NYC: Accused shooter of Mark Carson “laughed and boasted” of killing to police
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| photo via NYPost/Christopher Sadowski |
The New York Post reports that the man accused of shooting New Yorker Mark Carson in the face at point blank range laughed and boasted about the shooting shortly after being arrested.
“Yeah, I shot him in the head,” sneered Elliot Morales, 33, while “laughing on the ground” when cops were handcuffing him for shooting Mark Carson, 32, early Saturday morning.
Morales today was held without bail on charges of second-degree murder as a hate crime, menacing and two counts of criminal possession of a weapon, court records show.
“Look at these faggots,” said Morales, who was accompanied by two friends, according to police.
“What are you, gay wrestlers?” he challenged Carson and his pal, who were wearing boots, cut-off shorts and tank tops.
Carson and his friend kept walking to avoid a confrontation, but Morales — whose pals left him before he turned violent — followed the duo and asked Carson, “Do you want to die here?”
Morales allegedly pulled out a silver Taurus .38-caliber revolver and blasted the man in the cheek. Carson died shortly after at Beth Israel Hospital.
Morales has six prior arrests, including attempted murder in 1998 and others for criminal possession of a weapon.
He’s served more than nine years in both city and state prisons.
The NY Post says Morales’ two friends have been questioned and released, and are considered “cooperative” in the ongoing investigation.
(via source)
NYC: Candlelight vigil held in West Village for shooting victim of anti-gay hate crime
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| All photos via JMG |
Late last night, hundreds attended a candlelight vigil in Greenwich Village to remember Mark Carson, who was shot and killed in a hate crime just hours earlier. Speaker after speaker exhorted the crowd: “Say his name! Mark Carson, Mark Carson, MARK CARSON!”
The event was organized by Adam Feldman and speakers included activists Eugene Lovendusky, Robert Pinter, and Brendan Fay. Among the local politicos in attendance were state Sen. Brad Hoylman, state Assemblyman Micah Kellner, and City Council candidate Corey Johnson.
According to Joe Jervis at JoeMyGod, speaker after speaker exhorted the crowd: “Say his name!” Everybody: “Mark Carson, Mark Carson, MARK CARSON!”
On Monday there will be a rally at the LGBT Community Center at 5:30PM, followed by a march to the scene of the murder.
CNN has named the alleged suspect in custody. He reportedly confessed to the NYPD early this morning.
Around 4 a.m., a police officer, responding to a radio alert of the shooting, came across the alleged gunman and apprehended him. The suspect turned over a silver Taurus .38-caliber six-shot revolver, according to police.
Police later identified the suspect as Elliot Morales, 33. Police said the suspect had forged identification and they used facial recognition technology to determine his true identity.
Morales faces a charge of second-degree murder as a hate crime, authorities said. The identities of the suspect’s two companions — at least one of whom Kelly said left the suspect before the shooting — are still not known.
(from JMG)
NYC: More details emerge in hate-crime shooting of 32 year old gay man
The NY Daily News has published the name and photo of last night’s victim of the fatal anti-gay hate crime last night in Greenwich Village.
Mark Carson, 32, was confronted, harrassed, then stalked and shot in the face by an as-yet unidentified assailant. The shooter was with two friends when he first approached Carson and his friend on Sixth Ave. about midnight, police said.
From the Daily News:
Sources said Carson and his 31-year-old friend were dressed in tank tops and cut-off shorts with boots. “Look at these faggots,” one of the suspect’s crew barked at the pair. “What are you, gay wrestlers?” The two groups exchanged words, but Carson and his pal decided it was better to walk away.
But as they turned the corner, the suspect and one of his cohorts confronted the pair again and taunted them by shouting “faggott” and “queer,” Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said. One of the bigots got nervous and ran away as the suspect asked the two gay men, “Do you want to die here?” Kelly said. Suddenly, the suspect whipped out a silver .38-caliber revolver and shot Carson in the face. The shooter ran away as Carson collapsed on the sidewalk.
As emergency crews rushed Carson to Beth Israel Hospital, rookie cop Henry Huot was responding to the job and spotted the gunman at W. Third and MacDougal Sts. — where he ordered the suspect to stop.
The suspect was cuffed as Carson died on arrival at the hospital.
There will be a candle light vigil held at the scene of the crime tonight at midnight.
Texas: Lesbian vicously attacked for defending bullyed 4 year old
A Texas lesbian was the victim of a brutal attack that came when she attempted to stop older children from bullying her girlfriend’s four year-old son at a local playground.
The victim says the assault began when the parent of another child realized that she is a lesbian. Thus far police are refusing to consider the attack to have been a hate crime.
Scarber is grateful simply to be alive. She said she was attacked at an elementary school playground for protecting a bullied four-year-old boy. The scuffle between children, however, quickly escalated into violence among adults, Scarber worries, because she is a lesbian.
“She was just helping him, defending him from a big kid, and this is what happened to her,” said Scarber’s girlfriend and the boy’s mother, Hillary Causey.
SeabournThe couple had taken Causey’s son, Jaxon, to the playground at Mesquite’s Seabourn Elementary on Feb. 17. Shortly after arriving at 2:30 p.m., though, the couple said some older children began pushing Jaxon around.
“Sondra said, ‘Can you please keep your hands off of him, he’s only four,’” Causey said.
The father became enraged, she said, when he realized Scarber, who wears baggy clothes and has short hair, is a woman, and that the two are lesbians. Friends since the third grade, Scarber and Causey have been girlfriends for three years. They’re raising Causey’s young son together.
“When he walked up thinking it was father and mom with the kid, he wasn’t as angry,” said Causey, 26, “but then when he figured out it was a female, he got like super pissed, and I don’t know why.”
She said the man punched and kicked Scarber repeatedly, hurling homophobic slurs at her while she lay on the ground, unconscious.
(via WFAA)
Texas inmate admits assault on fellow-inmate was hate crime
Last December, Texas prison inmate John Hall attacked another inmate because his victim appeared to be gay.
Today, the Justice Department announced that Hall pleaded guilty of violating the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, the national law against targeting someone for their perceived sexual orientation or gender identity.
Via press release:
According to information presented during the plea hearing, Hall targeted the victim, a fellow inmate, because of the victim’s perceived sexual orientation. Hall admitted that he assaulted the victim because of his perceived sexual orientation by repeatedly punching and kicking the victim while calling the victim gay slurs. The victim sustained multiple lacerations to his face, and chipped and fractured teeth as a result of Hall’s unprovoked attack. The assault occurred inside the Federal Correctional Institution, which is within the special maritime or territorial jurisdiction of the United States.
Another ten years could be tacked on to Hall’s current prison time.
(via Towleroad)
Kentucky men acquitted of hate-crime, but found guilty of kidnapping charges
The Advocate is reporting that cousins Anthony Ray Jenkins and David Jason Jenkins were found guilty of kidnapping in the 2011 attack on Kevin Pennington, who is gay.
However, they were acquitted of hate-crime charges.
Federal prosecutors had argued that the Jenkinses planned to kidnap, beat and kill Pennington because of his sexual orientation. Defense attorneys argued the dispute happened because of a drug deal turned sour. Attorney Willis Coffey suggested that Pennington’s allegations were motivated by a political agenda.
“Coffey said Pennington pushed the idea that he was attacked for being gay to serve his own political agenda,” according to the AP. “Coffey invoked the name of President Barack Obama, who is unpopular in Kentucky and lost badly in the state four years ago.”
President Obama signed the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act in 2009. The legislation expanded federal hate-crime law to cover sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, or gender.
The Jenkinses are scheduled to be sentenced in February.
Today is the anniversary of Matthew Shepard’s death
Long Beach: Four Marines arrested for alleged beating of gay man
Four Marines from Southern California’s Camp Pendleton were arrested early Sunday morning after they allegedly beat a gay man after taunting him with homophobic slurs inside the Silver Fox bar in Long Beach:
Police arrested the four Marines after they say the suspects beat the full-time film student until he passed out. They may be charged with a hate crime.
Charlie Harris was working in the bar and ran to help. “You could hear the punches. It was bad,” Harris said.
“You just saw fists, and muscles, and tattoos, and all those guys were on top of him,” David, the victim’s boyfriend, said. He said he was too shocked to move.
The Press Telegram reports:
Silver Fox Manager John Barnes told the Press-Telegram on Monday that the four men came into the bar late Sunday or early Monday and the primary culprit, who seemed visibly uncomfortable while at the bar, called Barnes “sweetheart.”
“You could tell by the tone of his voice that he was uncomfortable, he was making a demeaning remark,” Barnes said.
The attack occurred as the bar was closing, with the primary suspect punching a young gay man who was much smaller, Barnes said. Police were on scene within moments of the call, and the suspects were detained and arrested for assault.
Via Towleroad
Michigan: Anti-gay hate crime gets a guilty plea
For the second time since the adoption of the Matthew Shepard Act, the federal government has won a conviction for an anti-gay hate crime. Via MetroSource:
Everett Dwayne Avery of Detroit admitted to striking a fellow customer in the face in a Detroit convenience store in March 2011 because of the man’s perceived sexuality. Avery’s assault resulted in numerous facial injuries to the victim, including the fracturing of the victim’s eye socket.
In a statement released today, the Department of Justice confirmed that the 36-year-old Avery had pleaded guilty to the federal hate crimes charge.
Avery is scheduled to be sentenced Nov. 28 and faces a maximum of 10 years in prison.
“Hate-fueled incidents have no place in a civilized society,” said Thomas E. Perez, assistant attorney general for the Civil Rights Division. “The Justice Department is committed to using all the tools in our law enforcement arsenal, including the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, to prosecute acts of violence motivated by hate.”
Another case being prosecuted under the federal hate crime in currently under way in Kentucky.
(source)