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With the 58th pick in the 2025 NFL draft last week, the Las Vegas Raiders selected Jack Beck, a wide receiver out of Texas Christian University (TCU). Jack called it a dream come true but also “a two-for-one deal.” Jack’s older brother Martin “Tiger” Bech, a college football player, was a victim of the vehicular jihad attack by Shamsud Din Jabbar in New Orleans on New Year’s Day.
The Islamic State partisan also killed LaTasha Polk, Terrence Kennedy, Kareem Badawi, Hubert Gauthreaux, Reggie Hunter, Nicole Perez, Brandon Taylor, Elliot Wilkinson, Andrew Dauphin, Nikyra Dedeaux, William DiMaio, Matthew Tenedorio, and Edward Pettifer, while wounding many others. The legacy media showed its customary reluctance to report the attack as authentic Islamic terrorism. Contrast a case from last year’s NFL draft.
With the 31st pick, the San Francisco 49ers selected Florida wide receiver Ricky Pearsall. The gifted athlete was unaware of the perils he was soon to face. Last August 31 in downtown San Francisco, an armed robber demanded the 49er’s watch. Pearsall wasn’t giving it up, and in the ensuing struggle took a gunshot to the chest. The bullet missed vital organs and Pearsall miraculously survived.
According to CNN, the assailant was a “17-year-old boy,” an “altercation” simple “broke out,” and both parties suffered “injuries.” That implies some sort of accident, but as police and medical examiners understand, a gunshot to the chest is a “wound.” Pearsall was hit by a bullet “from the suspect’s gun,” which implies that guns fire all by themselves, in the style of trucks that somehow ram into crowds with no driver at the wheel.
The 17-year-old “high school senior” was not identified and no photos of the shooter appeared. In the first court proceeding, the shooter’s mother needed a Spanish language interpreter. Pearsall’s family had a right to wonder if the shooter was legally present in the United States. Legal residency and citizenship require a basic knowledge of English, and there’s more to it.
Illegals and 17-year-olds cannot legally own guns, so California’s myriad gun laws did not prevent this juvenile from acquiring a “semi-automatic firearm.” Gov. Gavin Newsom, former mayor of San Francisco, ignored the attack on the 49er. Also looking the other way was the Democrats’ presidential candidate Kamala Harris, a former district attorney of San Francisco. That should come as no surprise.
In 2015 in San Bernardino, Islamic terrorists Syed Farook and Tashfeen Malik murdered 14 people and wounded more than 20 others. California attorney general Kamala Harris failed to name a single victim and never called out the mass murder as an example of “gun violence.”
The gunman who shot Ricky Pearsall was charged with attempted murder, assault with a firearm, and attempted second-degree robbery. Those are serious crimes so prosecuting this criminal as an adult should be a no-brainer. Trouble is, under California’s Proposition 57, the decision to move the case to adult court must be made by juvenile court judges, not prosecutors. As people should know, California law is kind to criminals, especially the young.
Senate Bill 1391, signed by Gov. Jerry Brown in 2019, bars all prosecution of those under age 16 in adult court. Any criminal under the age of 16 could murder the entire San Francisco 49ers team, be tried only in juvenile court and gain release at age 25. In his signing message, Brown touted “a more just system that respects victims, protects public safety, holds youth accountable,” and so on.
Reports on the shooter’s court proceedings stopped last September and at this writing his identity and sentence, if any, is unknown. The 49er missed several games but soon proved his worth on the field. Jack Bech shows similar promise.
The TCU star was selected most valuable player of the recent Senior Bowl, grabbing a touchdown pass with seven seconds left to give his team a 22-19 win. The Raiders’ selection now draws inspiration from brother Tiger, a football standout at Princeton. In the Senior Bowl game, Bech wore his brother’s No. 7.
“My brother has some wings on me,” Bech told reporters. ‘He gave them to me, and he let that all take place. My Lord and savior, Jesus Christ. Tiger. Nothing else but them. They’re the reason I did what I did today. I attribute it all to them.” Before Bech takes the field as a professional, there’s a few things to remember.
The FBI failed to prevent the terrorist attack that claimed the life of his brother, and the bureau played no role in the takedown of the terrorist. That was also the case at Fort Hood (2009), the Boston Marathon (2013), San Bernardino (2015) and Orlando in 2016, all with massive loss of life and scores of wounded innocents.
The task for Kash Patel is to transform the FBI into a force that stops terrorist attacks before they happen, so the people can worship, play and celebrate in peace and safety. The people will be watching.
