This is just unspeakably sad.

It makes me so angry...the pushers and their enforcers are absolutely evil, and yet the media (music, movies, etc.) glamorize their lifestyles. There's nothing down that road but death.

Another shameful indictment of our whole society. Rich, poor, black, or white, Aaron Teeter's senseless killing is a tremendous loss for all humanity. Who knows what this young man might have achieved in a full lifetime. Sadly we will never know.

Nobody wants to be a parent. Mothers are out partying at the age of 30 or better instead of raising chirldren. Fathers are still hanging with their boys instead of spendng quality time teaching their sons how to be men. The basics of right and wrong are lost. There is noway in the world you can tell me a child should be able to take a gun into school and use it.
ADULTS ARE TO BLAME FOR HORRIBLE CHILDREN!

What a sad but moving article. A mentality change is needed in the city for our youth. Instead of building multi-million dollar stadiums for losing teams more money needs to go towards rehabbing the schools, libraries, youth programs, drug programs and anything else that will genuinely help the poor of the city, they still exist and they still suffer.

4:30 am?

What, they were farmers?

& Why'd it take four hours to determine he was dead?

Just sad. I wish there was a way and money to idetinfy kids like Teeter who show promise and want out, and then get them out. When they are successes, they can come back to the neighborhood and show positive examples to the next generation that wants out.

Maybe a live-in magnet school for kids with promise who are making efforts in their own community to escape.

Anyone out at 430 AM in SE is asking for it. I know it's a free world and all. But you gotta know that anyone out at that time of morning in that neighborhood is asking for it. It really makes you wonder what he was doing out there that time of night.

He was out there as an investigative journalist, as a documentarian. You can't write or film what you don't experience yourself.

I worked for the Metropolitan PD 20+ years ago. We considered any death in the Wheeler and Wahler Avenue area a 'natural.' If you're in that area it's only natural you're going to die. This kind of thing has been going on for generations and it will continue for future generations. I can cite dozens of senseless deaths of people, old and young, that never made it to the newspapers. So can any other member of the PD.

How about the teenaged boy who was killed for his bus fare (less than $2) when he went out to go to his girlfriend's house on Christmas night.
How about the grandmother who was bound and gagged and died of suffocation when her house was burgled and ransacked.
How about the elderly man hacked to death by the day laborer he hired to mow his lawn.
How about the battered child never claimed by her family and left at the morgue for a pauper's burial.
How about the college student in town for a Saturday night who picked up a 'she-he' and didn't know it until the 'she-he' got violent and shot him.
How about the mother stabbed to death by her boyfriend in front of her toddler. When the police arrived the baby could say 'Joe cut mommy.' Joe is doing time now based on the eyewitness account of a toddler in her crib.
What about the 2-year-old knocked out of his highchair and killed by his abusive father. The child had been in foster care but the wise and all=knowing city social workers felt father and child should be together for Christmas. That's when the death occurred in Daddy's kitchen.
How about the elementary school girl who accidently hanged herself on a school playground when the hood of her coat caught on a cross piece of a jungle bar. The teacher didn't count the kids when they came back inside and she hung there several hours before she was found.
All of this, and more, goes on every day but the bleeding heart liberals don't write stories about in the WaPo.

Aaron Teeter deserves a place on the Journalists Memorial

newseum.org/scripts/journalist/main.htm

Southern Maryland.

Wow. You really put it in perspective. I got friends up Wheeler Ave.

NOTHING good goes on up there.

This, like all senseless killings, is sad. It is hard to pull yourself out of the environment you know. Even when you know that environment is lethal. I pray that the next young person who has a gun in his or her hands, thinks before pulling that trigger, "what are the consequences of my actions."

To Southern Maryland:

Seriously, you're so blinded by your political ideology that you've taken a tragic story like this to use as some sort of soapbox to scream about Liberals? That's so sad.

Please try to see the forest through the trees.

Why can't bush send troops to THAT neighborhood??

To Southern Maryland: Thanks for the info. It is appropriate to get the perspect of somebody who has been there.

To BleedingHeartLibs?: Truth hurts, don't it? What is sad is when YOU trash somebody who is knowledgeable about the subject being discussed just so you can scream at people who put down liberals. Another pathetic liberal attempting to further YOUR agenda.

To SoMD:

The funny thing is, I'm not a liberal. I simply can't stand when EITHER side takes something as simple as a story like this and tries to use it to blame the other side for something.

Really, "Liberals" are the only ones to blame for all the tragedies listed by Southern Maryland? That's what you've concluded after all your serious thought and collection of factual evidence?

I never bashed our friend from Southern Maryland and I think his experiences are real and tragic. I just see no need for a start to the usual blind back and forth bickering. His point about what happens in this city would have been much stronger and more effective if he (and you) left out the political name calling.

Sorry to call you out Southern Maryland. I appreciate your service but not your logic.

To call out liberals when reducing poverty, gun control and other forms of social welfare are more cornerstones of the Democratic party then anything else? That just doesn't make sense.

The reason the "bleeding heart" liberals don't cover these murders (and they certainly should) is reflected in the ambivalence evident in your very own writing.

"We considered any death in the Wheeler and Wahler Avenue area a 'natural.' If you're in that area it's only natural you're going to die"

So while your insider perspective is certainly welcome your senseless political rambling demeans the humanity of those murders you unfortunetly witnessed.

Huh? I though that "bleeding heart liberals" were supposedly the people who want to spend tax money on social programs for poor people instead of on sports stadiums for suburbanites. Who want to improve education, not gut it. Who believe that all Americans, not just the rich, deserve the chance to have a better life. How are "bleeding heart liberals" supposedly responsible for the carnage that goes on every night in DC?

Near as I can gather, bleeding heart liberals have been in charge of DC for decades.

The bleeding heart liberals didn't cause these tragedies, you boneheads. They are the ones writing about it in the Washington Compost. Just as they are uncovering the scandalous horrors of Walter Reed Hospital and the wounded soldiers being treated in rat=infested and moldy operating rooms. Give us a break. The conditions are Walter Reed are no worse than at any other military hospital. The Post just wants to stir the pot about anything military to make a point.

And what makes you think I'm male? Sexism rears its ugly head again.

Terribly sad story, Marc, but thanks for telling it. The details of Teeter's life and death remind us that what SoMD refers to "natural" deaths in bad neighborhoods happen to real people--people with talents and the potential to make the world better.

I don't understand SoMD's point either. If the problem is that these sad events don't get the attention they deserve, isn't Marc addressing that concern by writing this story.

The story itself won't change anything, but it certainly illustrates that Teeter's death wasn't ignored.

It amazes me that so many people who despise the Washington Post continue to read it, day after day. Isn't that bad for your blood pressure after a while?

Now, weren't we supposed to be talking about Aaron Teeter and the tragedy of a promising young life cut short?

Aha! My scathing response has been edited by thin-skinned liberal editor of the WaPo! How's that for censorship? Little touchy, are we?

Anyway -- who said I was male? Sexism rears its ugly head again.

The Post, the flaming left=wing liberal rag, and the Washington Times, that Moonie paper are the only local newspapers. It's either by one kind of nut or the other.

Sexism? Because of the useage of "his"? That's your wopping comeback to shut down people's arguments?

You are funny Southern Maryland. Thanks for all your entertaining pot stirring today in this bleeding heart liberal rag. :)

DO NOT BLAME THIS ON ANY PARTICULAR NEIGHBORHOOD. Today NOT ALL BUT TOO MANY young blacks, hispanics, and whites all handle their problems with the gun. They DO kill just for the fun of it these days, and could care less about thinking about the consequences or the many lives that are forever changed because of their stupid behavior. THAT IS THE CULTURE WE HAVE ALLOWED THEM TO GROW UP IN. ONE THAT VALUES MATERIAL WEALTH, DISREPECT OF WOMEN, AND DISREPECT OF THEMSELVES. PARENT HAVE THEMSELVES TO BLAME AND IT WILL ONLY GET WORSE.

PEOPLE ACT LIKE THIS IS SUCH A BIG SHOCK. Our young people, who have grown up in this new hip hop culture, and I mean blacks, whites, and hispanics are more often than not STUPID, have butchered the english language, have no respect for their female counterparts who lost respect for themselves also, are mostly followers of stupid leaders, have no respect for authority and have no clue on how they will survive in a world that has continued to make it almost impossible to survive as an individual.

IN OTHER WORDS THEY DON*T HAVE A CLUE, AND MANY OF THEIR PARENTS, WHO CAN*T GET THEIR OWN LIVES IN ORDER, HAVE NO CLUES TO PROVIDE TO THEM.

Why are you so down on Southern Maryland? He or she is just telling it like it is. And the WaPost does a bad job of covering local news. Instead of being an enterprising voice for change, they prefer covering national and international stories so they can be "The New York Times, Junior". Do they ever cover crime in Southeast? Why aren't they leading the charge to reform our public schools? Why don't they cover the reverse racism and homophobia expressed by Shaw Neighborhood's black leadership? The WaPost has been letting this city down for a long time.

This is a blog, people. For all we know, "Southern Maryland" is some 14-year-old kid who's been watching too many crime shows on TV and thinks it's fun to go online, invent a persona, and irritate the grown-ups. The fanaticism of his/her responses to criticism and questioning isn't really consistent with someone who supposedly served as a peace officer in a rough part of town, where keeping your cool is critical to staying alive. His/her canned responses can be found in similar newspaper forums all across the country. Very predictable and ultimately tiresome.

Southern Maryland: So if the "Washington Compost" is so bad, read the Washington Times. Or start your own paper.

Scott: I am 60 years old, have actually worked for the Metropolitan Police Department, and every one of those cases I mentioned actually happened. I can give you the names of the officers and rannking officials involved who can back me up on them. You are probably the 14-year-old with a tiring imagination. Now get off the computer and go do you homework.

One more comment and I'm going to quit wasting time on this way-off-topic blog. I work as a contractor for the Department of Defense and I vote Republican. Yep, bleeding hearts-r-us.

Stop screaming about politics and ideology and just mourn the young man. Jesus Christ. Only in DC.

This problem existed before the 'hip-hop' culture. It's existed for so long because of the mindset that certain people are expendable and unworthy of attention or aid. "We considered any death in the Wheeler and Wahler Avenue area a 'natural.' If you're in that area it's only natural you're going to die"

Nice. Did anyone think of why that is or better yet, how to stop it?? If there were an area of Fairfax or Montgomery Counties where it was 'natural' to die just because you were there steps would've been taken decades ago to stop it. But since it's only SE DC people shrug their shoulders. Sad.

Whatever part of DC that is, they need a cop on every block, curfews, and racial profiling. Get people off the streets for littering and loitering. Some NYC kind of crime fighting.

Additionally, they need a motivational speaker every week in their schools: hold people up for the deadbeats they are and enforce strict discipline in the schools. Close down the go go clubs. etc etc

The victim wasn't at a go-go club. There have been rapes, riots and looting at rock concerts. Should those be cancelled too?

Ok, we get the picture and we know there is an on going problem. Now let's spend some time on fixing the issues at hand. It takes effort. Start a neighborhood communications network. Form support groups; give those kids with too much time on their hands something constructive to do.
Yuma, Az.

I appreciate Marc Fisher's blog. I was Aaron Teeter's media teacher at Earth Conservation Corps. I worked with him everyday and over the course of a year saw him grow into an incredibly talented, critically-thinking, community activist. He was truly one of the most inspiring men I've ever known. And his murder is the most painful thing that I've experienced in my ten years of teaching.
What's even more painful is the thought that his life and his death might be shrugged off as inevitable; that he will be buried and forgotten; and the city will continue to operate "business as usual" without addressing as CRITICAL and IMMEDIATE the loss of young, human resources in certain parts of the city.
The person who shot Aaron (in the BACK of his head with a rifle)would not have pulled the trigger had he felt like a whole, fulfilled person with options and opportunities. The violence that is endemic in neighborhoods such as Whaler and Wheeler Rd. exists because resources are nonexistent. Hope is ephemeral. And we, as a society, have become used to it as inevitable. No where, at no time, to no group of people should MURDER be inevitable. No where, at no time, to no group of people should horrible schools and a complete ABSENCE of preventative youth services be okay. This is maddening. This is maddness.
Thank you, Marc Fisher, for following up on this story. Hopefully this death serves as a catalyst for change. I cannot bear to go to another funeral and continue to witness the murder of so much potential, while the rest of the world just blinks.

I'm sure Southern Maryland is busy working to change the neighborhood, to improve it, right? Right?

If you aren't willing to try to change things, just shut up.

There is a limit to what people can accomplish in changing the lives of needy people. At some point, the rest has to come from the people in need. In the case of Aaron Teeter. He made good choices in a bad environment. The person that killed him did not.

Cain killing Abel is less a history lesson than it is a lesson in the state of humanity. It is not a state that humanity can change. It is a condition we live with. There exists both good and evil in the world and each having free will must side with one or the other.

I am reminded of the Humpty Dumpty Nursery Rhyme - I long wondered what it was about until one day as an adult I realized that human effort cannot undo the brokenness of humaniy.

Individuality we can make good choices for ourself, but we can not collective make everyone do the same.

It is indeed a sad state of affairs, but it is the lesson we learn from the tragedy of Aaron Teeter's death.

Yes. Rock concerts SHOULD be cancelled, because of the rape, riots and looting. Bad influence.

You Guys Are Gay. But Hey Thats Just My Opinion