The 5-month-old baby who was hit by a… See more

There will rightly be questions for investigators to answer. There will be pressure to identify those responsible and understand what triggered the shooting. Justice matters, and truth matters. Communities cannot heal properly where lawlessness is ignored or where violence is allowed to become background noise. But even as those processes move forward, compassion must come first. Before debate, before commentary, before politics, there is a baby lying in critical condition and a family living through every parent’s worst fear.

Moments like this call a community to more than outrage. They call it to conscience. They ask whether people will merely react for a day, or whether they will commit themselves to the harder work of protection, responsibility, and peace. Because every child deserves more than survival by chance. Every child deserves a home where the sound outside the window does not threaten the future inside it.