3 teens charged in death of Australian player
(this
is crazy stuff, just shot the guy for no reason. No doubt someone is
going to blame video games or cartoons for this senseless act. But
frankly it’s a little too crazy. ‘cause he was
there is hardly a justification but there it is, the whole of the
motive. Makes one think, how many crimes happen just ‘cause? Was the
Boston Bombing actually “just because”? and had no greater meaning to
the perpetrator? The recent kidnapping of Hanna Anderson,
also motiveless? Driven by some internal impulse an outside observer
cannot grasp. It is things like this that make me wonder just how insane
the world has become or perhaps always has been)
KRISTI EATON, AP
DUNCAN,
Okla. (AP) — With a motive that's both chilling and simple — to break
up the boredom of an Oklahoma summer — three teenagers randomly targeted
an Australian collegiate baseball
player who was attending school in the U.S. and killed him for fun,
prosecutors said Tuesday as they charged two of the boys with murder.
Prosecutor
Jason Hicks called the boys "thugs" as he described how Christopher
Lane, 22, of Melbourne, was shot once in the back and died along a
tree-lined road on Duncan's well-to-do
north side. He said the three teens, from the grittier part of town,
chose Lane at random and that one of the boys "thinks it's all a joke."
Hicks
charged Chancey Allen Luna, 16, and James Francis Edwards Jr., 15, of
Duncan, with first-degree murder. Under Oklahoma law they will be tried
as adults. Michael Dewayne Jones, 17,
of Duncan, was charged with using a vehicle in the discharge of a
weapon and with accessory to first-degree murder after the fact. He is
considered a youthful offender but will be tried in adult court.
Jones
wept in the courtroom after he tried to speak about the incident but
was cut off by the judge who said it wasn't the time to sort out the
facts of the case. Jones faces anywhere
from two years to life in prison if convicted on the counts he faces.
The two younger teens face life in prison without parole if convicted on the murder charge.
"I'm appalled," Hicks said after the hearing. "This is not supposed to happen in this community."
In
court, Hicks said Luna was sitting in the back seat of a car when he
pulled the trigger on a .22 caliber revolver and shot Lane once in the
back. Hicks said Jones was driving the vehicle
and Edwards was in the passenger seat.
A recording of an emergency 911 call obtained Tuesday
by The Associated Press offers a chilling account of the next moments
as a woman identifying herself as Joyce Smith tells the operator
she saw Lane fall over into a ditch as she drove by.
"He's got blood on his back," the woman says.
Later
relaying word from another witness on the scene to the 911 operator,
the woman says: "He's turning blue. He's making a noise."
Edwards has had prior run-ins with the law and came to court Friday — apparently after the shooting — to sign documents related to his juvenile probation.
"I
believe this man is a threat to the community and should not be let
out," Hicks said as he requested he be held without bail. "He thinks
it's all a joke."
The two younger boys were held without bail, while bail for Jones was set at $1 million.
Before
the hearing, Edwards' father, James Edwards Sr., said he knew where his
son was 95 percent of the time. He said his son was involved in
wrestling and football, and was trying to
forge the same sort of athletic career as Lane. He was heading into his
sophomore year in high school.
Edwards Sr. said Luna was also like a son to him.
Luna's mother, Jennifer Luna, said her son likes to play basketball at a local court and play on his iPhone and Xbox.
"I know my son. He is a good kid," she said.
Lane
played baseball at East Central University in Ada, 85 miles east of
Duncan, and had been visiting his girlfriend and her parents in Duncan
after he and his girlfriend returned to
the U.S. from Australia about a week ago.
Duncan
police Chief Dan Ford has said the boys wanted to overcome a boring end
to their summer vacation — classes in Duncan resumed Tuesday — and that Jones told officers they were bored
and killed Lane for "the fun of it."
Family
and friends on two continents were mourning Lane, who gave up pursuit
of an Australian football career to pursue his passion for baseball, an
American pastime. His girlfriend,
Sarah Harper, tearfully laid a cross at a streetside memorial in
Duncan, while half a world away, an impromptu memorial grew at the home
plate he protected as a catcher on his youth team.
"We just thought we'd leave it," Harper said as she visited the memorial in Duncan. "This is his final spot."
His old baseball team, Essendon, scheduled a memorial game for Sunday to raise funds for Lane's parents as they worked to have their boy's remains sent home.
Tony Cornish, president of the Essendon Baseball Club, said Lane played with the club for 12 years.
"He started out as a T-baller, right from the age of 7, " said Cornish.
Cornish said Lane was part of the club until he left to attend college in the U.S.
"Chris Lane was a good kid, just a great all-around guy," Cornish said. "We're still all in shock here."
Meanwhile, St. Bernard's College in Essendon, where Lane was a student, is planning a memorial Mass for Lane in November.
Melbourne's Herald Sun newspaper reported that roses and a baseball were placed Monday on the home plate where Lane played as a youth with the message: "A wonderful young man taken too
soon. Why?"
Tim
Fischer, former Australia deputy prime minister, criticized the
National Rifle Association and asked Australians to avoid the U.S. as a
way to put pressure on its Congress to act
on gun control.
"Tourists
thinking of going to the USA should think twice," Fischer told the
Herald Sun. "I am deeply angry about this because of the callous
attitude of the three teenagers, (but) it's
a sign of the proliferation of guns on the ground in the USA. There is a
gun for almost every American."
———
AP sports writer Dennis Passa in Brisbane, Australia, and reporter Sue Ogrocki in Duncan, Okla., contributed to this report.
No comments:
Post a Comment