KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- A 13-year-old Kansas City boy is back
home after two teenagers poured gasoline on him and lit him on fire.
It happened Tuesday
at the teen's home on Quincy Avenue, just down the street from Kansas City's
East High School. The boy lives less than two blocks away from the school and
was walking home when the attack happened.
Melissa Coon said her
son turned from the school's stadium onto Quincy Avenue and noticed two
teenagers following him. She said the teens followed her son home and attacked
him outside his front door.
"And they rushed
him on the porch as he tried to get the door open," she said. "(One
of them) poured the gasoline, then flicked the Bic, and said, 'This is what you
deserve. You get what you deserve, white boy'."
The two attackers ran
away, and the eighth grader put the fire out with the shirt off his back. He
managed to call 911 on his own, then his father. He was taken by ambulance to
Children's Mercy Hospital and spent several hours in the hospital's burn unit.
"You could smell
the burned skin," said Coon. "You could smell the burned hair. It was
just horrible." Her son lost some of his eyelashes, eyebrows, and some of
the hair around his face was singed. Coon said she knows her son is lucky --
but also can't believe someone would do that to her child.
Coon said the
incident will have a lingering effect on her family.
"My five year old came in and asked me, 'Mom, am I
going to get set on fire today?'" she said. "I was in tears."
Coon said her family
will move from their home and her son will not return to East High School. She
said he thinks his attackers may be students there.
Police said the two
suspects are male and have facial hair. Police said one was wearing a blue hat,
blue jacket, and shoes with the number 23 on the side. The other wore a blue
hat, a black jacket, and wore glasses.
Absent from this report’s account, other media outlets
report the victim was white, and the two suspects were reported as being black.
I too mourn the loss and in no way support the senseless
shooting Trayvon Martin.
Where was the moral outrage, demonstrations, national media
coverage, when this incident occurred?
Did Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson, celebrity figures, non-profit
activist agencies, cry out for justice for this mother’s child?
I am simply pointing out an inconsistency here….
Original link here:
http://articles.nydailynews.com/2012-03-04/news/31122324_1_white-boy-fire-tv-station
http://www.kctv5.com/story/17048649/teens-set-13-year-old-student-on-fire
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