Whoever predicted a Globe apology for this piece of shit was right. Turns out he is the victim
Shooting suspect ‘slipped through cracks’
By Dave Wedge
Boston Herald Chief Enterprise Reporter
Saturday, May 26, 2007 - Updated: 01:48 AM EST
A bad news gangbanger charged with shooting a Hub cop was a “bright, motivated” kid working toward a high school diploma, but his positive attitude abruptly shifted after he was shot in March, outreach workers recalled.
Counselors who worked with 21-year-old Antonio Franklin said he comes from “an extremely dysfunctional background” and had been regularly attending GED classes ordered by the court as a condition of his probation for a 2005 gun charge.
“He was easily distracted, but he clearly wanted to affectuate change,” said one outreach worker who worked closely with Franklin.
The worker, who requested anonymity, said he saw a stark change in Franklin’s attitude after Franklin was shot in the leg in March. He stopped coming to classes and fell off the radar of the nonprofit organization that was trying to connect him with help - including treatment for severe depression.
“After he got shot, he came back and just was not the same kid,” said the worker. “He was depressed, not engaged. He was almost like a shell of what he was prior.” He had also “become preoccupied with dying.”
“He said that maybe that would be better if he died,” the worker recalled.
Franklin, who had been identified by cops as an impact player in ongoing Dorchester gang feuds, is charged with blasting Officer Stephen Romano, 39, during a shootout Wednesday night. The 11-year veteran cop was on patrol when Franklin, fleeing police on his bicycle, allegedly unloaded a .357 revolver. Romano was still hospitalized last night.
Franklin was shot by a state trooper in the exchange and is also hospitalized.
Officials at the nonprofit, who spoke on condition of anonymity, don’t make excuses for Franklin and acknowledge his long rap sheet. But they say his case highlights the difficulties faced by underfunded outreach organizations scrambling to save the city’s most troubled youths from the streets.
“It hurts me. I lose sleep,” the worker said of Franklin’s criminal descent. “I may have 15 Antonios on the roster right now. He was just one who slipped through the cracks. Now we got to worry about the other 14.”
Shooting suspect ‘slipped through cracks’
By Dave Wedge
Boston Herald Chief Enterprise Reporter
Saturday, May 26, 2007 - Updated: 01:48 AM EST
A bad news gangbanger charged with shooting a Hub cop was a “bright, motivated” kid working toward a high school diploma, but his positive attitude abruptly shifted after he was shot in March, outreach workers recalled.
Counselors who worked with 21-year-old Antonio Franklin said he comes from “an extremely dysfunctional background” and had been regularly attending GED classes ordered by the court as a condition of his probation for a 2005 gun charge.
“He was easily distracted, but he clearly wanted to affectuate change,” said one outreach worker who worked closely with Franklin.
The worker, who requested anonymity, said he saw a stark change in Franklin’s attitude after Franklin was shot in the leg in March. He stopped coming to classes and fell off the radar of the nonprofit organization that was trying to connect him with help - including treatment for severe depression.
“After he got shot, he came back and just was not the same kid,” said the worker. “He was depressed, not engaged. He was almost like a shell of what he was prior.” He had also “become preoccupied with dying.”
“He said that maybe that would be better if he died,” the worker recalled.
Franklin, who had been identified by cops as an impact player in ongoing Dorchester gang feuds, is charged with blasting Officer Stephen Romano, 39, during a shootout Wednesday night. The 11-year veteran cop was on patrol when Franklin, fleeing police on his bicycle, allegedly unloaded a .357 revolver. Romano was still hospitalized last night.
Franklin was shot by a state trooper in the exchange and is also hospitalized.
Officials at the nonprofit, who spoke on condition of anonymity, don’t make excuses for Franklin and acknowledge his long rap sheet. But they say his case highlights the difficulties faced by underfunded outreach organizations scrambling to save the city’s most troubled youths from the streets.
“It hurts me. I lose sleep,” the worker said of Franklin’s criminal descent. “I may have 15 Antonios on the roster right now. He was just one who slipped through the cracks. Now we got to worry about the other 14.”
![[rolleyes]](/xen/styles/default/xenforo/smilies.vb/042.gif "Roll Eyes [rolleyes]")
