Life is cheap. In certain countries and towns, in certain jurisdictions and precincts, the strong prey on the weak as though it’s sport, and often with dire consequences.

When a population is armed to the teeth and deemed immaterial, an itchy trigger finger is all it takes to assert one’s relevance, however fleeting that relevance may be.

Early Wednesday morning, former WBA/WBC/IBF cruiserweight champion O’Neil Bell was gunned down during a robbery in Atlanta, Georgia.

He was pronounced dead on the scene.

Born in Jamaica on December 29, 1974, O’Neil’s family moved to the U.S., settling in Atlanta, where it was hoped he would have a better life.

A better life it might have been. A better death it was not.

These are not the best and worst of times. There are terrible times, and those at the bottom are the first to pay the price.

A spokesman for the Atlanta Police Department said that about 30 minutes after midnight, 40-year-old Bell exited a bus with a 28-year-old man he did not know.

Details are sketchy, but according to Lt. Charles Hampton four thieves in a stolen 2006 PT Cruiser swerved in front of the two men. The gunmen exited the vehicle. An argument may or may not have ensued. The young man was shot in the hip and survived. Bell was shot in the chest and did not.

Bell’s mother, Norma Bell, said O’Neil was a good and loving son. “I just hope they catch the people who did this to him. He didn’t deserve to die like that.”

No one does. Life is precious, or at least it ought to be.

The murder of O’Neil Bell has been called a “senseless killing.” However clichéd, it is certainly that. The list of senseless killings is long and growing longer by the day, whereas the list of sensible killings is as short as most people’s memories.

This article was penned by the author who is not related to the WBA and the statements, expressions or opinions referenced herein are that of the author alone and not the WBA.