The Death of Officer Amy Caprio and What Scares Me

On Tuesday, May 22, 2018, four young, violent criminals went to work very early in the morning - or late at night, depending on your perspective.  In an upper middle class neighborhood, three of these criminals started their search for a house to burglarize, while the fourth waited and patrolled the immediate area in a stolen car - a black jeep.


Someone reported suspicious activity, and Officer Amy Caprio went to check things out.  During the course of events, the driver of the stolen jeep deliberately struck and killed Officer Caprio. 

As the dust settles, Eugene Robert Genius IV, 17, Derrick Eugene Matthews, 16, and Darrell Jaymar Ward, 15, are charged with burglary and first degree murder.  The driver of the jeep, Dawnta Anthony Harris, 16, is charged with first degree murder.  All four are being tried as adults.  All four choir boys have police records as long as your arm.

Tanika Wilson, Dawnta's mother, is howling about how the system failed her little Pookie Dwanta, because even though Dawnta was on house arrest and had an electronic ankle restraint, and the police knew he was out running around someplace, they searched for a week and couldn't find him.  The ankle device has no location capabilities.  There's a significant amount of finger pointing and name calling over this one, and not by Tanika Wilson.

One judge called Dawnta Harris a one-man crime wave before throwing him into the adults only slammer.

Amy Caprio's friends and family are devastated.

One way or another, Dawnta Harris is being represented pro bono by a high powered legal team who are insisting that this is all a misunderstanding, and that Dawnta was in survival mode, ducking lead and stuff, and the poor misunderstood boy was just trying to defend himself.  So he should get therapy and be placed in a juvenile lockup.  And so forth.

All this is going to shake out, no one is going to walk away feeling that justice has been served, and commercial media won't give a tinker's damn what happens to the guilty so long as some other bleeding heart is on the front page today.

Here's the part that struck me as being significant, and my thanks for your patience.

Just after Officer Caprio got murdered and the four criminals were apprehended sometime later, school was in session.  Carney Elementary, Perry Hall, Seven Oaks and Gunpowder (that's right, gunpowder.  I didn't name it, but I would have.) had their status changed from Normal to High Alert.  Note that regular school hours are 9:30 - 3:50, as near as I can tell anyway. 

This from WBAL TV: Baltimore County police officer killed in line of duty; Police make arrests

At 5:51 p.m., the district tweeted that students at Carney Elementary School were being sent home by bus or being picked up by parents.

Food was served to students at the other three schools, which remained on alert status. At 7:36 p.m., the district tweeted that parents of Perry Hall, Seven Oaks and Gunpowder elementary school students could pick up their children. Only a few parents were allowed in the schools at one time, and there was an added police presence at the schools.

So you send your children to public school, then at the end of the day your kids don't show up. After a while almost anyone would have a Whiskey-Tango-Foxtrot moment. Now what?

If you phone the kids or the school, you are informed by the local school authorities that you can't have your children just yet, as there is an official emergency.  Just when your kids will be released is still uncertain, but as soon as school authorities make a decision, then you may have your children.  Not before. No arguments will be tolerated.

Given that most school authorities couldn't fight their way out of a wet paper bag, and will turn tail and run when confronted by an adult, you may wonder how this is possible.  Easy.  The local police department is backing their move, and the PD has SWAT, a military style RV or two, and a certain enthusiasm for their job that is truly unique.  Moreover, this is the Baltimore County, Maryland, and the cops have been down this road before.

The parents waited around, and eventually the students were all released.

What truly amazes me is that there isn't a greater outcry about this behavior. This isn't about safety; this is about authority and control. So new to gun owners, right?  The State is exerting blatantly unreasonable authority, and the citizens are accepting it without a second thought.  That, to me, is dangerous. It shows that the sheep are much more numerous and tractable than I ever imagined.  In the future, probably in my lifetime, Constitutional rights will be little more than a somewhat noble concept, an idea whose time has passed.

You'll be reading about me on the front page, second section.

Check Town Hall or breitbart for the truth.