Gangs etc.
The response from Evergreen Editorial proves to me that prevention of violence must include information related to “risky behaviors of victims". Status-quo has been to let victims rest in peace. Investigations, for public records, don’t often list circumstances in the lives of the victims which led them into harm’s way.
The context of my letter to Ed Stein included reference to drugs and presumed gang retaliation as the primary motive in the unsolved Littleton Subway murders of Nick and Steph’, Columbine High student sweethearts, on Valentine’s Day 2000.
Evergreen Newspaper said allegations of drug distribution by a victim had not been alleged or reported by anyone in law enforcement. Maybe not for the record. I do have a photo of Sheriff Stone holding a cardboard billboard, with names of juveniles and faces of adults, listed due to (mostly) drug-related investigations in the aftermath of the Subway murders.
If one reason gangs thrive in the Denver metropolitan area is because victims families are intentionally spared the additional grief of truths about the risky behaviors of their loved ones, then perhaps we had better learn to better handle these truths before American cities end up like Baghdad Iraq.
By the way, excellent update by Marilyn Robinson on the Cold Case of the Littleton Bowling Alley murders from 2002. If you report similarly on the Columbine Subway Cold Case, remember it is in Jefferson County. Ever since the massacre at Columbine High School, most of the media labels our part of Unincorporated Jefferson County as Littleton by mistake.
The United States Postal Service identifies some of Jefferson County as “Littleton” for ZIP-code purposes only. Mislabeling the jurisdiction of unsolved crimes doesn’t make us any safer, and perhaps sends tips to the wrong investigators.
Littleton
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