I find people to be way overreading into this.

When tragedies happen, I often find myself asking what can mitigate a similar situation if I ever find myself in one. That isn't victim blaming. It is learning from life.

To draw a parallel, if a kid in our neighborhood were kidnapped on the way home from school, I'd probably talk with my kids about what to do if they were ever in that situation. Talking about things like this is NOT victim blaming or shaming their school friend. It is probably better described as coping with the unfairness of life. A little kid in that situation is 100% victim. Likewise, it is supremely unfair that Aaron Lowe lost his life--he is 100% victim. He did nothing wrong. Is there anything we can learn from it--to swing the odds of life's unfairness in our favor?

Victim blaming would be if I said he made a bad choice to be at a party where bad people were. Insinuating that he deserved what he got. That is horrible and that is very different from what I wrote. Lowe deserved to get into his car, drive it home, and be at practice Monday moring.

Yes, the murder of Aaron Lowe confirmed to me that when I am put in a situation where there is some punk confronting me in the street, I am going to purposefully de-escalate. Because there are rage monsters out there who might fly off the handle. I am not blaming Lowe for arguing with the guy to move. He needed to move his car. He did nothing wrong. But there was a murderer there, unbeknownst to him. Society is dangerous. It is a very tragic and sad reminder.