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I scarfed this from THR, posted by Beren one of my fellow mod's ...... see what you make of it! Much food for thought - and that is an understatement. 
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Traffic light shooting victim asks: Why?
What would you do if you were the victim? What if you were a witness? What if you were in the car directly behind the shooter?
http://post-gazette.com/pg/05166/521639.stm
Alexander Demitras planned to wrap up last weekend by going out for a bite to eat with his girlfriend. Instead he ended it in a hospital with five bullet wounds, a metal rod in his shattered arm and a few less organs than he started with.
On Sunday night, Demitras, 19, was shot in his car outside the Liberty Tunnels in an attack his parents said was utterly unprovoked.
If that is the case -- and police have not indicated anything to the contrary -- then the shooting of the Mount Washington resident would rank as a bizarre episode in Pittsburgh crime history and lend a touch of paranoia to any motorist pulling up to a stop light.
For if Demitras were a completely innocent victim who was shot for no reason, his parents wonder, then couldn't it happen to anyone?
"He's already having problems with, 'Dad, am I ever going to be able to get in a car again and sit at a stop light?' " Demitras' father, Alan Firetto of Scottsdale, Ariz., said yesterday. "There was absolutely no provocation. There was no verbal, no gestures."
Demitras' parents described their son as a clean-cut college student who holds down a job, has a steady girlfriend, doesn't dabble in drugs and keeps himself in good shape.
Leaving his home Sunday, he planned to pick up his girlfriend for dinner at a Subway restaurant. Demitras took Route 51 and around 8 p.m. arrived at the traffic light in front of the tunnels leading to Downtown.
Demitras wasn't driving a flashy car -- it was a 15-year-old Honda Civic with 140,000 miles and radiator problems, Firetto said. He wore a modest gold necklace with a St. Christopher medallion and two other pendants.
His mother, Jackie Demitras-Essel of the West End, laughed when asked if he might have been carrying a wad of cash out in the open. He had five $1 bills in his wallet, she said.
In short, Demitras' parents are convinced there was nothing about their son that would have attracted undue attention from someone with criminal intent.
"This is not a kid who runs in circles that you would expect something like that. Not that that's ever a justification for anyone to be shot," Demitras-Essel said. "All of us in this community should have the right to drive around and feel safe at a stop sign."
At the light, Demitras' car stalled. Firetto said his son told him he looked around, embarrassed, and another car pulled up on his left.
According to Demitras' parents, the driver of that car stared menacingly at their son. Demitras nodded, and the driver nodded back, they said. Demitras went back to fiddling with the key, the engine turned over, and then he heard a noise he thought was a backfire.
Instead, it was a gunshot -- the first of at least eight shots fired at him, his father said.
"He looked to his left, and he was staring down a gun barrel," Firetto said. "He's screaming, 'Oh my God, oh my God' and rolls over to the right defensively."
"He was very scared. He just felt like there was nothing he could do to avoid it," Demitras-Essel said. "He was just stuck. Fortunately, there were a lot of witnesses."
A description of the shooter's vehicle, a maroon Ford Taurus, was broadcast over the police radio. Officers spotted the car, tailed it and arrested Damon Woodson in front of a Downtown restaurant on Ross Street.
Police charged Woodson with aggravated assault and carrying a weapon without a license.
A police affidavit said Woodson confessed to the crime, but no mention has been made of motive.
Woodson and Demitras are the same age. Police said they know of no relationship between the two. A check of Pittsburgh Public Schools records shows, however, that both attended Schenley High School at the same time in 2003. Demitras went on to graduate last year, but Woodson left in November 2003.
Woodson's mother, Vida Wallace, said yesterday that her son has anger problems. She said he carried a handgun despite her attempts to dissuade him.
"He had an attitude and flared up about a lot of things. We really couldn't get through to him," Wallace said. "I didn't like him carrying a gun. I didn't approve of his street life. But there wasn't anything I could do as far as him being older."
Wallace said she had spoken with her son in jail but had difficulty understanding what he was telling her about the incident.
"He knows he was there. He knows something happened. But he's been having a problem thinking clearly for a while," Wallace said. She described her son as having "emotional problems."
"He had a hard time while he was growing up," she said.
Woodson has been arrested before. Court records show he pleaded guilty in April to drug possession after being arrested last summer. He was sentenced to probation for one year.
In February 2004, Woodson pleaded guilty to receiving stolen property, fleeing or eluding police and vehicle code violations stemming from a November 2003 arrest.
Wallace said her son has been on his own for the past two years or so, living with friends or a girlfriend or spending time in jail.
A preliminary hearing for Woodson is scheduled for Monday, but it is unclear whether it will go forward.
Demitras remains in Mercy Hospital and has a long road to full recovery. He was shot in the chest, abdomen, back and both arms. Doctors removed his spleen, one kidney and part of his pancreas. They inserted a titanium rod in his shattered upper arm.
"Alex's big question is he just wants to know why. 'I just want to know why he did this to me,' " Firetto said. "He said, 'I forgive the guy. I just want to know why.' In tears, he's saying this."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Traffic light shooting victim asks: Why?
What would you do if you were the victim? What if you were a witness? What if you were in the car directly behind the shooter?
http://post-gazette.com/pg/05166/521639.stm
Alexander Demitras planned to wrap up last weekend by going out for a bite to eat with his girlfriend. Instead he ended it in a hospital with five bullet wounds, a metal rod in his shattered arm and a few less organs than he started with.
On Sunday night, Demitras, 19, was shot in his car outside the Liberty Tunnels in an attack his parents said was utterly unprovoked.
If that is the case -- and police have not indicated anything to the contrary -- then the shooting of the Mount Washington resident would rank as a bizarre episode in Pittsburgh crime history and lend a touch of paranoia to any motorist pulling up to a stop light.
For if Demitras were a completely innocent victim who was shot for no reason, his parents wonder, then couldn't it happen to anyone?
"He's already having problems with, 'Dad, am I ever going to be able to get in a car again and sit at a stop light?' " Demitras' father, Alan Firetto of Scottsdale, Ariz., said yesterday. "There was absolutely no provocation. There was no verbal, no gestures."
Demitras' parents described their son as a clean-cut college student who holds down a job, has a steady girlfriend, doesn't dabble in drugs and keeps himself in good shape.
Leaving his home Sunday, he planned to pick up his girlfriend for dinner at a Subway restaurant. Demitras took Route 51 and around 8 p.m. arrived at the traffic light in front of the tunnels leading to Downtown.
Demitras wasn't driving a flashy car -- it was a 15-year-old Honda Civic with 140,000 miles and radiator problems, Firetto said. He wore a modest gold necklace with a St. Christopher medallion and two other pendants.
His mother, Jackie Demitras-Essel of the West End, laughed when asked if he might have been carrying a wad of cash out in the open. He had five $1 bills in his wallet, she said.
In short, Demitras' parents are convinced there was nothing about their son that would have attracted undue attention from someone with criminal intent.
"This is not a kid who runs in circles that you would expect something like that. Not that that's ever a justification for anyone to be shot," Demitras-Essel said. "All of us in this community should have the right to drive around and feel safe at a stop sign."
At the light, Demitras' car stalled. Firetto said his son told him he looked around, embarrassed, and another car pulled up on his left.
According to Demitras' parents, the driver of that car stared menacingly at their son. Demitras nodded, and the driver nodded back, they said. Demitras went back to fiddling with the key, the engine turned over, and then he heard a noise he thought was a backfire.
Instead, it was a gunshot -- the first of at least eight shots fired at him, his father said.
"He looked to his left, and he was staring down a gun barrel," Firetto said. "He's screaming, 'Oh my God, oh my God' and rolls over to the right defensively."
"He was very scared. He just felt like there was nothing he could do to avoid it," Demitras-Essel said. "He was just stuck. Fortunately, there were a lot of witnesses."
A description of the shooter's vehicle, a maroon Ford Taurus, was broadcast over the police radio. Officers spotted the car, tailed it and arrested Damon Woodson in front of a Downtown restaurant on Ross Street.
Police charged Woodson with aggravated assault and carrying a weapon without a license.
A police affidavit said Woodson confessed to the crime, but no mention has been made of motive.
Woodson and Demitras are the same age. Police said they know of no relationship between the two. A check of Pittsburgh Public Schools records shows, however, that both attended Schenley High School at the same time in 2003. Demitras went on to graduate last year, but Woodson left in November 2003.
Woodson's mother, Vida Wallace, said yesterday that her son has anger problems. She said he carried a handgun despite her attempts to dissuade him.
"He had an attitude and flared up about a lot of things. We really couldn't get through to him," Wallace said. "I didn't like him carrying a gun. I didn't approve of his street life. But there wasn't anything I could do as far as him being older."
Wallace said she had spoken with her son in jail but had difficulty understanding what he was telling her about the incident.
"He knows he was there. He knows something happened. But he's been having a problem thinking clearly for a while," Wallace said. She described her son as having "emotional problems."
"He had a hard time while he was growing up," she said.
Woodson has been arrested before. Court records show he pleaded guilty in April to drug possession after being arrested last summer. He was sentenced to probation for one year.
In February 2004, Woodson pleaded guilty to receiving stolen property, fleeing or eluding police and vehicle code violations stemming from a November 2003 arrest.
Wallace said her son has been on his own for the past two years or so, living with friends or a girlfriend or spending time in jail.
A preliminary hearing for Woodson is scheduled for Monday, but it is unclear whether it will go forward.
Demitras remains in Mercy Hospital and has a long road to full recovery. He was shot in the chest, abdomen, back and both arms. Doctors removed his spleen, one kidney and part of his pancreas. They inserted a titanium rod in his shattered upper arm.
"Alex's big question is he just wants to know why. 'I just want to know why he did this to me,' " Firetto said. "He said, 'I forgive the guy. I just want to know why.' In tears, he's saying this."
