A teenager in Kansas City was shot while trying to pick up two of his brothers when he was shot. Why was he shot? He had gone to the wrong address, and he was black.

The victim made an innocent mistake, and perhaps so did the shooter. But the victim's mistake was harmless and nonviolent. The shooter's mistake, if it was one, was to jump to a hostile conclusion without checking it.

We must not accept the excuse of "innocent mistake" for violent actions.