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DONKEY: 15-Year-Old To Be Charged As An Adult After Mass Shooting · The Breakfast Club

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: I was born a donkey it's the donkey of the.
• 0:05
  Speaker 2: Day actually.
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: No, never mind.
• 0:23
  Speaker 2: Donkey of the Day for Wednesday, October 28th goes to
• 0:25
  Speaker 2: 15-year-old Anthony Rivers III of Tallahassee, Florida. Anthony is the
• 0:29
  Speaker 2: person accused of opening fire near Florida A & M
• 0:34
  Speaker 2: University's homecoming celebration, leaving 11 people with gunshot wounds. Six
• 0:38
  Speaker 2: of those victims were minors. The youngest was just 11
• 0:40
  Speaker 2: years old. HBCU homecomers are supposed to be a safe space, okay,
• 0:45
  Speaker 2: and anybody who violates the sanctity of that safe space
• 0:49
  Speaker 2: should be punished to the fullest extent of the law, okay,
• 0:52
  Speaker 2: regardless of their age. Police say the shooting followed a
• 0:54
  Speaker 2: physical altercation and the people who got shot weren't even
• 0:58
  Speaker 2: the intended targets.
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: That's usually how it happens. Let's go to WCTV Eyewitness
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: News for the report, please.
• 1:03
  Speaker 3: We're going to get started with that FAMU shooting, and
• 1:07
  Speaker 3: this is the person accused in the FAMU homecoming shooting
• 1:10
  Speaker 3: from this weekend. At just 15 years old, Anthony Rivers
• 1:14
  Speaker 3: III had his first court appearance this morning. He's now
• 1:17
  Speaker 3: facing 11 counts of attempted second-degree murder. RJ Harrison was
• 1:22
  Speaker 3: in the courtroom this morning and joins us live to
• 1:24
  Speaker 3: tell us the latest.
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: What do you know, Jay?
• 1:26
  Speaker 4: Yeah, that's right, Rob. Rivers appeared in juvenile court today,
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  Speaker 4: but is officially being charged as an adult, according to
• 1:32
  Speaker 4: state attorney Jack Campbell. He's being held at the Leon
• 1:34
  Speaker 4: County Juvenile Assessment Center and is now facing up to
• 1:38
  Speaker 4: life in prison for those charges. Now, a judge ordered
• 1:41
  Speaker 4: that he be held there until paperwork can be finalized
• 1:44
  Speaker 4: to have him transferred to the adult detention center. Campbell
• 1:47
  Speaker 4: confirmed that Rivers is classified as a, quote, delinquent under
• 1:50
  Speaker 4: the court system, but couldn't go into detail about his
• 1:53
  Speaker 4: criminal history. We also asked about how Rivers managed to
• 1:56
  Speaker 4: escape the scene and if there may be any other suspects.
• 1:59
  Speaker 4: Campbell said he could not give those details out right now.
• 2:03
  Speaker 4: He says they're now in the process of trying to
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  Speaker 4: connect with any witnesses that were there and could have
• 2:07
  Speaker 4: any valuable information.
• 2:10
  Speaker 2: What does your coach always say about the great state
• 2:11
  Speaker 2: of Florida? The craziest people in America come from the
• 2:14
  Speaker 2: Bronx and all of Florida. Some say the only thing
• 2:16
  Speaker 2: crazier than a Florida man is a Florida YN. OK,
• 2:19
  Speaker 2: 15 years old, facing 11 counts of attempted second degree
• 2:23
  Speaker 2: murder and prosecutors intend to try him as an adult.
• 2:27
  Speaker 2: I know that's going to start a conversation because he's
• 2:29
  Speaker 2: only 15. People are going to talk about his age,
• 2:31
  Speaker 2: his upbringing, his environment, whether his brain is fully developed
• 2:35
  Speaker 2: and whether he deserves another chance.
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: Those are all legitimate conversations. But I have a question.
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: Why do we spend so much.
• 2:42
  Speaker 2: Time worrying about the childhood of the person accused of
• 2:45
  Speaker 2: pulling the trigger that we risk forgetting about the childhoods
• 2:48
  Speaker 2: of the people who got shot? OK, age ain't nothing
• 2:51
  Speaker 2: but a number. This is what your parents are warning
• 2:53
  Speaker 2: you about when they say you want to act grown.
• 2:56
  Speaker 2: You want to be out here acting grown. You have
• 2:58
  Speaker 2: to deal with these grown consequences. OK, Anthony is 15.
• 3:01
  Speaker 2: But one of the victims was 11. 11 years old,
• 3:05
  Speaker 2: that child should be worried about homework and what they're
• 3:07
  Speaker 2: going to be for Halloween not recovering from a gunshot wound. Listen,
• 3:11
  Speaker 2: I know this situation can elicit a plethora of emotions,
• 3:15
  Speaker 2: but the reality is you can be a child and
• 3:18
  Speaker 2: still be responsible for destroying somebody else's childhood. I believe
• 3:22
  Speaker 2: in rehabilitation. I understand that a 15-year-old's brain isn't fully developed,
• 3:27
  Speaker 2: but you don't need a fully developed brain to understand
• 3:30
  Speaker 2: that shooting somebody can kill them, okay?
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: And somewhere along this yellow brick road of.
• 3:35
  Speaker 2: Life, we started confusing understanding someone's circumstances with excusing their behavior, okay?
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: Two things can be true.
• 3:43
  Speaker 2: You can be a child who needs help and still
• 3:46
  Speaker 2: be a child who needs to face serious consequences, okay?
• 3:49
  Speaker 2: You can believe in rehabilitation without, you know, minimizing the
• 3:52
  Speaker 2: suffering of victims. I don't know Anthony's upbringing. I don't
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  Speaker 2: know what he's been exposed to, and I'm not going
• 3:57
  Speaker 2: to make up stories of a troubled childhood to explain
• 4:00
  Speaker 2: what he's accused of doing. But if these allegations are proven,
• 4:04
  Speaker 2: whatever circumstances led him to that moment does not erase
• 4:08
  Speaker 2: the harm he caused. And this all started because of
• 4:11
  Speaker 2: a physical altercation. I was born in 1978, and my
• 4:15
  Speaker 2: whole life, okay, since I was a young lad, they
• 4:18
  Speaker 2: would tell us to learn to use our hands, put
• 4:20
  Speaker 2: the guns down.
• 4:21
  Speaker 5: And fight.
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: Did you not watch the movie Friday?
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  Speaker 2: Okay, see, y'all thought Friday was just a comedy, when
• 4:26
  Speaker 2: in reality, it delivered some of the best social commentary
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  Speaker 2: on gun violence.
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  Speaker 1: Let's listen. No ideas around here.
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  Speaker 5: Oh, no, son, that's not the way it is. You
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  Speaker 5: kids today are nothing but punks, sissified, so quick to
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  Speaker 5: pick up a gun. You're scared to take an ass whoopin'.
• 4:43
  Speaker 5: This is what makes you a man. When I was
• 4:45
  Speaker 5: growing up, this was all the protection we needed. You
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  Speaker 5: win some, you lose some. But you live. You live
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  Speaker 5: to fight another day.
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  Speaker 1: You think you're a man with a gun in your hand,
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  Speaker 1: don't you? I'm a man without it. Put the gun down.
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: Come on.
• 5:01
  Speaker 5: Put up your dukes. Now you're a man. You've got
• 5:05
  Speaker 5: a choice.
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: These are all you need.
• 5:08
  Speaker 2: You win some, you lose some, but you live to
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  Speaker 2: fight another day. I don't know who started it or
• 5:12
  Speaker 2: what was said, but an argument between kids shouldn't end
• 5:16
  Speaker 2: with 11 people getting shot, okay? Some of these young
• 5:18
  Speaker 2: people have access to grown man weapons. Without the emotional
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  Speaker 2: maturity to handle teenage disagreements.
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: And that's a dangerous combination.
• 5:26
  Speaker 2: OK, that's why we stay away from these YNs. But
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  Speaker 2: we can't because these youngins are our responsibility. OK, can't
• 5:33
  Speaker 2: talk about what these kids don't know if we aren't
• 5:36
  Speaker 2: teaching them. Which brings me to another question. How did
• 5:38
  Speaker 2: a 15 year old get a gun? Where did it
• 5:40
  Speaker 2: come from? Did any adults know he had access to it?
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  Speaker 2: Because if somebody helped put that weapon in his hands,
• 5:46
  Speaker 2: they deserve punishment, too.
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  Speaker 1: Also, I can.
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  Speaker 2: Hear some of you out there saying he's only 15.
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  Speaker 2: He shouldn't be tried as an adult by a humbug. OK,
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  Speaker 2: I'm not saying every child accused of a violent crime
• 5:58
  Speaker 2: should automatically be tried.
• 5:59
  Speaker 1: As an adult. Age matters.
• 6:01
  Speaker 2: Rehabilitation matters. But so do victims. And we can't have
• 6:06
  Speaker 2: a conversation about justice. that focuses entirely on the future
• 6:10
  Speaker 2: of the accused while ignoring the futures of the people
• 6:13
  Speaker 2: who were hurt.
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: Okay.
• 6:14
  Speaker 2: You can make a decision at 15 that somebody else spends.
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: Forever recovering from. Okay.
• 6:21
  Speaker 2: And when that happens, Being young doesn't undo the damage, okay?
• 6:25
  Speaker 2: Anthony Rivers III is entitled to due process. These allegations
• 6:28
  Speaker 2: have to be proven. But whoever is responsible for this
• 6:31
  Speaker 2: shooting must be held accountable. And I want every young
• 6:34
  Speaker 2: person listening to the sound of your Uncle Charlotte's voice
• 6:37
  Speaker 2: to understand something. I don't expect you as a 15-year-old
• 6:41
  Speaker 2: to think like a 35-year-old.
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: But I do expect... a 15-year-old to understand the basics, okay?
• 6:47
  Speaker 2: That when you point a gun at somebody and pull
• 6:50
  Speaker 2: the trigger, somebody could be seriously hurt, somebody could die.
• 6:54
  Speaker 2: You don't have to be grown to understand that, okay?
• 6:57
  Speaker 2: And you damn sure don't have to be grown to
• 6:59
  Speaker 2: destroy somebody else's life.
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: All right? Youth may explain a terrible decision.
• 7:04
  Speaker 2: It does not excuse the damage that decision causes.
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: Please give Anthony Rivers III the biggest seahawks. Such a
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: sad situation. So damn sad.
• 7:17
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 7:18
  Speaker 1: So damn sad. And rest in peace, John Witherspoon. I
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: was going to say that too, John Witherspoon. I was
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: looking on the wall to see if we had John
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: on the wall.
• 7:24
  Speaker 2: Did we ever put John Witherspoon on the wall?
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: No, John's not on the wall. Rest in peace to
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: John Witherspoon. Rest in peace to John Witherspoon. That was
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: a very powerful message on Friday.
• 7:31
  Speaker 2: It was.
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: It definitely was.
• 7:33
  Speaker 2: Great social commentary around gun violence in that comedy. Yes,
• 7:38
  Speaker 2: it was. All right.
• 7:40
  Speaker 1: Well, thank you for that donkey today.
• 7:41
  Speaker 5: Yes, ma'am.
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: All right. Now, when we come back, who's joining us?
• 7:44
  Speaker 2: Resmaa Minicum, my guy. If you've ever read My Grandmother's Hands,
• 7:47
  Speaker 2: fantastic book. He will be here with Charles Little II
• 7:50
  Speaker 2: and Vincent Ventresca. They have a new TV series that
• 7:54
  Speaker 2: they're promoting called I, Men. And it's a great message
• 7:57
  Speaker 2: in this series as well.
• 7:59
  Speaker 5: All right.
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: We'll get to that next. It's The Breakfast Club.
• 8:01
  Speaker 5: Good morning.
• 8:01
  Speaker 2: Donkey of the Day is sponsored by renowned personal injury
• 8:04
  Speaker 2: attorney Michael the Bull Laminsoff. Don't be a donkey when
• 8:07
  Speaker 2: you need a fighter on your side. If you're ever injured,
• 8:09
  Speaker 2: go to MichaelTheBull.com. That's MichaelTheBull.com. And when you mess with
• 8:12
  Speaker 2: the bull, you get the horns.