Three houses down from us a two-year-old child died today, under suspicious circumstances. Around eight police cars, an ambulance, and the Crime Unit van lined our street all day long, while plenty of reporters combed the area looking for statements from neighbors about the family. Bright yellow crime scene tape roped off the lawn, while almost the entire neighborhood wandered around outside in absolute shock. Sure our area has been hit with petty crime in the past few months, but absolutely nothing like this.

No one could believe it, the saying “this is something that you expect to see on the news, not in your neighborhood” kept buzzing around. I was stunned when I walked outside. I had no idea that anything was going on, our street is usually very quiet. In a neighborhood where everyone pretty much keeps to themselves, today there were huge gatherings as everyone tried to piece together what was going on, and if the rest of the children in the neighborhood were safe. There was talk of a suspect who had fled the home, and the rest of us were left wondering if he had been caught, and if our families were going to be safe.

I kept hoping that they would all be gone by the time the school buses came to drop the children off. Having them all come home to this horrific scene was not something that I wanted, at all. Yet my hopes were dashed when several hours after initially seeing the commotion outside there were no signs of anyone going anywhere, with only minutes left before the school buses were due to arrive.

The kids climbed off the bus and immediately began asking what was wrong, what had happened, why are so many cop cars here, and what was with all the crime scene tape? I let them know that a two-year-old had died, and before they could ask how I shuffled them inside for snacks. They were told to stay inside for the day, and to make sure that they left the back door locked. Fortunately, we are watching my adopted stepson’s best friend after school all this week, so the two boys kept each other occupied throughout the afternoon, while the police continued their investigation outside.

When his friend finally left for the night, and I made the kids some dinner, my adopted stepson asked very quietly, “Someone killed that baby, didn’t they?” His eyes were very sad, and he couldn’t bring his gaze up to meet mine. I told him that that is what the police think at the moment, but nothing is clear yet. He shook his head slowly back and forth while muttering how sad it was, and then with a sigh uttered “poor baby.” Before I could say anything else he looked at me and asked “Mommy, why do people hurt kids?” I told him that I don’t know, I really don’t know. I could see from his face that he was lost in thought, going over the events that he had seen outside, and most likely going back to the different things that he had gone through himself throughout his childhood.

He stuck pretty close to me for the rest of the evening. Nervous and unsure of himself, and not wanting to be alone, I let him stay up a little later than normal for some extra comfort time. At the end of the day the police were gone, the yellow tape roping of the yard had been taken down, and our street looks like a normal quiet street once more. Many who arrived home at dinnertime will have no idea of the events that took place here all day long, passing by the house without so much as a second glance. Yet the rest of us remain nervous, unsettled, angry, and devastated over the loss of such a young life. Streets usually teeming with children were empty tonight.

I am sure that my adopted stepson will have more questions, and I will do my best to answer them. He gets very emotional when it comes to children being hurt by adults, either physically or emotionally. He has experienced a lot of that himself in his short life, and has compassion for other children who go through it. We have worked so hard to get him to a place in his life where he feels safe and secure with himself as well as his environment, yet with something like this so very close to home I am sure we will be seeing some set backs in him and his behavior and understandably so.


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