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Send tips, rumors, rants to Fred Ortega fred.ortega@sgvn.com.

To the language and content sensitive: Don't go there.

UPDATED: Collectively, we're somewhere in between 19th Century notions of what a newspaper and journalism means and the 21st Century landscape of content immediacy and iterative reporting. There aren't road signs here. The editorial discomfort over posting this picture without further comment had more to do with context, and that thinking is correct. It wasn't well communicated, but it probably would help if the phone on my desk actually worked.

So here's the image purported to be Lee in a Du Roc Crips T-Shirt. It's not posted to be sensational or to "criminalize" the victim. Brandon should not be dead today. Period.

However the narrative regarding what is happening in Monrovia and unincorporated "No Man's Land" has its inconsistencies. One of those is the extent to which innocents or "innocents" are being caught in the crossfire. It's an uncomfortable, difficult-to-process space that someone like 16-year-old Sammantha Salas could be gunned down in front of her home through no fault of her own. And that someone might have considered her a target by association. Police and family, as per tomorrow's story, link her father to a checkered past.

I'll try to explore some of these things in tomorrow's story.

Brandon Lee was 19 and it confounds reason that he would be murdered. Except his own gang connection might have run more deeply than his family thought. More than the police -- who now say they believe he was a full-fledged member of the DuRoc Crips -- other, more personal connections make that link, including the content of his makeshift memorial at the site of his murder. And at some point, he stood and posed for this picture. Does it tell the complete story of Brandon Lee? No, but it can't be ignored either and illustrates another facet.

Comments

Does that mean Larry Wilson has to cover up his PDL tats at work? Mike

Posted by: Sharkey | January 31, 2008 3:20 PM

So why did you also take down the youtube video link showing a positive visual of Brandon, as a captain of his high school football team giving advice to the underclassmen at Duarte High? A shirt that says DuRoc on it means nothing. Most of the kids in Duarte say DuRoc for short when referring to their city. I've even heard the cheerlearders at DHS used DuRoc to shorten the name of Duarte for chants and stomps. Does that mean all the Cheerleaders are Crips too?

Posted by: Anonymous | January 31, 2008 3:24 PM

Um anonymous person above me, please read through Brandon's myspace page (you can still get to it under the underlined text) read his conversation Actually, I will transcribe it... Freind- yea wat u bangin Brandon- BKANGING ALL TH3 WAY 3 TH3 FULL3ST FUCCIN MEXICAN KILLA ALL DAY TILL I DI3 R.I.P BRANDON L33 AKA BRUIZER Freind- wen u move out there Brandon- WHILE AGO I W3NT 3 OKLAHOMA BUT DIDNT LIK3 IT SO NOW WITH MY POS OUT H3AR CUZZ Freind-fa sho... u still in skoo Brandon- NO FUCC SCHOOL CUZZ Freind- ha ha u funny ma nigg. . . ay good talkin 2 u bro bro but im finna go ta sleep cuz i gotta work in tha mornin... 2 min Brandon- IIGHT MA NIGGA C SAFE OUT THERE 4 REALS CUZZ 3S This guy brandon is talking about being a mexican killer, it is EASY to find for people to read and get mad over, I think that anything that says he was a saint really needs to be questioned. on a side note. My apologies to pasadena Now for actually doing some investigating.

Posted by: I guess anonymous too | January 31, 2008 4:30 PM

Can you guys just let this young man r.i.p. please, damn!! The fact of the matter is he's dead....period!!! Respect that if nothing else! The violence needs to stop regardless. The idiot that posted this picture in the beginning on the stupid comment blog needs to be slapped the fuc out of, cuz if I was Mr Lee thats exactly what I would do. B.T.W......how's ever heard of someone expressing alot of negativity towards the dead. No one is perfect, and his dirty laudry shouldn't be aired due to the fact he has passed away. Have respect for his family if nothing else. People as well as the media can be really cruel. Just remember while your judging this young man.....you two one day will be judged, but by a higher power.....now, are you ready for that.....anonymous!!

Posted by: man I'm tired | January 31, 2008 5:45 PM

As a Mexican, I have nothing but sorrow for this young man. No matter what he lived or felt or thought. It is good to know about him and, even if he was flawed, so are we all. May God forgive this young man and take him safely in His care.

Posted by: Anonymous | January 31, 2008 6:48 PM

Risking naive idealism: If we can't understand what's going on and why people are being killed how is it going to stop? There is no pleasure in this for anyone.

Posted by: Todd | January 31, 2008 6:48 PM

WATS NOT TO UNDESTAND ?? THIS YOUNG MAN WAS A GANG MEMBER HE PUT HIMSELF AT RISK BY DOING SO ,I FEEL SORRY FOR HIS FAMILY BUT SADLY HE MADE HIS BED NUFF SAID

Posted by: MONROVIAN | February 6, 2008 7:54 PM

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