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Monday, March 29, 2010

Gun violence takes another young life The Education Report

The Education Report

Gun violence takes another young life

By Katy Murphy
Monday, March 29th, 2010 at 1:26 pm in crime, students

Last Friday, I put what I thought would be the finishing touches on a story about all of the Oakland students who have been shot and killed since January 2009. But by Sunday morning, the piece was already one tragedy short of complete.
Eric Toscano, a Skyline High School senior who played on the football team, was celebrating his 18th birthday at home on Saturday night when bullets flew from a passing car. He died at Highland Hospital a few hours later, on Sunday morning. Three other teens were wounded. Toscano planned to go to college in the fall; his coach, Jamaal Kizziee, told me about the day he came by with news of his first acceptance letter.
The story was heartbreaking – and covering it, during a full-blown celebration of Oakland, was surreal: Read the rest of this entry »