Chris Lane, a college athlete from Australia in the US on a baseball scholarship, was recently gunned down “just for the fun of it,” and the situation has become a catalyst for many Australians to boycott touring the United States.
“It is another example of murder mayhem on Main Street,” former Australian deputy Prime Minister Tim Fischer told CNN’s Piers Morgan. People thinking of going to the USA for business or tourists trips should think carefully about it given the statistical fact you are 15 times more likely to be shot dead in the USA than in Australia per capita per million people.”
Police say that at around 3 p.m., Lane was taking one of his usual jogs when three teenagers pulled up behind him in a car, shot him in the back and quickly sped away.
The three teens were later identified as James Edwards Jr., 15, Chancey Luna, 16, and Michael Jones, 17. Edwards and Luna were later charged with first-degree murder while Jones faces two charges, accessory after the fact to murder in the first degree as well as use of a vehicle in the discharge of a weapon.
According to the Australia’s Essendon Baseball Club president Tony Cornish, Lane was a “very good athlete.” Cornish also stated:
“If it didn’t work out he could have come back to Australia with an education and also been a much better baseballer. He would have been an elite player in Australia and at our club. That’s the type of kid he is — he created a ‘win- win,’ in a way, for himself.”
One of Lane’s former classmates at East Central University (ECU), Sam Malchar, also declared:
“As clichéd as it sounds, Chris was the kind of guy you want your sons to grow up to be and that you want your daughters to marry. It just breaks my heart knowing how much more he could have brought to this world as a husband, father, son, brother and friend.”
Lane’s family will soon be arriving in the US to set a date for his funeral.
SOURCE: CNN
