Читать книгу The Unthinkable - Lois A. Schaffer - Страница 14

Chapter

2

These are the basic facts we know as given to us by the police. Kenneth Shepard and Lorenzo Wilson committed a burglary on December 16, 2008, and were interrupted by our daughter, Susie Schaffer. They were seventeen-year-old thugs who were just hanging out at Shepard’s house because they were expelled from school for mischievous conduct. Shepard was also wearing an electronic bracelet that was supposed to keep track of his location.

The police characterized Wilson as “pure evil,” a thug who had persuaded Shepard to come along even though Wilson had a gun in his possession. With nothing better to do, they decided to go on another rampage as they had in the past. Wilson boasted that he had found a gun, but Shepard was reluctant to accompany Wilson when he learned of it.

The police told us that Shepard and Wilson spent many hours wandering around the neighborhood, knocking on doors and ringing doorbells to see if anyone was home in order to break into a house, any house. They had no luck until they arrived at our daughter’s house. We know that they tried to get in through the front door, but it was securely locked. The entrance through the back was accessible because the screen door was broken.

We also learned that upon entry Shepard heard the television set playing. When he was questioned by the police, he said he had wanted to leave out of fear that someone might be home, but Wilson convinced him to stay. Shepard walked into the kitchen and noticed Sarah’s picture on the refrigerator. Again, he told Wilson he wanted to leave—he had recognized Sarah, who went to the same high school—and again, Wilson was adamant that they stay. Shepard told the police that Wilson insisted they stay because “they didn’t come for nothin’.” He ordered Shepard to check upstairs while he looked downstairs to see what they could steal. They both rummaged through the house and took a camera, a laptop, and a cell phone that belonged to Daniel and Sarah, our grandchildren.

Wilson was surprised by Susie’s unexpected arrival as he opened the refrigerator. Rachel was speaking to Susie on her cell phone as she interrupted the burglary and heard Susie shout “What the hell is going on here?”

Clutching the stolen items, Shepard bolted out the door. When Wilson spotted Susie, he shot her once. She collapsed onto the floor, and he shot her twice more in the back as she lay in a pool of blood. Then Wilson followed Shepard out the door, and both ran back to Shepard’s house. Shepard later told the police that Wilson offered him the gun and said, “Now you take it and shoot somebody. I want you to know how it feels.”

The congruity of this remark was startling. It was perversely repeated with different words but the same malice in August 2013 after the shooting in Duncan, Oklahoma, of Christopher Lane, the baseball athlete from Melbourne, Australia.

Both thugs were apprehended and subsequently jailed.

These are the bare facts. I can only imagine the horror Susie experienced during the last moments of her life. As agile as she was, she couldn’t escape.