Many readers took issue with the article I wrote yesterday about the death of Jimmy Cooke, a Bayard-Rustin 12th grader.

While we don't report on deaths like this if they happen in a private space, we have to report on them if they take place in public and threaten members of the general public.

I am deeply sorry for the loss Cooke's family and the Rustin community have experienced. Often, when you're writing an article like this, it's necessary to pretend the people you're writing about are no more real than characters in a book. Thinking this way protects you. But my protection failed yesterday after I got off of the phone with Caroline Adams, Cooke's girlfriend.