Barely a teen, boy's killing shakes South City

[AsahinaKimi]

Aysha Haq stands next to her 3 1/2-year-old daughter, Jasmine Raj, at their South San Francisco home. Haq's 14-year-old son, Joseph Maharaj, was killed last month in a drive-by shooting.

Joseph Maharaj liked to make plans - big plans. The 14-year-old always had one eye on the future, from a redesign of his bedroom that would include a PlayStation 2, a PlayStation 3, an Xbox and his own TV, to the 1969 Dodge Charger he was going to drive as soon as he got his license.

He had the night of Sept. 18 planned out, too. He was going to have his cousin trim his hair. There was a TV show he wanted to watch. But first, he had to stop by his friend's house, a block from his South San Francisco apartment.

"I'll be back in 20 minutes," he said to his mother in a quick phone call.

A half hour later, just before 8:50 p.m., Joseph was talking to two friends on the 600 block of First Lane when at least four men in a black Honda sedan approached them, fired 15 to 20 shots at the boys and cut the 14-year-old's future plans short.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/10/03/BA9K1LAANP.DTL#ixzz1ZobtU2UK

Sad, sad story.

[JVS]

1. Hmmm, let's see. You live in a shitty neighborhood, your kid is 14, you somehow consider his...

desire for many expensive things to be plans for the future, his current life revolves around movies, girls, and cell phones (I'm not seeing where this money for the 1969 Charger is coming from in the next 2 years, are you?), and you he's out there at his friends house for reasons you don't know.

Sorry to be the asshole here, but what the fuck did you think was going to happen? Did you seriously think that a kid with extreme desires, few means to fulfill them, and little supervision in a bad place isn't going to get himself hurt or killed?

[Brickbat]

3. Movies, girls, phones, and a dream car: I'm not seeing how those ambitions are much different than

those of many other 14-year-old boys. I think parents whose 14-year-olds are currently focusing on stuff like that can expect their children not to be gunned down in the street. You're right -- you're being an asshole, but I don't think you're sorry about it.

[Maraya1969]

12. I may be wrong but I think the poster was implying that the kid may have

been selling drugs and that is why he got killed because they don't mention him having a job to make the money for the things he was going to buy.

Just my take.

[Brickbat]

14. Oh, it's very clear where the poster is coming from.

But he's jumping to all sorts of disgusting conclusions. It's pretty much a 14-year-old's job description to have unrealistic dreams with no plan to achieve them.

[catbyte]

4. An X-Box is an "extreme desire?"

[JVS]

5. No, a 1969 Charger is.

Nice try though.

[Bluenorthwest]

7. $2500 I can buy a project level 69 Charger today, everyday.

Oh, my, how stunningly overreaching for such a child as that! What excessive dreams, how dare he!

[Pacifist Patriot]

9. Sheesh, when I was fourteen I had dreams of owning a classic Ford Thunderbird some day.

No clue I was such an extremist.

[Bluenorthwest]

6. He was 14. Kids want toys, that is how kids are.

Extreme desires? A young teen dreaming of the car he hopes for is call 'aspiration'. At 14, kids are generally not making actual 'plans for the future' they are making dreams for the future. To castigate a kid for being poor and wanting better is pretty cold.
And where you get 'little supervision' from a kid who is calling to say 'home in 20 minutes' who already had the rest of his evening planned and those plans shared with his parent I do not know.

Do you think other 14 year olds are talking mutual funds and scholarships? Seriously? You think poor people should 'expect' their kids to be gunned down by criminals? Seriously?

[Pacifist Patriot]

10. This response is among the coldest I've ever seen at DU.

and clueless

[gratuitous]

16. But, if you don't blame the victim, you have to blame something else

And that might lead to so many undesireable conclusions, that it's best to settle on the 14-year-old dead kid. Less muss and fuss that way, and as long as you make the pro forma noises about how unfortunate this all is, then you're absolved of doing anything about the aforementioned undesireable considerations.

[Pacifist Patriot]

18. I admit I may over-react to such responses in part because...

it reminds me of the crap I hear every year during the holidays when my husband's company has one of those giving trees where you can select a paper ornament that includes a needy kid's name and their wish list. I inevitably have to hear three or four people bitch and moan that these kids with absolutely nothing aren't asking for socks and underwear and instead are uppity enough to they should have a Nintendo DS or a bike. Sorry, I'm getting pissed off just thinking about it.

[Pacifist Patriot]

8. These are extreme desires for an American teenager today?

You have got to be kidding me.

[Blue_Tires]

11. You never had big (unrealistic) dreams when you were 14?

When I was 14 I was going to be the first person to get the MVP in the NFL, MLB, and NBA, win four olympic gold medals in track, AND I was gonna marry one of the girls from En Vogue...

The plan has had some setbacks, but I remain committedB-)

and FWIW a great uncle of mine had a habit of collecting old, sometimes usable/sometimes not cars...The summer of 1990 (right before I turned 14) he got a Cherry red 1962 Chevy Impala convertible, red interior/white top...He was gonna sell it to me for $400 but my parents nixed it and he sold it to someone else...

[RaleighNCDUer]

13. Police say they don't know what the motive was, but confirmed that none of the boys was in a gang.

But let's go ahead and blame the victim anyway.

[Desertrose]

15. Easier to blame than to feel.

[Angry Dragon]

17. ...............

:thumbsdown:

[xchrom]

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