Tragedy struck Buffalo earlier this month with the murder of 13-year-old Waterfront Elementary student, Ameer Al Shammari. After being missing for a day, the seventh grader’s body was found strangled in a golf park on Amherst Street in Black Rock. What makes this gruesome incident even more chilling is the fact that Ameer was killed by another middle school student over… a cell phone.
Police arrested 13-year-old Jean Sanchez a few days after the body’s discovery, helped by tips from local witnesses. Friends and family report that Ameer’s new iPhone was stolen by a group of students prior to the murder. Distraught, Ameer followed Sanchez into a secluded golf park where the other teen promised to return the phone. But instead of giving the phone back, Sanchez first strangled Ameer with his own shoelaces and then hoodie string after the shoelaces broke. He is being tried as an adult in Buffalo City Court and pleaded not guilty to second degree murder even though he confessed to the killing. If convicted, Sanchez faces 5 or 9 years to life in prison.
Al Shammari’s family immigrated to the US 18 months ago from Iraq in search of a better life. Unfortunately, they found anything but. Ameer was laid to rest on Tuesday, May 6th, the funeral attended by many members of Buffalo’s Iraqi community that joined his parents in grief.
Those close to the family have commented that they feel a mixture of relief, anger, and thankfulness to the Buffalo Police Department for Sanchez’s speedy arrest.
“It’s very sad – a 13-year-old charged with the murder of another boy,” Ali Kadhum of the Iraqi American Society said. “But people also are relieved that it was not gangs or professional criminals. There has been a lot of fear about the safety of other children.”
Now that Ameer’s murderer has been arrested, we must wonder what motivated a 13-year-old boy to kill another student over something as seemingly harmless as a smartphone. Child psychologist Dr. Kenneth Condrell, in relation to this case, has stated that Sanchez’s home life probably played a role in his actions. There’s no doubt that kids that have experienced domestic abuse or violence are likelier to grow up to become perpetrators of that same violence. But the circumstances of this murder also lead us to questioning the modern obsession with technology and materialism. These trends are starting to play a part in violent crimes among the young and easily impressionable. Granted, murder-robberies instigated by adults typically involve objects of high value like drugs or luxury items. But now we’re beginning to see kids kill others over things like iPhones. Is it because, through advertisements and our high-consumption lifestyle, we’re teaching kids that ‘things’ may be worth more than people? That you are maybe worth less if you don’t own these luxury goods and that, just maybe, the lives of other people are also expendable in pursuit of those goods? The very fact that we have to ask these questions and try to probe the psyche of what can lead a child to commit such heinous crimes is a tragedy in itself.
That day of the murder, two young lives were essentially ended. Sanchez will likely lead the rest of his life in prison with little chance of parole, a sentence that some believe isn’t harsh enough. But no punishment can truly can console parents that had to bury their own son far before his time.
