15-year-old boy shot dead in San Bernardino

Both the Sun and the Riverside paper are reporting that a deadly Saturday night shooting took the life of a 15-year-old boy near Sunrise Avenue, in the city's eastside near the Guthries area.

Police are calling the boy a "gang member" and calling the shooting "gang-related."

Homicides have quietly picked up their pace in the last month to draw near last year's total.

I note that fact because, as I have written about at length before, it is crucially important to monitor the one objective crime statistic (homicides) when gauging the prevalence of crime.

Economist John Husing, Police Chief Mike Billdt, Mayor Pat Morris and others have loudly trumpeted this year a series of statistics that indicate that crime is at historic lows. Maybe it is, but killings - real bloodshed on the streets, often that of children - remains near historic highs.

Click below for early story of boy's death ...