6:45 P.M.

Pop, pop,pop.

A sound all too familiar in most "hoods"

I was laying in bed playing my PS4, three shots burst through the air. My first reaction was jumping out of bed and running towards the front door to see if my parents were okay, as soon as I open my door-- I see my mom and dad rushing inside and tell me to get away from the windows, there was a shooting down the street.

6:47 P.M.

Shrieks of terror

We waited a couple minutes and hurried outside, a crowd was already gathering, there laid a kid on the pavement, the catalyst for the chaos ensuing. The block was disoriented, the screams, the running, the Miami sun was as bright as it is in the movies, except this wasn't a tropical paradise painted for the world to see.

A local drug addicted ran through against crowd screaming "He's dead. He's dead." The victim laid on the floor, his body twitching from the impact of the bullets. A young lady that was with him ran the opposite way, she running frantically with tears on her face. Another young man that was with the victim ran back and forth pleading for help, "They shot him, man. They shot him, help, someone call 911, f***, what are all y'all looking at?" tears were rushing towards the young man's face as he pleads for her help.

6:57 P.M.

The Miami-Dade Police Department arrived 10 minutes later, the crowd got larger, all witnessing this young man's body laid out in the concrete. An older woman came with a hurried pace and saw who the young man was, she released a sigh of relief in front of me, my mother asked her "Do you know the kid who was shot?"

The woman replied "No, but my grandson hangs out with all these delinquents, so when we heard there was a shooting, I had to come make sure my grandson wasn't killed. I hope that kid is okay."

7:00pm

The neighborhood watches a tall Caucasian police officer perform CPR on the teenager, trying to keep the fading body from fleeing this Earth. As Fire-Rescue arrives on the scene, what seems to be the younger brother of the victims runs toward them, as they walk slowly out of the ambulance, "Why the f*** are ya'll taking so long, hurry up! Don't you see he's dying?" The paramedics walked over and laid the victim on a stretcher, they placed him inside the ambulance.

7:15 P.M.

The ambulance drove off, the victim alone in the ambulance for his final moments of life. The news said he died of complications later that night. His name was Osmond Falls, a 16-year-old who fell victim to gang violence. The suspected murderer, 15-year-old, Jorge Franco was apprehended later on. Reports indicate that the murder resulted from a gang altercation at a local park.

8:00 P.M.

I go back into my room to finish playing my PS4 game.

Initially, I had brushed off the murder as another tragedy, another senseless killing. I personally couldn't make sense of it, how did this all happen? I was disappointed in myself for not caring more, have I been so desensitized to this violence? The first article I wrote for Odyssey was named "Reporting Live from St.Tropez" and in it I wrote about how much there is to life, an article preaching that your goals are attainable even, even if you're from a bad neighborhood. Yet, in the span of an hour two lives had ended, one by the gun and the other from a series of actions that led to the gun.

It's a tragedy because of the pure recklessness of the shooting could have left many more injured, this incident happened one hour after another teen was shot on the same day, the teen was unfortunately killed in Miami Gardens and the suspect is still at large.

There must be more than just calling an end to gun violence, the communities that are suffering from these crimes must rally together. Many of these teens need to find summer jobs, after school activities or sports. There must be more communications with parents or loved one's. Police need to continue to have pro active role in these communities. Mainly many of these teens need support and encouragement in believing they can do something with their lives, that life is much more than one singular moment of disrespect; understanding that your life at 15 years old is only the very beginning of an entire lifetime. Unfortunately, these two teens had their lives cut short, I'm hoping other teens and the communities that are most affected by gun violence can learn from this experience that violence only leads to more pain and suffering.