"I hope they get the person who did this horrible act."
You witnessed a horrible act and you were almost killed.
"As if any life can be an act too horrible for words, my lord."
There were other equally horrible acts of violence in the 20th century.
I can tell you from personal experience that it takes horrible acts of nature to sometimes get people to change.
"But I don't know if we will make it to the next century if these horrible acts continue to take place."
As a child he had committed a horrible act.
The man who committed this horrible act will never have his liberty again.
If that's the horrible act of wanting, then so be it.
Despite his getting older, he's essentially the same individual who committed those horrible acts so many years ago.