When 21-year-old Harley Bethea was shot and killed near his house while walking from a convenience store in August — apparently a victim of being in the wrong place at the wrong time — members of the community were looking for the answer to one simple question: Why? Why was this happening in a Franklin neighborhood?

On Tuesday, city residents met with the police chief and three council members to discuss how to better prevent crime. When Harley’s name was mentioned during the meeting, the residents reacted strongly.

Certainly it should not take the senseless death of a young man for residents to take steps to form a

safer community, but that event apparently has stirred emotions that still run deep. Maybe there is a reason for that awful act.