2 more arrests in homicideAnother 15-year-old charged in killing By Nadine Parks (Contact)
The Post and Courier
Saturday, January 26, 2008
North Charleston police have charged two more teenagers in Monday's slaying of 18-year-old Adolphus Simmons, and they said there could be additional arrests. On Friday, a 15-year-old boy and Jackuez Witherspoon, 19, were arrested and charged with accessory after the fact of murder, said Spencer Pryor, North Charleston police public information officer. Another 15-year-old boy was arrested earlier this week and charged with Simmons' murder. The two juveniles have not been identified because of their age. There was still no word Friday about a possible motive for the fatal shooting of Simmons, a jovial male teen who dressed as a woman. He was killed Monday when he went to take out the trash about 8 p.m. at the Bradford Apartments on Bream Road. Police also did not respond to questions about the weapon used in the crime. "Police are not releasing any further details at this time, because the case remains under investigation, and additional arrests are possible," Pryor said. Witherspoon, two 15-year-olds and two other adults are listed as suspects on a police report about a Jan. 7 incident at Simmons' apartment. Someone kicked in the front door to the home about 5 p.m. when no one was home. Earrings and CDs were taken, the report showed. Simmons' mother, Felicia Moultrie, said the people who broke in were looking for her son. Like Moultrie, Debra Mack wants answers about Simmons' death. The cheerful and funny teenager was staying in her apartment, and she said his personality brightened her days. The image of him lying on the stoop out front after the shooting is difficult to shake, she said. "I'm moving. I haven't slept since this thing happened. This is really eating me alive," she said. "He was no threat to anybody. He was a nice person. He was just like my child." Reach Nadine Parks at nparks@postandcourier.com or 937-5573. |
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Comments
This article has 14 comment(s)
Posted by moonpie on January 26, 2008 at 8:41 a.m. (Suggest removal)
I'm sure all of these guys mommas would say "they are good boys"! I Wonder, what would their daddy's say?
Posted by nochasgirl on January 26, 2008 at 9:03 a.m. (Suggest removal)
I apologize for repeating myself. I just don't understand the inconsistency in reporting and releasing names in arrests of juveniles. A 15 yr-old is arrested for MURDER and his name is withheld, no picture in the paper. A 16 yr-old is arrested for armed robbery, names and pictures are placed on the front page of the paper. Last month, a 14 yr-old is sentenced as a juvenile for MURDER, and will serve his time in a juvenile center, and will be released at age 21. A 16 yr-old is sentenced as an adult for armed robbery, and will serve his 10 year sentence in an adult prison. Is this justice? Equality? Fair sentencing?
Posted by nochasgirl on January 26, 2008 at 9:14 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Children having children has to stop. Why can't they see the potential of graduating high school, maybe going to college, having a career, and having a "family" when you are prepared to handle the responsibility? Take pride in YOURSELF. You can achieve greater things if YOU want. Don't trap yourself in the cycle that goes nowhere. And if your parents don't care about you, that is their mistake. Break that cycle as well. Take the time to care about others (siblings, friends, classmates), and it will be returned. Respect LIFE. It is precious.
Posted by forget on January 26, 2008 at 9:33 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Why was this bunch of teenagers after this young man? And why weren't they brought in after they kicked in the door of the house, robbed it, all while looking for him? Why was he staying there if these people were looking for him to do him harm? He should have been at his mother's, maybe? Or the adult figures in his life should have been working with the police to keep him safe. It bothers me that the people in the neighborhood didn't say anything to police after they kicked in the door. That obviously makes noise, and at 5 in the afternoon. It's going to take the whole neighborhood to work together to clean it up.
Posted by RTC on January 26, 2008 at 9:46 a.m. (Suggest removal)
nochasgirl, your first post has been my exact thoughts also.
The boys from Mt.P. are being made examples of because of their place of residence. There is no excuse for any crime, but these boys did not kill anyone like these other kids have done.
Look at the people that were accused of child molestation and sex with a minor. Their pictures were also plastered all over the paper without their guilt being established.
Where is the fairness in any of this?
Posted by ColdBeer on January 26, 2008 at 9:55 a.m. (Suggest removal)
The criminals in Mt. Pleasant got what they deserved and their sentence is light, if anything. The other instances in your post, nochasgirl, are examples of the justice system failing to protect society from dangerous criminals. Anyone that commits a crime with a gun should be put to death. Get rid of them, period! It’s not like we have a shortage of people in this world and we have to keep the dirt bags around to preserve the human race. They are a drain on society and do not deserve to have the same freedom and rights that I have.
Posted by nochasgirl on January 26, 2008 at 10:16 a.m. (Suggest removal)
By no means do I feel armed robbery should be taken lightly. It is a serious crime. Anyone who has been on the opposite end of a gun in a robbery can attest to that. The pictures and the names of the MP boys should never have been released. It cannot be this way one time, and another way the next time. The MP boys had their case tried in the paper, and by posters on this forum. One poster wanted them to be hanged. Come on? Where is that poster now? Where is his outrage at the 14 & 15 yr-olds that have been charged with murder? Why don't we know who these kids are? Murders by kids with guns??? Why are THEY protected at all? I'm just amazed at the outpouring of extreme comments on those convicted of armed robbery a couple of weeks ago, and then we have 14 and 15 yr-olds charged with KILLING someone, and very few comments. What does everybody know that I am obviously missing? Hey wait a minute, is it because those North Charleston kids are getting a break? Hmmmm?
Posted by oldglory on January 26, 2008 at 10:22 a.m. (Suggest removal)
I don't know about the rest of you, but I am truly outraged by this reporter who continues to use the following or similar: "a jovial male teen who dressed as a woman". My impression by this reporter's description of the dead boy in every single article is that he was murdered for how he looked. Anyone else feel that coming from this reporter? Now perhaps if hate crime charges are filed this reporter can use the word "hate" to replace the foregoing quote!
Posted by SomeTruthPlease on January 26, 2008 at 10:22 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Will the information on these juveniles be released if/when they are charged as adults? Is there any chance that any of them will be? It makes me sick to my stomach that one of the boys involved in another shooting will get nothing more than 7 years because of his age. It makes me sick. Yes, it does tick me off that he will serve 7 years in a detention facility, but the Mt. P boys will get 10 years each, and more, for weilding a gun. I guess that if they had done it a year earlier, and with a real gun, they'd have gotten off lightly.
Posted by oldglory on January 26, 2008 at 10:26 a.m. (Suggest removal)
well shucks, the last line of my earlier post makes no sense at all, but hopefully someone will know where I'm coming from...
Posted by forget on January 26, 2008 at 10:32 a.m. (Suggest removal)
The reporter IS reporting that the teen was probably murdered because of how he led his life. She probably got her info from neighbors and other people in the neighborhood. You can bet that these and others had given that young man a difficult time. If that's the case, then she IS reporting the facts. Wouldn't be too difficult to get that info. Especially from young men. I can almost hear how the young men in the neighborhood described him, if that's the case. The reporter was actually(probably) describing him in a better light than what she was told by the people in the neighborhood. Namely the younger men.
Just another thought on the subject....
Posted by KidYendor on January 26, 2008 at 10:41 a.m. (Suggest removal)
After the trial and conviction, the trigger man or boy in this crime should be publicly hung.
Posted by nochasgirl on January 26, 2008 at 11:35 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Where, oh where, have our solicitor-praising posters gone?
Posted by outrage on January 26, 2008 at 7:48 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I don't think SC has passed the hate crime bill based on sexual orientation - yet.