Byrdy's Eye View

I wake up this morning and the first thing I did was turn to msnbc. I don't normally do that but for some reason I did without hesitation. I see a mother heart broken, telling her story about her innocent 18 year old teenage son's brutal, senseless beating.

A couple girls were given permission to have a house party and were only expecting about 10 people. Turns out that about 60 to 80 people showed up instead. The parents of the teens began telling people to leave. Supposedly, a coupele girls got in a fight. Witnesses say that one of the girls hit a guy. The guy said he wouldn't hit a girl but he would hit the next guy that walks by. Bobby TIll man shows up to the party, being the "next person" that walks by,
A witness says one of the suspects asked Bobby "What you lookin at?" Bobby says, "What you looking at" and eventually they went after him.
The suspects had already been in a fight prior to Bobby's arrival. A witness said one of the suspects said the next person that walks by will "feel my wrath". As one of the suspects started beating on Bobby, others joined in on the beating. There were many people who stood by and watched. No one helped. Even a neighber stood watching out of his window and in his interview he said "I thought he was hurt. I never though his life was ending." He did call the police. Should he have done something more? Was calling the police enough? If he would have gone outside to help, do you think he would have made a difference or could it have gotten worse?
Bobby Tillman died from blunt force trauma to the head and a rupture heart. The coroner said that the type of injuries Bobby suffered from were injuries you see in a car accident. Bobby was about 5'6" and aboout 125lbs. He was stomped, kicked and punched to death.
Bobby was described as "a sweet young man destined for greatness." Bobby's mother recently moved from Los Angeles to Atlanta, Georgia thinking it was safer.
The police are still looking for more suspects. Of course, the 4 suspects they have in custody are all pointing the fingers at eachother.
One thing I can't stand is a coward. What is wrong with our youth? Is it the fault of the parents? The community? The songs on the radio? What can we do to ensure things like this doesn't happen? Bobby's mother says she doesn't want his death to be in vain. She wants the suspects to get the justice they deserve. She also wants to reach out to our youth, give them, show them strength to stand up to bullies like this or even prevent this from happening. Even if we can make a difference in just one person's life or help change one person's attitude.
This is a time when we all need to pray about this. This is something we can not do alone. Always pray for our youth, our community, our world period. This broke my heart as well seeing this. We see things like this many times on the news, and you never think your child's face will be the face you see posted all over the place. Let's keep this family and the rest of our communities in our prayers.