Kehndra Isakson

A Message from Kehndra's Father

My 19 year old daughter was a victim of a senseless act of terrorism here in Salt Lake City. That's right, I said terrorism. My daughter was shot and killed by terrorists. These people may call themselves gang members, but in my book, anybody who takes out a gun and starts shooting at innocent unarmed women, they don't even know truly defines a terrorist.

I think back to the day my daughter was killed and I say to myself, why didn't I keep her from being in harm's way? What could I have done differently that would make my daughter still alive today? There is no answer to random violence; it can happen to anyone at any place. I was at Lake Powell when I received the word about the World Trade Center Towers and was overwhelmed with emotion. My heart cried for all their families. Little did I know, I was soon to face my own loss from an act of violence here at home.

The men who cowardly shot my daughter are in jail. I'm sincerely grateful to the detectives in charge of this senseless crime; they acted swiftly and worked tirelessly to jail these men. These guys who go out and randomly shoot and kill innocent people are looking at a whopping 5 to 15 years in prison. Tell me there is something wrong here. What if they were from an Arab country and wore turbans and came up to a crowd of people and started shooting? Would they get more then 5 to 15 years?
What I'm trying to get across is that we are not new to terrorism. I think that we are maybe a little callous to killings and shootings and maybe even death itself, but believe me it hit home - my home, my family - and it hurts. Do these gang members consider themselves Americans? Do we consider them Americans? Are they any better than the cowards who attacked and killed so many innocent people in New York?

Please, someone explain to me how these guys are only facing a mere 5 to 15 years for killing my daughter and leaving my granddaughter motherless. I think anyone who needs to have a gun to make themselves feel tough and aim at unarmed American citizens should be considered an enemy to our country and disgrace to our values as American people. They should be labeled terrorists, not to mention cowards, and dealt with in the same manner as any enemy of our civilized, free country. There is no degree of terrorism; killing innocent people is murder.

Ken Isakson ~ Kehndra's father

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