‘Snitches’ are heroes

The blood of another local teen has been spilled just outside school grounds. But instead of calling for justice, many students defended silence.

A combination of intense fear and staggering ignorance sealed the lips of many who knew something about Monday’s shooting of Western High School sophomore Victor Bravo. The 16-year-old was shot in the back and the arm after coming to the aid of a friend who, while fighting off an aggressor, was jumped by four more young men.

In addition to the participants, there were a number of witnesses to the melee, which unfolded down the street from Gibson Middle School about 10 minutes after classes had been dismissed.

On Tuesday, they were advised through the grapevine to keep quiet.

“I ain’t trying to get shot up. If you’re trying to stay out of trouble, don’t talk about nobody,” a Western freshman girl told the Review-Journal on Tuesday.

“It went around school today that if somebody says the name, they’re gonna get murked. That means shot,” said another.

On Tuesday, the school sent a letter home with students that pleaded for anyone with information to call police or Crimestoppers. A lot of those letters never made it off campus.

“That’s one of the rules of high school,” a third student told the Review-Journal. “You don’t talk mess to a person with a gun.”

Monday’s violence followed a Feb. 21 shooting near Bonanza High School and the Feb. 15 fatal drive-by shooting of Palo Verde High School freshman Christopher Privett just a block from campus. Three shootings in a little more than a week have left parents and students panicked from Spring Valley to Sunrise Manor.

Clark County School District Superintendent Walt Rulffes and Las Vegas police held a Tuesday news conference to condemn the “stop snitching” culture that commands kids to adhere to a code of silence. Their elementary message: If attackers aren’t brought to justice, they will be granted license to hurt — or kill — their classmates again and again.

“The bottom line is that they have to stand up,” said Deputy Chief Gary Schofield, a 1980 Western graduate. “They have to make it safe for their fellow students. They are the answer to this problem. Somebody out there has the key to this case.”

Thankfully, the cowardly calls for silence were ignored by several Western students, including some who weren’t involved in Monday’s brawl. Multiple teens cooperated with the Las Vegas police Gang Crimes Bureau on Tuesday, according to police documents. Those interviews, along with statements from Mr. Bravo and the friend he defended, led to the arrest Wednesday of Western sophomore Tevin Carr on suspicion of attempted murder.

Appropriately, police took Carr into custody at the school, where all who upheld their promise to “stop snitching” saw first-hand that intimidation and fear won’t prevent justice from taking its course — at least not in this case.

That so many students fear for their safety is tragic and understandable. Gangs and racial tensions at many Clark County schools feed the trepidation and make it difficult for kids to identify the flaws in their own logic — the mantra that “If you’re trying to stay out of trouble, don’t talk to nobody,” certainly didn’t protect Victor Bravo and Christopher Privett.

“Snitches” aren’t rats — they’re heroes who should be praised and protected. The bravery of these young men and women cannot be understated.

Following such a spasm of valley-wide violence, their rejection of this preposterous code gives parents, teachers and police cause for hope: Maybe the kids are all right, after all.