Last Monday, thousands of fans filled PNC Arts Center in Holmdel, New Jersey to experience this summer's popular "Forest Hills Drive Tour." While the concert itself went off without a hitch, what happened afterwards is enough to make anyone stay home from their next show.
The concert, which was headlined by J Cole and included Big Sean, Jeremih, and YG, wrapped up around 11 p.m. Myself, along and the rest of the 20,000 spectators, started the slow trek to the distant general parking lots. My friends and I slumped into our car, hit the Parkway North, and made it home in great time. Others, however, were not as lucky.
Over in Lot 4, a 23- and 24-year-old male confronted a woman and started making comments about her body. Bystanders say that the woman turned around to address the men about their comments when all of the sudden a man appeared and fired seven shots at the victims. An 18-year-old witness reported that one man was unresponsive and the other was begging for water . The shots sent concert-goers into a state of panic and people started sprinting and stampeding to their cars. The gunman fled into the nearby woods as State Police swarmed the scene. The victims, whose names have not been released, were sent to Jersey Shore Medical via helicopter and are now reported to be in critical but stable condition. On Thursday morning, State Police reported that Quran Powell of Holmdel was arrested and charged for the shooting.
State Police initially locked down the arena and lots, not letting concert-goers leave the scene. I am constantly thinking about how lucky I was that my friends and I left when we did, because I cannot imagine the fear and panic that my fellow concert-goers must have felt while sitting in their cars knowing that a shooter was on the loose.
While of course, the situation could always be worse, this shooting has left me thinking long and hard this past week about how out of control gun possession in this country has gotten. There is no reason why people attending a summer concert tour should have to fear for their lives. The same way that people should feel safe sitting in a movie theater or worshiping in their churches. This summer alone, this country has seen too many incidents of innocent people being killed and injured at the hand of a gun. In the J Cole incident, those two men should probably have not been approaching that woman but did it warrant seven gunshots? What if one of those shots hit a bystander? What if one of those shots killed a child walking by with their parent? What if that shooting happened in another lot, le'ts say the one my friends and I parked in, and someone I knew was killed? The possibilities are endless, and the scary thing is that no one knows. I fully expected that I would attend the concert and come home looking forward to the next show at PNC like I have done so many times in the past. Now, I'm terrified to go to another show because I never know what could happen.
Gun advocates will tell you that there is a constitutional right to bear arms or that crazy people will still find ways to carry out their plans with or without firearms, but I disagree. That's why I am writing this article; that's why this is a small step I'm taking to spread awareness of this issue. That's why, especially, with the presidential election coming up in 2016, I am urging each and every one of you to register to vote and take action.
During the show, J Cole sat on stage and spoke to the crowd about how the world we live in can be so cold. And not even two hours later, shots were fired off at his show. The irony is sickening.
