Fan Lives Matter

Last fall, locals protested the police outside of Busch Stadium. This fall, St. Louis denizens ask for more police outside of Busch Stadium.

The calls come in the wake of a robber shooting and paralyzing a man leaving the park last week. Christopher Sanna, a former soldier in the Army, lost his ability to walk Friday night. He handed over his wallet to the thieves. But one shot him in the back anyway.

The tragedy occurred after Sanna celebrated his mother’s 60th birthday by bringing her to the ballpark with his girlfriend and three brothers. Happy birthday, huh?

St. Louis police arrested Kilwa Jones, 31, on Wednesday. The authorities say that they found a gun in the suspect’s car and allege that he appears on surveillance an hour after the shooting using the debit card of the man he left paralyzed. At 5’2” and sporting dreadlocks, Jones certainly looks like the assailant described. He also acts like him. The Riverfront Times noted Jones’ “nearly decade-long rap sheet” that includes an assault conviction and a fraud charge.

The arrest marks Jones’ second this week. On Sunday, the cops apprehended him on a domestic violence charge. At his kid’s birthday, the party animal allegedly showed up in an altered state, punched his girlfriend in the face, and engaged in a lengthy standoff with the police.

Kilwa Jones can ruin a birthday.

The arrest likely puts an end to the one-man crime wave. Jones faces a $1 million bond. It takes a lot of taken wallets to come up with that kind of bread. But if Christopher Sanna can raise $90,000 on GoFundMe, maybe Kilwa Jones can scare up a greater sum through his more personal, forceful fundraising methods. Alas, Jones encounters the catch-22 faced by all beholden to the bail bondsman: Jones needs money to make bail but he needs to make bail to make money.

If only Christopher Sanna got shot after robbing someone instead of after getting robbed, activists might have seized on his tragedy to start a movement with catchy slogans. Black Fan lives matter? Hands up Pockets inside-out, don’t shoot? I am Michael Brown Christopher Sanna?

Lives, Michael Brown’s and Christopher Sanna’s, matter. So do ideas. Last fall, anti-police riots and rhetoric engulfed the St. Louis area. This fall, lawlessness does. Did not the former catalyze the latter?

As the city celebrates the Cardinals entering the 2015 playoffs with the best record in baseball, locals lament 2015’s 152 murders that eclipse last year’s morbid milestone after only eight more killings. Few will draw a connection between the police-bashing outside of Busch Stadium last October and the need for more police outside of Busch Stadium this October. But ideas, like constantly portraying keepers of justice as purveyors of injustice, have consequences.