The toll of senseless killing
By L. Nicole Trottie
June 19, 2008
For years, Maywood residents have grown sadly accustomed to—and emotionally
numbed by—reports in the local media of teen-agers gunning each other down over
matters as trivial as a refusal to hand over the latest trend in sneakers off their feet.
But this month, the senseless and gruesome murder of a teenaged girl jolted many
residents and officials from their complacency.
In the instant it took to exchange a glance, Tawanna K. Ford, a promising Proviso East
High School student, was killed in the passenger seat of her boyfriends car by a gun shot
wound to the head. Maywood police announced Monday the arrest of Kenydale
Robinson, age 20, in Twanna’s murder.
Tawanna’s death June 2 was as senseless and tragic as they come. By all indications
the, 17-year-old student represented many of the positive attributes that we all hope and
pray our children acquire.
“She was a good kid. Words can not describe how good she was,” Ford’s mother,
LaDana, said at a press conference Monday afternoon at the Maywood Village Cham-
bers.
Tawanna was looking forward to attending college next year. Unlike many kids’ today,
she was making plans for the future. She planned to attend Triton College and transfer
to a 4-year university.
Unfortunately, Twanna and her family will never get the opportunity to see her future
plans materialize. The mayhem of her death again proves that life is fleeting and can
disappear at a moments notice.
Tawanna’s death has received a hefty dose of publicity, most like due to the fact she was
a teenaged girl and innocent bystander. Mainstream media lined the corridor of village
hall to get a glimpse of Ford’s anguished mother and official announcement of the
offender’s arrest.
The questions asked by reports of Tawanna’s mother were typical, presumptive and
insensitive. “Do you know where Tawanna was going?” Where were you at the time of
the incident?”
Does it really matter where Tawanna’s mother was at the time of her daughter’s death or
if Tawanna made her whereabouts known? No, I don’t believe so. Knowing where
Tawanna was going or who she was with would not have stopped Robinson, of Chicago,
from finding his way to Maywood and pulling the gun trigger.
Tawanna’s shooting should be a warning to all that what happened to her apparently can
happen to anyone, anywhere, even while enjoying a drive in the car through a familiar
neighborhood.
The community is shocked by deaths such as Tawanna’s, and saddened even more that
such senseless killings still occur in what is supposed to be a civilized world.
Tawanna K. Ford
