Jamarcus Lloyd, an 18-year-old, was shot in the back and killed Monday night, another of Meridian’s young people struck dead by a bullet, another family left to grieve.

Then, late Friday night, Marsha Danielle Pace was allegedly shot by her husband in rural Lauderdale county and later died.

It was the seventh gun death reported in Meridian or Lauderdale County this year; four of the victims ranged in age from 12-19. At least one of those deaths has been ruled accidental.

These follow 10 violent deaths in 2017 within Lauderdale County.

We are not alone. Nationally, we suffered the latest mass school shootings at Santa Fe, Texas and Parkland, Florida leaving another 27 people dead.

Family, friends and acquaintances will mourn the loss of Jamarcus Lloyd this week and beyond. The rest of the community will wring its hands and lament what has happened to this city and cry for something to be done – until the days pass and Jamarcus fades into the statistics for everyone but his family.

We are an impatient people and we will find the catch words and phrases of blame and solutions. Our leaders, know-alls and yahoos have learned them well.

Too many guns.

Not enough guns.

Gangs.

Drugs.

Alcohol.

Bullying.

Absentee fathers.

Neglectful mothers.

Too few police officers.

Bad police officers.

Poverty.

Unemployment.

Welfare.

Immigrants.

White supremacists.

Black activists.

Racists.

Loss of family values.

Shutting out God.

Worshiping another God.

Secularism.

Failing schools.

Academic elites.

Lack of discipline.

Corporal punishment.

Media.

Music.

Clothing.

Hairstyles.

Body art.

Video games.

Violent films and television.

Community blight.

Gated communities.

Respect.

Over-tolerance.

Intolerance.

Liberals.

Conservatives.

Cerebral leadership.

Belligerent leadership.

Thoughts.

Prayers.

We fill the white board, but spurn the conversation. We point fingers. We shout. We don’t listen. We abandon our community. We return home before dark. We lock our doors, activate the alarms and accept the unacceptable.

We have written the same before, in other ways.

This sad cycle will repeat and we’ll report new statistics until we are ready to become a community again work together to find solutions. That takes leadership, conversations, toughness and compassion. Who will lead? Who will follow?

We won’t find a silver bullet. We’ve had enough of those.