Charges are being brought against both Watts and England for first degree murder and for hate crimes. The prosecution in this case has decided to charge them with a hate crime because they have had many people coming forward saying that Jake England was racist. There was also witnesses that heard him saying that he wanted to kill some African Americans to avenge his fathers death. His father was killed by an African American 2 years ago, police say this may have caused England to target African Americans.
Another source says that this couldn't possibly be a hate crime because it was a random act of violence. This source goes on to say that she has known England for a long time and he has been through a lot of things within the last few years. She said he lost his mother, father and fiancee. The women thinks that the death of his fiancee was the breaking point for England. What do you think? Hate crime? I think this is a case where the defendant has committed a hate crime. Just from all the evidence that has been discussed I think that England committed those crimes out of hate for African Americans.
Sounds to me like this was clearly a hate crime. If it wasn't why wouldn't the just stay in their own neighborhood and shoot a bunch of people. They obviously went to a different neighborhood which they knew was mostly african americans and began shooting random people for no reason. I am sure the younger defendant shown above has been through a lot with loosing his parents and fiance; but that does not give justification for killing innocent people and hopefully a jury of his peers will see that too and give him what he deserves if found guilty.
ReplyDeleteI can see this being a hate crime because they intentionally went into a predominantly black neighborhood and killed 5 black people. I also think this is a hate crime for the sole fact that England was heard stating that he wanted to kill a black person the avenge his father's death at the hands of a black person. Regardless of the anything, these guys are going to prison for a long, long time.
ReplyDeleteI'll let the professionals make that determination but it seems like their killing spree was racially motivated. Your blog post doesn't mention the older guys comments on Facebook the day of the killings. He talks about how it's been almost 2 years to the day since his dad died at the hands of a "fucking n****" & also says something along the lines of "if anything goes down tonight there's going to be another funeral." Completely random shootings don't happen too often so you have to wonder if race had a role.
ReplyDeleteTo complicate things more I just read that the younger of the two killers is saying that he's not racist & it's been verified that he lived in a black neighborhood when he was younger. So who knows what is going on!
I believe it is clear that for England, at least, this was a racially motivated act. It would be terrible to be one of those families affected by this act. Not a lot is stated about the actions or mindset of Watts during the shootings, but my initial suspicion is that he was there because he felt in some way connected to England's hate for African Americans. Every time we think that we are closer to bridging the gap between races in this country, something like this happens and breeds distrust among different races.
ReplyDeleteI feel that is indeed a hate crime. I feel that England was very upset with his life and all of the horrible things that has happened to him. I feel that England decided to take his anger out on innocent people. I feel that England should have gotten some type of counseling for his trauma in his life, and maybe none of this would have happened. This incident is very disturbing and very sad. I feel very bad for all of the families involved.
ReplyDeleteIt's only a hate crime unfortunately if the prosecution can provide his intent. I believe he did indeed purposely target African Americans making it a hate crime. I hope to see both of these troubled men go away for the rest of their lives. A life prison sentence would do justice to the families of the slain.
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