbing).
I was waiting for the rise of Berwyn infamy. My high school in Berwyn, Morton West, was in even larger headlines recently when a group of students were suspended and expelled (seemingly based on GPA) in response for attending an anti-war demonstration on peace day. Jessy Jackson, the BBC, and the ULCA were each represented thereafter - in Berwyn. I'm glad the ridiculousness of my high school was finally brought to international attention, albeit the year after I graduated. My sister, though, was uniquely involved, though, as one of the protesters - and later, one of the brighter individuals interviewed by the media (youtube may give you a better idea of the situation).
Here are some stats taken from freemortonwest.org:
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What is District 201's debt as of November, 2005?
$200,000,000 to be paid in installments of over $9,000,000 from now until 2024
What is the tuition charge per pupil as of 2005?
Tuition charge per student is $8,626, of which $1100 is debt.
What is the average adminsitrative [sic] salary and how does that rank in Cook County?
The average administrative salary is $88,577, which ranks 28th in Cook County out of 28 districts. Homewood/Flossmoor has the highest administrative salaries at $143,554. The Cook County median is $111,2999.
What is the administrator to student ratio and how does that rank in Cook County?
The administrtator [sic] to student ration is 228 students for every administrator, which ranks 28th in Cook County out of 28 districts. Bremen has the lowest ratio of 99 students per administrator. The Cook County median is 152 students for every administrator.
What is the education fund per pupil and how does that rank in Cook County?
The education fund spent per pupil is $2,866.89, which is 28th in Cook County out of 28 districts. The highest district is Niles, which spends $13,749.94 per pupil. The Cook County median is $7,784.40 spent per pupil.
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Note the instances of "28 out of 28" above.
Maybe Rich can pipe in with more crazy Morton occurrences - some pretty funny, and some pretty ridiculous stuff.
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