Two tales of violent crime and children

To this story, I am absolutely speechless:

Girl, 7, shot 6 times saving mom

DETROIT -- A 7-year-old-girl is being hailed as an "angel from heaven" and a hero for jumping in front of an enraged gunman, who pumped six bullets into the child as she used her body as a shield to save her mother's life.
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Before Tillie could fire again, Alexis jumped over the seat between her mother and the gunman and begged him not to shoot her mother.

The police report said Tillie "without hesitation" pumped six shots into the child.

Miraculously, the child survived. To give a little more perspective on this courageous girl, she has a weak left eye and learning disability brought on by a stroke(!) she had as an infant. She is absolutely amazing.

This is also the kind of story that makes Europeans feel superior to the violent, crazy gun culture in America. But while you don't hear much about it in the press, similar happens in Europe too, even worse sometimes. And even without guns.

Here's one such story from Germany today, reported in Der Spiegel today (in German):

Police find five children's corpses - Mother prime suspect (Polizei findet fünf Kinderleichen - Mutter dringend tatverdächtig)

To give a brief summary: In Plön district in the German state Schleswig-Holstein, officials visited a woman's home after her children hadn't shown up for school in some time, and found the bodies of the children, all boys between 3 and 9 years old. The 31 year-old mother had a history of mental illness, and police claimed she said she had killed them, but no details were available yet. The initial report was that they were poisoned and/or suffocated with a plastic bag.

Stories like this are terribly depressing. But they happen more often in Europe than some people think.





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