“I saw them alive and then I saw them deceased”
Officials say their investigation shows 40-year-old Archie Brown was driving a van northbound on N. 48th Street when two-year-old Damani Terry ran into the road. The van struck the child and he was pronounced dead at the scene.
Brown, whom witnesses indicate was distraught about hitting the child, stopped and exited the van immediately following the crash and was fatally shot by an unknown suspect. Brown was also pronounced dead at the scene.
Officials say a second victim, 15-year-old Rasheed Chiles was also fatally shot by the suspect. Chiles was taken to a hospital where he died from his injuries. Both Terry and Chiles were attending a birthday party at the house near where the incident happened — and the Medical Examiner’s Office says two-year-old Terry and 15-year-old Chiles were brothers.
“I`m going ‘the baby, the baby!’ The baby was midway in front of the car. The man couldn`t see him because he was in front of a car. When the man knew he had hit something he got out to see and when he saw it was a baby, he became very distraught,” said a female witness.
That tragic event was just the beginning of what the woman witnessed. Archie Brown was shot and killed.
“I heard the bullets and I saw him fall. I heard the bullets and I saw him fall. I have been reliving this since I woke up,” the woman said.
Well this story has situational awareness written all over it. Obviously not all mistake can be avoided, but in this case, proper situational awareness could have saved three lives.
First, there was the car accident. Of course this could happen to anyone, but being in control of your vehicle and being aware of what is in front of you is essential to not only being aware, but also being able to respond.
Had the driver been more alert as to what was in front of him or darting out in front of him, he may have been able to avoid the accident. If a woman was able to see this unfold and scream “the baby the baby,” you have to believe that had the driver been more aware he could have avoided hitting the child.
This is not to put any blame on the driver, I would wager that more than 90% of people would have ended up doing the same thing and hitting the toddler.
Those of us who drive everyday get tuned into an auto-pilot like mode and are not on high alert for unusual things like a child jumping in front of your moving vehicle.
That being said, had Brown trained better in situational awareness, his driving habits would probably have been much different.
Brown, like any decent human being was seen to be distraught after realizing he just hit and killed a toddler. It was during this time of shock that he was fatally shot.
He turned off all situational awareness at this point, and was in utter disbelief at what had just happened. Without being prepared for what could come next, both he and his brother were shot.
The man who shot them remains unidentified, but most definitely went too far in his rage over the incident. Killing these two men for revenge is utterly disgraceful and cowardice.
These two brother did not intentionally kill this toddler, and they most certainly did not deserve to die over the accident.
If either of these two brothers had better situational awareness, they would probably have spotted the threat and found cover or safety. There is a good chance they would still be alive today.
You never really know what kind of situation you are going to be in when a gun becomes a threat to you. Situational awareness training is imperative for exactly this reason.
Our hearts go out to all the victims and their families. We hope local police are able to capture and prosecute this assailant to the fullest extent of the law.
Looks as though they have identified the shooter, and surprise surprise he was currently out on probation for having previously robbed a bank. I wonder why background checks didn’t stop him from acquiring his gun!?
