Yesterday, while I was perusing the news, I ran across a horrifying story about a child predator. I contemplated writing about it, but I didn't. However, I couldn't stop thinking about it all day yesterday.
The predator, a man in his early thirties, walks onto elementary school property where children are outside enjoying their recess and attempts to grab a little boy. Luckily, the little boy is much faster than the man and gets away as the man falls. All of the children are terrified, as you can imagine, and begin running away from him and screaming, "stranger danger." The child who was almost potentially kidnapped said that the man had white powder on his face and smelled like alcohol.
Here's a video of the incident.
As it turns out, this isn't just some random guy who thought it'd be fun to scare some kids. The man is Solomon Galligan, a registered sex offender, who, in 2011, was convicted on a charge of "non-consent sexual contact." And he's had a lengthy criminal record ever since. The school in question is Black Forest Hills Elementary School in Aurora, Colo. The incident happened in April 2024.
Galligan was eventually arrested. When his court date rolled around, a judge deemed him too "incompetent to proceed" and committed him to the custody of the Colorado Department of Human Services for "treatment directed toward restoring competency." Apparently, that treatment didn't work. Prosecutors are now planning to drop the charges. Galligan will be "released to an unnamed health facility."
Here's the kicker: This isn't the first time this has happened. It's not even the second or third. Since 2018, felony charges against this man have been dropped due to his mental status four times, and he always ends up back on the streets, committing more crimes, including "assault, burglary, and sex crimes." His family says he was diagnosed with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder as a teenager, and his older sister, Sarah Galligan, said she's familiar with the pattern. He ends up in a mental health facility, which doesn't have enough beds, and soon, he's back on the streets.
What makes this particular case even more puzzling is how the school handled the situation. Parents were notified via email that simply read:
Dear Black Forest Hills Community,
This afternoon during 5th grade recess, an unidentified adult male entered the field, approached a group of students, engaged them briefly, and then exited property. School staff brought students inside from recess and called district security. Police and security are now at the school looking into the incident.
Out of an abundance of caution, if you would like to pick up your child from school, you may do so. Otherwise we will dismiss as usual. We will have an increased security and police presence at school during dismissal as a precaution.
Needless to say, parents weren't happy. They felt they weren't given the full story, and the school failed to communicate properly. They also wanted to know why the school didn't use the district's "secured perimeter" protocol. They sent a lengthy letter to Cherry Creek School District officials, asking them to investigate the matter further. The principal was replaced, and apologies were made, but at the end of the day, none of this makes any sense.
What happens next year when the guy, say, walks up on the playground and kills a child? Because given his past, he's just going to keep going if no one does anything about it. Will the school ignore its safety protocols? Will the judge say, "Oh well, he's too incompetent to stand trial." Will the prosecutors drop the charges? Will he end up back on the streets?
I don't have children, but I completely understand why parents are in an uproar over this. And it all got me thinking about something I wrote about earlier this year. Maybe the state of Colorado just doesn't really care about protecting children.
Related: This State Is Putting 'Trans' Rights Over Parents' Rights
The state government signed some bills into law in May that took steps to "strengthen protections for transgender people." In reality, they seemed aimed at grooming children, treating kids as medical experiments, and stripping away parental rights. HB25-1312, for example, gave judges permission to "consider deadnaming, misgendering, or threatening to publish material related to an individual's gender-affirming health-care services as types of coercive control" when making custody decisions. It also made "deadnaming and misgendering" discriminatory acts that can lead to legal consequences. Another bill basically forces insurance companies to cover gender-affirming services.
Before Democrat Gov. Jared Polis signed the bills into law, many parents were appropriately outraged. When they spoke up, they were compared to hate groups like the KKK.
I've always thought of Colorado as a beautiful state with scenic mountain views, rivers, and cool nature and wildlife — a place where you'd want to raise your children wild and free. But Democrats are making it ugly and taking away any freedom people there might have. Whether they're going after kids or letting Venezuelan gang members take over apartment buildings and lying about it, they're turning one of the nation's loveliest places into a progressive hellhole.
Looking at a map from the 2024 election, the state still has plenty of red counties, and nearly 1.4 million people voted for Donald Trump, even though Kamala Harris won the state with 54.2% of the vote. So maybe there is still some hope for Colorado. But — and no offense to those who live there — the more I hear about it, the less likely I am to ever pack up and move there, and I think a lot of people probably agree at this point.
