I.ve read everyone comments and agree to a point with everyone. I just have to say this, I knew most of these young men. Was it sad yes, Could see this coming yes from a mile away, will it happen again Yes, Why because we small town folks like to say this town is wonderful, we close our eyes on whats really going on until this type of thing happen. Why can't we as people talk to the street people, drug dealers, the wrong doers before we read about this, we see it everyday, we turn our backs, we close our eyes, we return to our nice homes, close the doors and leave it to the streets. Sometimes its best to get involved. Why can't we help the parents that are having children so young, they don't have a clue with what a role of a parent is suppose to be. We know by saying stop having kids young isn't working, whats next. What happen to the community helping, what happen to the people taking charge and working to help each other. I know times are hard, and these people will kill you quickly, but Jesus is my weapon, and the Right way is how i live. I teach at risk children daily, and i teach hard and real life. My point is Lets get something done to help our young people. I'm a mother of 2 young men, and I run my household like a bootcamp. I'm in the their face, i'm in the schools, I'm where ever i need to be until i know they have arrive to a place where they are grown. But everyone isn't me. So lets help instead of seeing the problems become our problems, These issue will one day become our issue in face and personal, cause it could be me in the wrong place or you, or your son or daughter. so see this is our problem.

EMSF...i would never say gangs are not here, but i was addressing the fact that i believe i seen the sign that the young man had in the picture, it appeared to me to have meant PEACE. all i would like to see is that these young men stop the violence. gang or no gang this was senseless. hanging out with your associate dont always means gang, so if see this i would not jump to the conclusion its a gang, in my early years i had 2 friends and we was close, but all we did was HANG OUT.

jhall I would like to share with you and educate you on gangs in LaGrange, but it would serve no purpose. The information I have, which is limited, would put the city, which is in constant denial, in an uproar. If our fair city ever decides to step up and admit that it does have gangs, that's plural on purpose, then we might have a chance to deal with this issue. As it stands at the moment we are way behind on what needs to be done to deal with this problem. You can't address an issue if you deny it's existence!

What alot of folks are asking, is there a "friendly gang/drug dealer" environment in the city of LaGrange? Is the city of LaGrange addressing the social problem of gangs through education and strong,zero tolerance, enforcement? Answer with your own observations and not "feel good slogans" coming from some. Remove race from the equation and attack/educate those that would participate in violent, unacceptable behavior.

i believe it takes 2 or more members to be a gang. i think what you may have seen was a young man living what he see on tv. gangs may be here but the young men just hang out on the dope boy status. he gets to ride around with the dope boy. he control his mind with allowing the flunky to get high, it cost the flunky because he have to do what the dope boy tell him, to get high. the dope then either have a cool flunky or a junky on his team, so thats what the power is.

ESMF...try to sum it up...

The newspaper has answered my question of the existence of gangs in our "Greatest Little City" by publishing the obituary photo of the victim flashing a gang sign! Nice job fueling the fire.

well no more guessing. black on black was correct. robbery and drugs was correct. and this also is correct your days will be cut short if you dont live right. so my blacks people get them morals and values back and live that productive life. dont hurt your families. use that crimnal mind to be positve. living in a fairytale world will have a bad ending. all involved with a second chance go out and tell tour testimony to your peers so they want have to experince what you have. that will be giving back. but if you try the wrong life again you may not get another chance. trouble dont last always. im sure you agree........ LEO

Recently there was an article in one of the papers quoting the experts as saying there are no gangs in LaGrange. Can we get some clarification on this?

Yes, it is a tragedy what happened to Brian Truitt but to those who claim to have known him are you really surprised at the final chapter in his life? I knew him as a child and watched how he evolved. I feel bad for his mother and hope she is able to cope. Wake-up LaGrange and take the proactive enforcement measures that help keep this type of violence in check. Fancy vocabulary and dodging the truth means nothing to the "Gangster" population which apparently infect ALL communities in LaGrange.

The only way to fix all this is to get the "parents" who are the "adults" in our community to stop having unprotected sex unless they are both willing to take responsibility for bringing another child into the world from beginning to end. From the "mature" age of thirteen and up boys and girls of all ages, race, creed, color, etc. are doing this for any number of different reasons. With no mother or father in the picture from day one you can always expect this incident and far worse to be the end result. It will only get worse unless we decide as a community to truely do something about it!

I LOVE YOU DRE GET WELL SOON

L.E.O I dont think nothing that tia said was ment to be about black or white. They didn't even say the word white. You did, so that makes you what? They never said any thing racist, you my dear are the racist, you also said living off government, Who were you talking about? are you truly a police! you was speaking on blacks and governments,whith the way the USA is today we all gone be on the government,blacks,whites,yellow, red, everyone

But any way I think what Tia was trying to say is, Its time for the people to step up and stop the killing.

I'm white and I think you was looking for some hate to say, Tia you was right in everything you said , Its too bad the people that we should be looking up to would say such a thing. And yes thank you LaGrange Police for doing your job that we pay you to do, Too bad the young mens wasn't in jail already then he too could be alive as well, As we are, If they were robbing people and selling drugs then why were they on our streets?

Tia made a lot of good points and so did other people, We as LaGrange native need to help our young people so this may never happen again.

Lets start a new year off right. Please stop the killing.

Demi, my issue with TIA is the fact that she specifically states that "the cops love this black on black stuff". As a white law enforcement officer I believe that is a very racist comment. Demi I agree that people need to be educated and need to quit living off of the government. I would hope that your comment to that end as well as mentioning someone playing "THE RACE CARD" was not being directed at me but a blanket statement to all that are posting on this site about this issue as you do not know me, my educational level, any other facts about this case, my comments, or the background information that I have concerning this case based on my profession. This was a dire tragedy and this type of bantering back and forth serves no purpose other then to further cause division and further enhance the types of behavior that leads to these types of tragedies.

My prayers goes out to all the family of these Men. I don't know any of them that was involved, but I do know Dre's Mother, and I am deeply sad when I heard about what happened. I pray that this is a wake up call to Dre, and others that are doing things that they should not be doing. Dre what every happen and for what ever reason God has given you the opportunity to have a testimony. He has given you the chance to fall, but get back up again. He has given you the opportunity to serve him. Now is your chance to really be see and heard. To the family I say God Bless you, and to the Men that are still here I say Thank God.

Amen.....................................

Let the good time roll....Stay in Pine Mountain,,,Less stress

It saddens me to know so many people have passed judjument since this tradegy happened. Where was the judgement when these men were alive? People stop pointing fingers. These were grown men who mande some bad choices and because of it, now family have to suffer. only those who were there know the real story. Don't judge help grieve for these familys. Hopefully other young men will look at the bad choices and start making better one's May God bless all the family's

L.E.O I think you incorrectly read TIA comments or maybe somewhat misunderstood. The both of you seem to be on the same wavelength. This was a case of black on black crime. By no means, after reading the comments below, did I think anyone was being racist. They were all expressing their opinion regarding this article. Let's put the race card down and stop using that as an excuse!!!!! Get EDUCATED , Acquire a JOB and be a productive and responsible individual in society and make a difference.

There are several things that I want to address about the comments below. First, to JHALL, ALL CRIME IS STUPID regardless of the race of the people involved! To TIA YOU ARE A RACIST! This entire comment section has been ful of racist comments and anti-law enforcement retirect. For all of you just remember that had it not been for the fine men and women of the LaGrange Police Department, the Troup County Sheriff's Office, the Georgia State Patrol, the Coweta County Sheriff's Office, and the Newnan Police Department these murderers would still be at large. The POLICE could care less about "black on black" crime, they just wish crime in and of itself would stop. The fact that TIA made the comment about "black on black" crime shows their ignorance and racist beliefs. All of you are overlooking the fact that Brian Truitt, although he may have been a "good person", was a life long gangster that couldn't overcome greed to live a legitimate life and he DIED because of it. This should be a lesson to ALL YOUNG PEOPLE... REGARDLESS OF RACE!