In the Los Angeles suburb of Palmdale, a 13-year-old is in police custody after he allegedly took an aluminum bat and clubbed a 15-year-old spectator in the head. The victim, Jeremy Rourke, was taken to a nearby hospital where he was pronounced dead. Witnesses say that Rourke had teased the 13-year-old, a pitcher and third baseman, about losing a game to a lesser team. Jay Croom, described as a Pony League parent, witnessed the incident and said, "Jeremy apparently said like 'How could you lose to a team with no wins.' I don't think Jeremy's intention was to start a fight, but when you have other baseball players, you have to give them a hard time. It's called razzing. The other kid was apparently a very competitive kid who always plays very hard. What you call a gamer. He was always upset at losing, and this probably fueled his fire."

Both boys were described as baseball lovers, Jeremy serving as a junior umpire for the League. Sadly, this attack happened so quickly that none of the adults were able to react in time prevent it or stop the battering in time to keep Rourke alive. A tragedy all the way around.

Edited to add that the 13-year-old is being charged with murder in connection with the death of Jeremy Rourke.


~Adam

[ April 14, 2005, 05:59 PM: Message edited by: Adam ]

The 13-year-old charged with murder will be prosecuted in Juvenile Court (and will probably form the basis for an episode of "Judging Amy") as California law bars children under 14 from being tried as adults. If the charge is proven, the boy could face imprisonment in a California Youth Authority facility until he's 25.

~Adam

That kid better get a lot of counseling before he's released. A lot.

To add yet another layer to the sadness of this story, I heard today that the victim, Jeremy Rourke's, younger brother is a close friend of the boy accused of taking a bat to Rourke's head & that the attacker often spent time with both Rourkes at their home.

~Adam

In another thread, sportinlife posted

When I think of the number of times, growing up, I saw kids playing at using a bat as a weapon, stories like this give me chills.