Yvette Edmunds is a woman gripped by a potent mix of anger and fear. Her tormentor, a man whose face is etched into the collective memory of many, haunts her thoughts.
“He’s back again, lurking in the shadows. But how long until his darkness consumes someone entirely?” she asked, tears shimmering in her eyes. “This vicious cycle with him, it just doesn’t seem to end.”
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Yet beneath her tumultuous emotions lies a profound sense of empathy.
“I hesitate to label him a monster, for he is not devoid of humanity,” Edmunds confided to Kelly Werthmann of CBS News Colorado. “I forgave him long ago, Solomon. My heart aches more for the failings of the system.”
Edmunds first encountered Solomon Galligan in 2021, a chance encounter near the Denver County Courthouse that shattered her sense of security.
“It was a single blow, yet it left scars that run deep,” she recounted.
[adinserter name="Six"]But what followed was a protracted legal battle, marred by systemic inadequacies. Edmunds revealed how the felony assault case against Galligan was dismissed due to resource constraints.
“The judge lamented, ‘We lack the resources to provide him with the care he needs, and our facilities are stretched beyond capacity,'” she recalled with a furrowed brow. “It baffled me to see him released time and again, knowing full well the havoc he wreaks upon his return.”
[adinserter name="Five"]Court records paint a grim portrait of Galligan’s past, marked by a litany of assault charges and a misdemeanor sex assault conviction. His latest brush with infamy? An attempted kidnapping in Aurora.
“As an educator, witnessing a child endure the trauma akin to my own is utterly heartbreaking,” Edmunds confessed, her voice tinged with sorrow. “It fills me with righteous indignation.”
[adinserter name="Four"]But Edmunds’ compassion knows no bounds. Even in the face of Galligan’s latest mugshot, she cannot help but mourn the man he once was.
“People brand him a specter, a soul devoid of light,” she mused. “But I’ve seen glimpses of his humanity, the beauty beneath the facade. Solomon has known hardship, traversing the treacherous terrain of foster care and grappling with mental illness. Yet, where is the support he so desperately needs?”
[adinserter name="Three"]As a stalwart advocate for special education in the Cherry Creek Schools District, Edmunds underscores the urgent need for compassion and intervention. She fears that Galligan may be doomed to languish in the shadows, forsaken by a system ill-equipped to address his plight.
“Perhaps my calling lies in shielding these vulnerable souls from a fate akin to Solomon’s,” she reflected, tears glistening in her eyes. “But what I truly desire is for him to find solace, for the streets to be rid of his specter. The system must awaken from its slumber, for this cycle of despair cannot endure.”
[adinserter name="Two"]Galligan presently languishes in the confines of the Arapahoe County Jail, awaiting his day in court on April 25, where he will face charges of second-degree attempted kidnapping.
