You have probably already heard or read the news about Monique Palmer and Michael Taylor, the two teenagers who were shot and killed after leaving a party early Saturday morning.

The Union-Tribune reports that their killers are believed to be gang members, and their deaths have left two San Diego high schools grieving: Lincoln High and Point Loma High. Palmer, a Lincoln senior, had recently been accepted to college, and Taylor is remembered as a talented athlete who had just begun his studies at Point Loma as a freshman.

Other news outlets are doing a good job covering the tragedy and its aftermath, but I’d like to invite our readers to reflect on the incident and the impact of gang violence on San Diego schools and communities. What could or should we be doing differently as a city to prevent it? What are some of the most promising efforts that we could expand? To what extent can schools help? Or are schools stuck responding to an outside problem?

Anyone with personal recollections of Monique or Michael is welcome to send those as well. Please send me your thoughts at emily.alpert@voiceofsandiego.org, and I’ll post the most compelling responses here throughout the day.

EMILY ALPERT

Leave a comment

We expect all commenters to be constructive and civil. We reserve the right to delete comments without explanation. You are welcome to flag comments to us. You are welcome to submit an opinion piece for our editors to review.

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.