The Terribly Sad News Items

The first disturbing news of the day is still a "breaking story," but the last I heard was that 20 people had been wounded in a knifing incident on a high school campus near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.  I have heard that at least five of the victims are seriously injured - and I would just guess that most were students and/or teachers.  This is just terrible - for the kids and older adults traumatized by the event, and for those who are actual victims.  What is causing  this madness in our youth?
  The second item is the death of a 30-year-old developmentally disabled man here in Boulder.  The young man struggled, but he was self-sufficient; he lived in an apartment with his dog, he had a job, he remodeled bicycles into "Low Rider types", and he was very happy that he didn't have to be "taken care of" by family members.  Last week, two boys, both 18 years of age, attacked the 30-year-old.  They had spoken with him a few times, admiring his bike, and he had let it be known that he had an X Box Console at home. One of the young men has a history of felony violence, theft, and drug use.  The second young man is, also, developmentally disabled, and his family says he has the mental awareness of a 10-year-old.  This is the version the prosecutors have come up with;  I will call young man with the legal history the leader, and the young man with the disability the follower.  The 30-year-old man was the victim....   The leader apparently decided that he wanted the victim's bicycle and his X Box Console.  He told the follower that the victim had attacked and abused his, the leader's, girl friend.  He convinced the follower to help him beat the victim to teach him a lesson in respect.  They followed the victim home one day, and remembered his address.  A few days later, they knocked on the apartment door.  The victim opened the door.  The leader was carrying an aluminum baseball bat; the follower was carrying a metal golf club.  The leader swung the bat and struck the victim first; then both of the younger men beat the victim about the head and chest inside his apartment.  The couple then stole the victim's X Box Console and his Low Rider bike.  The leader took both items to sell, saying he'd split the money with the follower.  After several hours, the follower's conscious began to bother him - he knew he had done something wrong.  The follower contacted the police department, and led the police to the victim, who was still alive, but in critical condition.  He told his story to the police, and the leader was apprehended.  The victim died yesterday.  Both younger men are being charged with aggravated murder and theft. My biggest question, at the moment, is why a man, with the mentality of a 10-year-old, is allowed to wander at large and make his own friends in Boulder.  You'd think someone - a family member, a therapist, a peer - could have seen this happening to an easily-led youngster.  It's just sad.
  The third item is a charge of cruelty to animals against a man named Larry Browning, who has a farm in Pendleton County, Kentucky.  The farm consists of 70 acres, and the larger part of the property is heavily wooded.  The fencing is barbed wire.  Animal control visited the farm on Monday, and, as the lead investigator turned into the drive, he saw one lone, emaciated horse standing amidst the bodies of three dead horses.  The investigators found the bodies of 48 horses on the farm, several with halters still on their heads.  Fifteen horses were taken away to foster homes, as they were deemed to badly cared for to stay at that farm.  But about 3 dozen, or 36, horses were left in this man's care, as they were not yet starving.  He admits to taking the horses to slaughterhouses in Mexico and Canada, and states that people just drop off horses they no longer want at his farm....  That just seems ridiculous to me....  He needs to be starved, himself.