Wrong Time, Wrong Place

The cold blooded execution style murder of two Britons in Sarasota, Florida is a cautionary tale about alcohol, bad luck, bad neighborhoods and, guns.

The scene could easily have been Washington, DC. and I could have been the victim or the murder could have happened to any unsuspecting traveler in Any City, USA.

Newly arrived in the USA from England in 1993, I was invited to join an acquaintance at a bar in central Washington, famous for its range of beers. He imbibed, I imbibed, and later than intended I (by this time quite inebriated) set off for the Metro intending to take the Orange Line west in the direction of Vienna, Fairfax and thence home.

Except, I took an Orange Line train east instead of west.

Unbeknown to me, the lateness of the hour, near midnight, meant the train journey was to terminate a few stations East of Capitol Hill, which as any Caucasian traveler familiar with the DC area is not a place to be after midnight on a week night, or any night.

Drunk and lost, I innocently stumbled off the terminated train, through the exit, up the escalator and onto a street, the name of which I had not a clue. All I knew was I was East of Eden and there was no going back.

Now I don’t know about the alcohol induced condition of the two young Britons who stumbled disastrously into a housing estate and into the arms of a waiting killer with a gun; but I do relate to the fear and apprehension they must have felt prior to their deaths by shooting.

The saying: “There but for the Grace of God, go I,” comes to mind.
I was fortunate in that I was able to flag down a taxi driver whose passenger was heading West to Arlington, Virginia and safety. He drove my Good Samaritan woman home and then me to my residence also in Arlington, Virginia.

These two young white Britons were not so lucky. Yes they were drunk, and therefore not in command of their faculties. But did they deserve to die at the hands of a black man with a gun whose avowed intent was to rob them?

Yet these young men were found dead execution style with their trousers pulled down to thigh level and their wallets and belongings still on them.