Property crime has been on the rise in VT for years, but since 2021, murders have nearly tripled. The latest involves two 14-year-olds, one with a loaded gun and the other in the front seat of a vehicle when the weapon discharged.
According to the State Police,
The teenage victim was identified by police as 14-year-old Madden Gouveia, of Shelburne. An autopsy is expected to be conducted this week to determine the cause and manner of death.
State police announced Tuesday morning that they have arrested 14-year-old Hussein Mohamed, of Burlington, on a charge of second degree murder in connection with Gouveia’s death. He is being charged as an adult and is scheduled to be arraigned at 1 p.m. in Vermont Superior Court in Middlebury.
According to their investigation, Mohamed was in possession of a handgun around 7:20 p.m. Monday while sitting in the rear passsenger side seat of a vehicle parked outside a home on North Street in Bristol when the handgun discharged, striking Gouveia as he sat in the front passenger seat.
Inquiring minds, anyone?
Where did a 14-year-old from Burlington get a firearm? Why were they in the passenger seats of a car sitting on the road at 7:20 at night? Why was Hussein Mohamed carrying its loaded gun, safety off (assuming it had one), with his finger on the trigger, pointed toward the front seat of the vehicle?
Whose vehicle was it? Vermont is getting sloppy, but they aren’t giving 14-year-olds driver’s licenses even if they identify as 26-year-olds, but that day might be coming.
Did someone drive it to the location of the shooting? If so, who? If not, why were they in a parked car that wasn’t going anywhere (with a loaded firearm)?
Were they waiting for someone, and what about the waiting required a 14-year-old with a gun?
Clearly, we have a juvenile delinquency problem on top of a gun safety delinquency problem. Do we also have a citizenship problem as well? Hussein is from the sanctuary city of Burlington, where illegals congregate freely – many after passing through or being trafficked from Canada.
If he is being tried as an adult, will we be privy to more details about his ‘circumstances’ and those of the evening leading up to the shooting?
Who was Hussein planning to shoot, if not Madden Gouveia, and did Madden Gouveia also have citizenship issues?
The one thing I can guess is that the Vermont Legislature – already drooling over the tragedy in Lewiston, ME, will be chomping at the bit to pass more gun restrictions on law-abiding citizens, especially after a shooting involving two potential non-citizen minors with no concern for the law. At the very least, one minor with no respect for the law.
But worry not, intrepid Vermonters. “Police believe this was an isolated incident, and there is no danger to the public. Detectives don’t believe there is a link between this shooting and any other recent homicides or suspicious death investigations in the state.”
There were eight isolated homicides reported in the month of October, if I have the math correct. That is almost as many homicides as Vermont had in all of 2021. And while I’m no crime scene expert, these deaths are all related – to the rise of Democrat leadership and the policies that follow.
