Over the years whenever teenagers have been implicated in serious crimes, newspapers and other types of media have kept their names out of the public eye. This has been going on since I was a child (we’re talking a long time here, folks). This hasn’t changed in the wake of the deadly shooting at the Kansas City Chiefs Super Bowl victory parade. Police said at the time they had detained two juveniles, charging them with multiple offenses connected to the use of guns and resisting arrest. The police did nothing out of the ordinary by keeping mum about the teenagers’ names but the rumor mill otherwise known as the internet has awakened and spurred plenty of speculation with a side order of racism.
The February 14 shooting resulted in the death of one woman, Lisa Lopez-Galvan, and 22 people were wounded, with children making up at least half of the victims, Mediaite [1] reports. The shooting broke out near the Union Station parking garage where the parade was concluding and fans were leaving the area. According to authorities, the shooting was likely sparked by an argument between several individuals and wasn’t a result of terrorism or violent extremism.
Tuesday afternoon, prosecutors released the names of the two MEN who were allegedly involved — Dominic Miller and Lyndell Mays (there are also two juveniles who were involved, which is leading to some confusion). They have been charged with multiple crimes for their purported roles in the shooting, The New York Times [2]reports. Authorities say the two men were arguing as the parade ended and the dispute “quickly escalated when both men pulled out guns and began firing at each other,” per the Times. Local news outlets reported more details, noting both men face identical charges — second-degree murder, two counts of armed criminal action, and unlawful use of a weapon. They are being held on $1 million bond each.
Both were wounded in the gunfire and remain hospitalized. Prosecutors have said that additional arrests and additional charges for the various suspects are possible as the investigation continues.
But the rumor mill is running at full speed when it comes to the two juvenile suspects. Last week Ann Coulter was among others who speculated about the reasons why their identities were being kept private during an appearance on Real Time With Bill Maher.
When Maher remarked “We don’t know who did this shooting, by the way,” Coulter replied. “We have some idea.”
“What?” said Maher.
“If it were a White man shooting, we’d know,” she said. Van Jones, sitting next to Coulter, smiled and looked rather incredulous, gazing at his fellow guests for their reactions.
“That’s how we know it’s not a White man, I can tell you that much,” Coulter added. Then she listed several other past shootings and commented “The longer they go without telling you, it’s not a White male!”
Maher, probably trying to defuse the situation, said that as of the time and date they were filming — Friday evening, Feb. 16 — “we don’t officially know.” Then he joked that maybe “you [Coulter] know, you have special powers.”
Ann Coulter is right. "If it were a white male shooting, we'd know." pic.twitter.com/MmnunAjUbG [3]
— Ian Miles Cheong (@stillgray) February 17, 2024 [4]
This clip has quickly gone viral, with more than six million views. Lots of people shared thoughts quite similar to Coulter’s. Among them, Fox News host Jesse Watters, who complained Monday evening that five days had elapsed during the parade shooting “and we still don’t know the identities of the shooters.”
“Why?” Watters demanded, noting that bystanders had tackled the suspects and held them until police handcuffed them, but “since then, nothing.” He did acknowledge that the police had announced that the suspects “are minors, so they can’t speak about it.”
Then Watters launched into a stupid rant about the Kansas City mayor criticizing the Missouri governor for calling the suspects “thugs” and suggested that this was a race issue, adding that the mayor’s comments “just told us more about the suspects than the police have: they’re minorities. We don’t know that for a fact, but if they were white, I don’t think the Black mayor would be mad that they were called thugs. What does he prefer, disadvantaged youths? We don’t know.”
Well, it makes sense to me that the major disliked this word being used. Because it’s a word that has been overused by White people to describe Black people.
Next, according to Mediaite:
“The Fox host then continued complaining about how America was supposed to fight crime if we weren’t allowed to talk about it, couldn’t talk about criminals, how they became criminals, and so on, and accused journalists of not even pursuing the story, not being interested in who the shooters were, how they got the guns, or ‘their immigration status.’”
“They’re protecting narratives more than lives,” Watters complained as he showed the clip of Coulter on Maher’s show.
The Kansas City mayor appears to be on a PR campaign for the suspects who attacked last week's parade. These shooters are getting better treatment in the media than the Covington kid. pic.twitter.com/r0bgYvD9Bl [5]
— Jesse Watters (@JesseBWatters) February 20, 2024 [6]
Then this stain on the world had to get his two cents in. Guess he’s having a hard time staying relevant. Even though he k*lled two men.
I am trying to comprehend why the government was quick to reveal my name after I defended myself, but they still haven’t released the names of the Kansas City shooters.
— Kyle Rittenhouse (@ThisIsKyleR) February 20, 2024 [7]
But the real reason the identities of the shooting suspects haven’t been released is quite simple. This is the law in Missouri regarding juveniles.
And it goes beyond that. Having written for newspapers for many years, I can tell you this is standard practice. There are often legal reasons for not releasing the names of juveniles. So ignorant and racist people like Coulter and Watters can speculate all they like, but if either had even been reading newspapers over the past few years, they would understand that juveniles are generally protected in this way, in the same way, that the names of women who are sexual assault victims aren’t revealed.
In Rittenhouse’s case, he was 17 and charged as an adult. In addition, he outed himself when he gave an interview to the right-wing site The Daily Caller, as Ron Filipowski tweeted.
In his new viral post, Rittenhouse is complaining about “the government” releasing his name when he was a juvy. They didn’t. His name became widely circulated because of HIS OWN interview he did that day with right-wing Daily Caller. https://t.co/nvfctsHNqT [8] pic.twitter.com/R9DYIHprkB [9]
— Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) February 20, 2024 [10]
It would’ve been so simple for Rittenhouse to Google the reason why. But no, he wanted to insert himself into the issue, because…well, he has nothing else to do. And remember, Rittenhouse claims to be a “political consultant [11]” now, so he easily couldn’t found the answer himself, without crying like a baby in a tweet.
Given the current situation in the country, I wouldn’t be surprised if Republicans start arguing that women’s names should be released.
But people on Twitter had some thoughts about Rittenhouse:
Poor baby Kyle, always the victim never responsible for any of his actions!!!
— MisAmigosGotArrested (@giraffea417) February 20, 2024 [12]
Names of juveniles can't be released unless tried as an adult. Wisconsin, Georgia and Texas all require 17-year-old juveniles to be tried as adults. Maybe you should not have gone to Wisconsin, @ThisIsKyleR [13].
— Mike Morton (@TheMikeMorton) February 20, 2024 [14]
If you weren’t as dumb as you look, you’d know Missouri has different juvenile laws than Wisconsin, murderer.
— DeeDee (@NashvilleDeeDee) February 21, 2024 [15]
The government? You were on video during the unrest in Kenosha, it was the police who identified you. You killed two people and maimed another. You had absolutely no reason to be in Kenosha. You’ll live with that bad decision the rest of your life.
— Dianne Callahan (@DianneCallaha16) February 20, 2024 [16]
They didn’t. You did an interview which how we knew about you. All you do is lie and murder. By the age of 30 I suspect you’ll be in prison.
— Dr. Ginny McDonald (@GinnyMcDonald8) February 20, 2024 [17]
Because KillerKyle your mommy drove you across state lines so you could be a murderer in Wisconsin and this happened in Missouri. Different states and most likely different laws on how juveniles charged with murder are handled.
— FrenchOnionSoup (@eveecie) February 20, 2024 [18]