Young man murdered in San Bernardino Sunday night
I just got back from a tragic scene on the West side. Friends and family mourned the shooting death of an 18-year-old San Bernardino man Sunday night.
Here is my initial report ...
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Bulletholes pocked the grey cinderblock facade of a subsidized housing unit, just to the right of the door. Marshawn "Derrick" Hampton, 18, never made it inside.
The fatal bullet felled him on the small concrete porch.
This is a photo I took at about 4 p.m., of friends and family gathered around the porch on which Hampton was killed. Some cried. These small children are sitting right where Hampton laid when he was mortally wounded.
On Monday, less than 24 hours later, the porch was adorned with candles and multi-colored balloons. About 10 family and friends, all women, some with small children, clustered around the porch and talked in hushed tones.
Shirley Keegan, Hampton's aunt, stood expressionless by a massive oak tree, it's trunk bearing the scars of Sunday night's gunfire.
"He was important to us, we loved him," Keegan said. "This isn't some gang-related killing in a poor black neighborhood that is going to go unsolved. The police need to find the person who did this."
Keegan, like others at the vigil, described Hampton as an avid sports fan who liked to play basketball and football. They said he had a longtime girlfriend who is in high school. His mother and father lived separately in the West side neighborhoods, and he had always been fond of his grandmother.
"She is so hurt by this, in a lot of pain," Keegan said.
Hampton did not graduate, Keegan said, instead spending some time in court-ordered youth camps. Police said little about Hampton's slaying, other than to say he was a documented gang member. Hampton had been 18-years-old for nine months, but had nothing on his record more serious than a traffic violation in San Bernardino County.
"I was trying to get him into the C.C.C. (California Conservation Corps)," she said.
People at the makeshift vigil said Hampton had been standing near the curb with a group of friends, talking, Sunday night. An argument had occurred between two other men earlier in the evening, they said, with one stalking off angrily.
"He came back and shot the place up," Keegan said. "Derrick was just an innocent bystander."
Hampton had a younger brother and a twin sister, said Raynieka Barnes, 21, who identified herself as Hampton's older sister.
Barnes, her face streamed with tears, said Hampton was in the wrong place at the wrong time. She disputed that Hampton was a gang member. She, and others, say police are prone to documenting every young black man in the neighborhood as a gang member.
"There's a difference between gang banging and living in the hood," Barnes said. "He wanted to get out, he wanted to do something, he just hadn't figured things out yet."
The tree-lined blocks of these subsidized housing units have been notorious for bloodshed in recent years. Locals call the neighborhood "The Projects," and the street on which Hampton was slain is known as "A-block," a moniker that owes its origins to prison vernacular, said E.J. Ford, 55.
Ford added that another victim, a girl or young woman, was injured when she was hit with with bullets or bullet fragments Sunday night. Ford said shots were heard in the neighborhood the night before, a grim portent of the bloodshed to come.
"It's really bad out here," Ford said, sitting on his porch. "I knew all day something was going to happen."
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Andrew Edwards. E-mail Andrew here.
I was at the hospital when this was going on. Such a terrible thing to happen.. I felt so bad for this family,i knew Marshawn Hampton, we went to elementary together..
Don't worry, with Chief Billdt's statisticians hard at work this murder will be discounted, reclasified, and perhaps forgotten all together. It's sad that the only people to recognize that we still have a crime problem are the victims and the officers.
don't politicize this tragedy!
I agree with the person above me. It is extremely poor taste to use this family's personal tragedy and suffering to forward your political or personal agenda against the mayor or Bildt.
How sick to try and do something like that!
Obviously none of you knew the victim in this shooting.He was no child and you would not have called him that to his face. He was a gang member and he lived the life of one. If you don't want to end up like him then change your ways. It makes me sick that someone would try to blame this on Morris or Billdt. Neither one of them pulled the trigger and all the money and all the social programs don't stop a murderer when he is bent on killing. Grow up
Obviously none of you knew the victim in this shooting.He was no child and you would not have called him that to his face. He was a gang member and he lived the life of one. If you don't want to end up like him then change your ways. It makes me sick that someone would try to blame this on Morris or Billdt. Neither one of them pulled the trigger and all the money and all the social programs don't stop a murderer when he is bent on killing. Grow up
Obviously none of you knew the victim in this shooting.He was no child and you would not have called him that to his face. He was a gang member and he lived the life of one. If you don't want to end up like him then change your ways. It makes me sick that someone would try to blame this on Morris or Billdt. Neither one of them pulled the trigger and all the money and all the social programs don't stop a murderer when he is bent on killing.
Morris and Billdt didn't pull the trigger, but they'll be quick to patronize the citizens affected by this. They'll downplay it until an arrest is made and then they'll be quick to credit their personal strategies. When is everyone going to wake up? Just read the article about stat manipulation today.
Serenah,
Thanks for your comments. You are touching on an important concept that is lost on many people - That living in a poor, minority community and being young and male does not automatically make someone a "gangmember."
Marshawn's sister said the same thing. Many local community leaders charge that virtually all young black males are in "The Projects" are chategorized as gangmembers by police.
We'll need to look at that a little closer.
Thanks again,
Robert Rogers
Robert:
She's completely lost hope that your paper will print the story & refuses to read your blog anymore. Edwards won't do the story. You won't do the story. It's all very true, but change must be made without local media involvement from this point forward. She has asked me to ask you to forget she ever asked you to print the story.
On a more personal note, a lot of us were holding on to that hope. You don't want to know how much she wanted to believe that the media would do something. She gave speeches every weekend to us, telling us to just hang on. That there was hope. That there was a reporter in the area taking this seriously. I have never seen her cry like today.
yours truly
-too afraid to write my name because nobody will defend me-
Volunteer,
I'm terribly sorry, but as I told Patience yesterday, factors have arisen that will not allow me the opportunity to write that story.
My advice to Patience and her supporters is that no single reporter or newspaper represents the only game in town. Talk to others. Make your case for why this is important.
Someone will agree and plunge in with both feet.
Best,
Robert Rogers
its funny what people will write on the internet when they don't have to look people in the face as they talk their trash no one's interested in. Very disrespectful. but at least if its just written here the family won't have to endure the pain of some knucklehead coming to their home trying to use this tragedy for their own twisted gain.
Write whatever you want here. just let this family grieve in peace.
Gimme a break....San Bernardino is nothing but a ghetto. Do I feel sorry for this family? Absolutely. No mother, aunt, grandmother, or any family member should have to endure this kind of pain...black, white or hispanic. But to say he was nothing but an "innocent bystander?" Please, you people need to pull your head out of the sand! Just because he didn't have a criminal record doesn't mean he wasn't a gangmember.
This is a very sad story. I truly feel for the family. However, you people need to pull your head out of the sand. Just because he didn't have a criminal record doesn't mean he wasn't a gangmember. Give me a break.
SERENAH YOU GO GIRL! Preaching to the choir! Amen!
Eric -
While I have (on this blog) agreed with you on somethings (the Fiscalini field issue) and disagreed with you on others, I can assure you that I am not Serenah. I was agreeing with her about the specific post regarding Sonia.
Believe me or don't - I don't care. But I am a real person (who Andrew and Robert have met - in fact I had lunch with Andrew this week!).
Regards,
Molly
Serenah I can see you are very passionate about this. I truly hope everything works out and you get your kids back. Take care.
Message to The Sun editors,
People here are out of control, threatening each other, abusing this blog and other readers and posting links could well be virus links. I am not going to click on them to find out. Is there anything you can do to moderate this blog please and make sure people are not posting dangerous links or spam? I posed the same question to Robert Rogers who told me the paper "prefers not to censor anyone." This has gone beyond the censorship issue. You are, in essence, providing a forum free of consequences for people to anonymously harass and bully others without a moderator. Why do you not have rules that so many other blogs open to comments have such as respect for others and a zero tolerance for profanity. How is this newsworthy? How does this further your journalistic mission?
Editors, you need to pay attention to what people are doing on here. You are supposed to be a respected news organization and people threatening each other and using profanity anonymously over petty vendettas on a blog your organization hosts is not news. I am certain that you make sure the stories you print are not libelous before they run, so shouldn't the items posted on your web site also be properly vetted as well? When you print a letter to the editor I know that you require a name and a telephone number and you verify that the letter is authentic, why do you not require the same here? If people make libelous comments on a blog that is hosted by the Sun, can the Sun be held legally responsible? If someone makes a libelous comment about someone else accusing them of criminal activity without verification and that accusation ends up being unfounded, can't a web site be held responsible for hosting the blog that contains this comment? If so, you may be leaving your paper open to a libel lawsuit. I believe I am correct or youtube.com would not remove videos that leave the site open to a lawsuit.
I am going to be contacting a media law expert about whether or not you can be held legally responsible for libelous comments on this blog. I will report back with my findings.
Message to The Sun editors,
People here are out of control, threatening each other, abusing this blog and other readers and posting links could well be virus links. I am not going to click on them to find out. Is there anything you can do to moderate this blog please and make sure people are not posting dangerous links or spam? I posed the same question to Robert Rogers who told me the paper "prefers not to censor anyone." This has gone beyond the censorship issue. You are, in essence, providing a forum free of consequences for people to anonymously harass and bully others without a moderator. Why do you not have rules that so many other blogs open to comments have such as respect for others and a zero tolerance for profanity. How is this newsworthy? How does this further your journalistic mission?
Editors, you need to pay attention to what people are doing on here. You are supposed to be a respected news organization and people threatening each other and using profanity anonymously over petty vendettas on a blog your organization hosts is not news. I am certain that you make sure the stories you print are not libelous before they run, so shouldn't the items posted on your web site also be properly vetted as well? When you print a letter to the editor I know that you require a name and a telephone number and you verify that the letter is authentic, why do you not require the same here? If people make libelous comments on a blog that is hosted by the Sun, can the Sun be held legally responsible? If someone makes a libelous comment about someone else accusing them of criminal activity without verification and that accusation ends up being unfounded, can't a web site be held responsible for hosting the blog that contains this comment? If so, you may be leaving your paper open to a libel lawsuit. I believe I am correct or youtube.com would not remove videos that leave the site open to a lawsuit.
I am going to be contacting a media law expert about whether or not you can be held legally responsible for libelous comments on this blog. I will report back with my findings.
Nope, they can't and there is nothing here that anyone can sue for. If you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen. Get vetted, yourself, before you go out to the race. Don't throw stones when you live in a glass house (even when you do the hamster dance in front of it). Slander = lies. Nobody was lying about Sonia or Morris.
You are probably a Morris and can't tell the difference between slander and truth. That's why you've got the "maybe" feeling about your little post. Well, I'll tell you right now that the moment Sonia put herself out there, she was open to public comment, especially since she was insulting other people. Morris is a public figure whose job is constantly monitored, essentially, by his constituents. He is open for criticism with regard to even his personal life; however, I do not see that it got that far. Only the crappy job he's done and his character have come into question on this blog.
Well, there it is. It's not friendly, but it's a nice breakdown for you. Wanna find out how I know ? ? ?
Let's just say you're not the only elitist, Morris...
OOH! OOH! WAIT! One more thing! There WAS ONE thing someone can sue over and actually have a case about: your comment. Yeah, it's not lawful to go around trying to hinder people's civil right to free speech by threatening to sue them.
YES! LOL! YES! **does the hamster dance**
Lesson: don't wake the sleeping dragon if you're not prepared to fight.
Concerned Reader = Jim Morris. Duh!!!!!!! Guess your liason with some weirdos has come back to bite ya in the rear.
Hampster Dancing MAO
Apparently Jim Morris doesn't like the FBI crime statistics. I guess the truth hurts! Oh well.
I guess that makes him their pimp.
floccinaucinihilipilific is thinking that something is rather trivial or useless.
To annonymous (Sept 28 at 1:18pm)
Are you referring to Peggy Hazlett?
Virus links? Aw c'mon! Just reading your e-mail can get you a virus! Anybody without a good virus protection program shouldn't even use a PC. Avast is free and it's credible, in my opinion.
I think you are just trying to deflect anyone checking out what is going on. I saw the videos and it's just icky.
By the way - the anti-slap laws would be in effect because who ever is posting is doing the community a service in warning citizens about the scams these freaks are perpetrating. Anyone that tried to prosecute this would tell you - tons of $$$, tons of time, and no result. Sad but true......
Eric,
The one and only Peggy Hazlett, she just recently started attending, Sally is clueless.