Before the gun lobby pays attention, asks Jill Porter of the Philadelphia Daily News. Well, how many indeed? But we are paying attention, but here’s what we see. Let’s take a look at Eric Floyd, one of the scumbags who gunned down Sergeant Liczbinski:
The man wanted in the fatal shooting of a Philadelphia policeman failed to show up at a prison halfway house in Erie a year before he walked away from the ADAPPT Treatment Services facility in Reading, state officials said Monday.
Eric D. Floyd, 33, of Philadelphia, who is wanted in the Saturday shooting death of Sgt. Stephen Liczbinski in North Philadelphia. also has a criminal record that goes back at least 14 years, according to court records.
Floyd was charged in a robbery in Philadelphia in 1994, then convicted the next year. He spent four years in state prison for the crime.
In 2001 he was charged with a robbery in Lancaster, then convicted of the crime the next year.
Two convictions for armed robbery, and let they him out after a few years. He quickly disappeared from the halfway house. So how many indeed Ms. Porter, before we stop blaming the NRA, blaming the guns, and start locking these predators up in prison for a very long time? Armed robbery isn’t stealing a car, it’s a serious, violent crime. Who thought that after his first conviction, he should be let out of prison? How crazy do you have to be to think letting him out early a second time is a good idea?
The criminal who actually shot Sergeant Liczbinski, Howard Cain, also had a history of armed robbery, but he’s currently taking a dirt nap courtesy of Philadelphia’s finest. His rap sheet? Four counts of robbery, carrying firearms without a license, and criminal conspiracy. What was he doing on the streets? Especially when he got 10 years in prison for each armed robbery count.
The third suspect, Levon Warner, who the Philadelphia police have in custody, also had previously been convicted of armed robbery, and was sentences to 7 to 15 years. That was in 1997. I guess he didn’t end up doing the 15.
Howard Cain, Levon Warner, and Eric Floyd. These are the people who are responsible for Seargent Liczbinski’s murder. Making excuses for them by blaming the gun, blaming the NRA, or blaming the law, diverts responsibility for their actions, and cheapens the justifiable outrage over their crimes. It also takes the pressure off of politicians and judges for not doing everything they can to ensure that criminals like this stay behind bars where they belong. It should not take the death of a police officer to realize that dangerous men need to be seperated for society, for everyone’s sake.
