American Voice

A seven year old girl was killed this morning after being shot in the head and neck area from a bullet fired from a police officer's gun.


Police were executing a search warrant for a murder suspect whom police officers say resided at the same residence of the seven year old child. The child, Aiyana Jones, was asleep on a couch in the home. Police officers stated that a flash grenade was thrown into the home, which is commonly used to stun and confuse occupants before a police forced entry. [here]


This is where the story becomes muddled and unclear. 


Police version of the incident is that the child's grandmother confronted one of the officers and a tussle ensued. During the altercation between the officer and grandmother, one round was fired from the officer's gun, hitting Aiyana Jones in the head and neck area. 


However, the child's father, Charles Jones, stated that the murder suspect was not in their home, but in the apartment upstairs. Jones says that officers raided both his apartment in which is daughter was killed and an upstairs apartment simultaneously. 

Detroit Police Assistant Chief Ralph Godbee also confirmed that police were executing a warrant on two apartment units at the same time. [here]


One thing is certain. Little seven year old Aiyana Jones is dead because of the actions of adults.


Why was a flash grenade used in a home in which a child resided? Would not common sense say to wait until the suspect left the home before making the arrest? News reports show that neighbors advised police officers that there were children in the home, and even showed the officers children toys that were in the front yard. [here]


At first this looked to be a case of the father and grandmother of Aiyana harboring a fugitive. But the suspect was not in the home of the poor child at all! The suspect was in an upstairs apartment!

There HAS to be some common sense that is used sometimes. 


Rest in peace to little Aiyana Jones, who did nothing wrong but fall asleep on a couch. The poor child was awakened by a flash grenade being thrown into the home, probably scared out of her wits, and only seconds later was shot and killed.

The video on the left, "Collateral Damage", is an almost 18 minute recording that was originally posted on the website of WikiLeaks. This video shows a group of Iraqi civilians that were killed by U.S. soldiers.



WikiLeaks, presented the video on their website and has said that they will be posting another video soon showing more civilian casualties.

The video which was recorded in July 2007, contains actual conversation in which one of the U.S. troops falsely claim to have encountered a firefight. In fact the group that they are seeing includes two journalists, both holding cameras, which the soldiers incorrectly state are weapons.

The Iraqi group seems to be unperturbed by the U.S. Apache helicopter flying above them, and seem to be conversing amongst each other. This is when the firing from the helicopter begins.

The second portion of the video is even more disturbing. There is a minivan that approaches after the one sided firefight and its occupants climb out and begin to recover the dead and wounded. The U.S. soldiers in the Apache chopper open fire on these unarmed occupant, severely wounding two children in the van and killing the father of the two children.  Now, the Rules of Engagement clearly state "do not target or strike anyone who has surrendered or is out of combat due to sickness or wounds". Obviously, the actions by these U.S. soldiers shows complete disregard for any type of laws that are set in place, specifically for situations such as these.

Below are pictures of the minivan that was hit by U.S. soldiers, and two of the van's wounded occupants, a five year old girl and ten year old boy.

To play Devil's advocate, there is no way that myself nor anyone reading this piece would have any idea how difficult and harsh the situation is while on the battlefield. We sit in air conditioned homes and read from our laptops about what is happening in war ravaged areas.
And for the first portion of the video, it does appear as if some of the other men in the group who did not have cameras actually did have AK-47's. When in war, there is no way a sensible person would wait until the enemy began fighting before responding. If you did that, you would be dead before your feet could even hit the ground. Sometimes, it can be difficult to think rationally when under certain situations, especially when you have seen plenty of death already and it is all that you can do to stay sane. These soldiers could have lost fellow comrades to Iraqi insurgents.

However, it is obvious to any reasonable person viewing the video that the group of Iraqi men on the ground could care less about the Apache helicopter circling above. Also, it is even more obvious that the minivan that pulled up was definitely not a threat. This shooting of the minivan occupants is malicious at best, as the soldiers actually laughed during and after the shooting.

We hope that this is a few isolated incidents of actions of bad soldiers. Remember, we owe many of these soldiers a great deal of gratitude, as they put their lives on the line daily.