We do take note of the Commissioner's incredulity at the inclusion of innocent family members in the frame of gang violence. But it has been happening for some years now. Back in 2018, when the mother of a gang members was killed we asked visiting violence expert Dr Herbert Gayle about it. He said targeting innocent family embers, specially women and children is a sign of a dangerous escalation in hostilities:
Dr. Herbert Gayle
"It's an indicator of what we call a level two war, meaning that no longer are people at the base level of violence, but they're stepping it up to a higher level, in which they are addressing the replicator because one of the rules of war is you do not kill women and children and once people do that, they are actually triggering a larger war, because they know when they kill the person biologically who replaces us, who can reproduce, who can replace us, that's why we call them the replicator. They know for sure that what they're doing is triggering a deeper set of emotion and a deeper set of emotion means a wider frame of killing. So, there is reason to be concerned."
