Showing posts with label Shootings. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Shootings. Show all posts

Friday, November 4, 2011

The You Shoot Me, I'll Shoot You Back . . . Later, Mindset

.
.

I get upset anytime I read of children being the innocent victim of violence. Drive by shootings happens daily across this country. Durham, NC is no exception and that was proven in a harsh and violent way recently.


On the afternoon of Oct 23 Troy Lee Howard and two children 1-year-old Au-Nestii Hagans and 3-year-old Anaryiion Hagan were struck by bullets in a shooting on Driver Street. The children were inside their home and Howard was outside at a neighbor’s home. When police arrived they were told '3 masked men' drove up in a car and began shooting. However, at that time the police did not know if Howard was the intended victim or not.

Apparently a few days earlier on Oct 17, Tavarez Brown of Spruce Street was on Fern Street when he was the target of a shooting. Allegedly the shooting was perpetrated by John Tarver. So Brown decided you shoot me, I'll shoot you back. Later. So, on the Oct 23rd Tavarex Brown allegedly gathered his buddies, Jaunarais King and Arthur Clendenning and drove over to Driver Street and began shooting at John Tarver. The bullets missed Tarver but did hit the 2 children who were inside their nearby home. John Tarver shot back but his bullet struck Troy Lee Howard instead of his intended victims.

Residents of the neighborhood complained that shootings were becoming commonplace yet noone would give names of anyone who could have been involved. When police made a public plea -Help us help you - they received tips of possible shooters’ names.

Now, after the arrest of the alleged shooters, it seems a cousin of the victim Troy Howard says Arthur Clendenning was not a part of the foray of the 23rd. Allegedly Clendenning was at a home across the street from the Hangan's house. Even mom of the children. Dominique Hagans, says he couldn't have been one of the 3 shooters in the car because he was with her sister across the street and was the one who called to report the shooting. (Okay fine, but was he involved any way in some other manner such as contacting Brown and advising Tarver was outside his home?) I'd like to know how long he had been at Chandria Myers home. Had he arrived at the time the shootings happened or was there already? He could've been in the car, exited, then hotfooted it over to Myers home to make himself a part of an after the fact reaction and not the shooting action. Remember folks LE was told the day of the incident there were 3 Masked Men in the car - So if it wasn't Clendenning in the car, who else was involved?

The sad fact of all this is, all four of the accused have previous convictions on drug charges and Arthur Clendenning, Tavarez Brown and Jaunarais King also have convictions for carrying a concealed weapon. Brown was convicted of a couple assault charges previously. He was on probation. John Tarver was also on probation. Had all four still been in jail perhaps these children and Mr. Howard would not have been shot.

Even sadder is that two small babies were victims’ of others violent lifestyles. I am glad Mrs. Hagans is moving her children away from that street. They need to move forward and not be afraid in their home. I 100% agree with her comment as stateed in http://www.wral.com/news/local/story/10294259/
- "People just need to sit down and think about their actions sometimes. They actually don't affect (just) themselves. They affect other people (and) other people's families and children."

I'm also glad tips came in to police. I hope each of those involved goes to prison and serves a long full sentencing term without parole and is not given a short term sentence then probation. It's time to stop the violence in that neighborhood. Apparently two previous shootings occurred there over last 6 months when the victims were sitting on their porches. The residents need to move past this, whether Clendennings is an innocent bystander of the incident where Howard and the children were shot or not. He has a violent past so let him deal with his own legal problems and take back your streets! Gather neighbors and friends and make a pack to involve police with cleaning up the neighborhood of violent offenders. Keep the tips coming. Make it known, If you come on our street, to our neighborhood with your weapons and intent to harm, we'll turn you over to police - Then you are on your own. If the people believe Clendenning wasn't one of the shooters and knows who the alleged 3rd person in the car was, they need to call LE and advise them. After all, the police can't read minds. Let the cops do their job.

Tuesday, May 4, 2010

Crowd Shots - instant terror creating mayhem

Part 2
.
.

Twenty-Two’s shooting of patrons’ and employee, Mia Gant, at Hastings Books wasn’t enough to satisfy his murderous mind. I think perhaps he has lost reality with himself, moved away from himself and into making fantasy real. So, Twenty-Two left Hastings and all the terror he created in the hearts and minds of those people and headed toward Toby’s Bar. He wanted more victims to remember him. At the bar was an employee, a young man, named Tim Donely. Tim was a 23-year-old vet of the war in Iraq. He served his country and served it well; now he was back home, working and making a future for himself. Tim was a door man at the bar; people had to pass him before entering; so Twenty-Two aimed his shotgun and gave himself another victim, another family to feel and live with the horrors of his mind. And he caused a good man to die.


Police were on their way; Twenty-Two fled the scene. I think he was a coward, couldn’t let the police find him standing with a shotgun in his hands. He jumped in his car and headed north. Luckily an alert officer saw the car, and it matched the description of the one driven by the suspect. The police pursued the car, followed it to a residential home. Twenty-Two exited his car and headed around the side of the home, officers followed but Twenty-Two had entered the house. Police surrounded the house, but as they did a gunshot rang out and a woman ran from it screaming her brother had gone into the bathroom and killed himself. Twenty-Two again took victims. His sister was the woman who ran from the home and her children were inside. I can’t imagine the horror and sadness she felt that fateful night. Twenty-Two was dead, he’d killed himself rather than face his victims, face himself.

After Twenty-Two killed himself and the mayhem settled, people keeping up with the event that night began questioning why he was free to commit such atrocities. Twenty-Two had a long criminal record. Back in 2008 he’d committed aggravated assault and given probation. In 2009, Twenty-Two’s violence escalated, they arrested him for attacking two people with a knife in October. In December of 2009, Twenty-Two again allegedly walked outside the law, accusations of attacking his girlfriend with a knife arose. But, his list of violence wasn’t over yet; he was accused of another crime; this time he allegedly threatened a man that connected him to the previous crimes. Twenty-Two had very large bonds set in all these charges. But bonds were later lowered to a more pliable amount so Twenty-Two could walk free outside the boundaries of a jail cell.

The whole thing with all the charges is conflicting since Twenty-Two’s girlfriend recanted her accusation of violence against her and the fourth charge was in doubt too; I think due to the theory that the accuser had also been one to threaten Twenty-Two in the past, with a gun. The reasons for those two charges aren’t really what matters in the whole scheme of things; it’s that those bonds and the ones where he was accused of stabbing two men were lowered and Twenty-Two was free to commit his night of horror against innocent people.

I feel no sympathy for Twenty-Two, don’t feel his health issue should’ve been reasons for lowering his bond. (He allegedly was having stomach and colon problems and could’ve been facing surgery) If he had health issues and needed medical treatments then the county could’ve transported him to the doctor. And he’d have still been a resident of the local jail and not free.

Oddly, or maybe not oddly, Twenty-Two has a GPS strapped to his ankle the night of April 20. He was also to not live in a home where weapons were located either. I feel the person(s) responsible for keeping an eye on Twenty-Two didn't do a very good job. He obviously had access to weapons when he wasn't supposed to have them in his home. Were there no follow-ups and checks on him? And who was responsible for the tracking device? I realize DAs and Judges have to follow the letter of the law, but I do question the apparent lack of follow-ups on Twenty-Two after they handed down the bond lowering judgments.

Still, the story does not end with Twenty-Two’s death or the controversy over bond lowering.

Since the night of horror he inflicted on others, his girlfriend, Pamela Sampley, has allegedly stepped into the void of her mind too; Sampley stated she intended finishing what Twenty-Two started. She was allegedly going to commit this atrocious crime in a large department store.

(Yes, I used her name. Check out her booking photo at the link below; she appears to be a woman with a question on her forehead asking - ‘what does face forward mean?’ An image of sunshine and brightness? Nope.) They charged the 33-year-old with a terrorist threat. She was in jail when she made her alleged comments; naturally, she is still in jail. I have to wonder though, will her bonds be lowered also? Did she know what Twenty-Two planned to do on April 20? She was in jail the night he went on his rampage and had been for about a week, but could they have discussed it prior to her being incarcerated?

No, I will not remember his name; I feel if I don’t think about his name, only the names of his victims, then his evil plans will all be for naught. He wasn’t a big man; he was a weakling; a follower and not a leader; one who had filed in March of this year to dissociate himself from his father by changing his name. Sadly, he had not decided to dissociate himself from his sister; if he had, then her home would not have become the scene of a bloody suicide.

During that night of death and mayhem many people became victims, the deceased vet Tim Donely, his family, those shot - Mia Gant, Leanna Duran, Jade Henderson, and Deondra Sauls, their families, those who witnessed the horror, Twenty-Two’s sister, her family, and Eileen Levy, her family. My condolences go out to each of them.


http://www.timesrecordnews.com/news/2010/apr/22/suspect-had-faced-felony-charges-in-4-pending/

http://www.timesrecordnews.com/news/2010/apr/23/family-sought-help-for-gunman/


http://www.timesrecordnews.com/news/2010/apr/29/woman-charged-threatening-continue-muehlberger-sho/