Grief for Jeffrey

Grief for Jeffrey

By Paul F. de la Cruz

THE last time I saw Willie Reodica was during the “Anti Corruption” forum on May 1, 2004, at Mayette’s in Toronto. He was in sparkly mood and talking hope, ready to take on the world and do his share in the fight against corruption that is shaping up. The next time I heard of Willie… he was grieving the death of his son Jeff.

The boy at 17 is only beginning to enjoy the sunshine of his life when he was shot. It is troubling how and why such young precious life would end in such a circumstance that as of this writing hasn’t seen a clear light yet. There are unanswered questions surrounding the shooting of Jeff by a member of the
Toronto police.

Initial reports from various media sources are sketchy mostly coming from an unnamed source. One of the sources, a fifteen-year-old boy, said he and several others were being pursued by a group of teens wielding knives, baseball bats, and what have you, seeking out revenge for a previous encounter. The pursued kids screamed for help as witnessing adults called the police.

What happened after that, as of this time, depends on who’s telling the story. Sources also say that the autopsy is already out and that Jeff was shot at from behind successively three times. If this is indeed true, it speaks of how cowardly the act was done, and by a policeman at that, and to a boy at that. As I am writing this, a press conference is being held at the Filipino Centre, Toronto, where the Reodica family may announce their next move.

There will be many voices added to the rising tide of murmurs in search of the truth behind this apparent incomprehensible event. Talk is cheap and having too much of it without logical and sincere actions may just turn into an entrapped cacophony of noise.

Although it is quiet normal for growing boys to engage in fistfights once in a while, having kids on the streets waging war against each other is a symptom of a bigger social problem. The problem could range from racism, which could be traced back to education in schools or the lack of it, lack of facilities for the youth and other social services, which young people could avail of. This may not apply to the case of Jeff but what happened to him is not a stand-alone incident.

Having kids rampage in the city streets shows how society in general has failed in raising children. While we admit that this as an angle to look at, having policemen shoot helpless children is quiet a different problem that calls for scrutiny and if I may add – is shocking, revolting and despicable.

Ending a boy’s life with a bullet is equating that life to the size of the hole of the barrel of a gun. What makes it worse is when one who is supposed to protect the defenseless pulls the trigger of that gun. As of this writing the Special Investigations Unit is still trying to find out what really happened. As I write this, facts continue to unravel that point towards the bottom of this case. Meanwhile, Willie Reodica and his family are in grief. That grief and that pain should rouse us all – and in many, many ways.