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Police arrested the man they say provided the gun that killed one person and injure several others at an off-campus party attended by students from Seton Hall University in New Jersey.
Marcus Bascus, who was arrested 75 miles away from the scene of the murder in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., lives a block away from where the shooting occurred.
Bascus, like alleged shooter Nicholas Welch (pictured above), 25, faces murder, conspiracy, attempted murder and weapons charges.
Welch, who was arrested earlier this week, has proclaimed his innocence. He pleaded not guilty. He also agreed to submit to a DNA test. His lawyer asked that he remain in protective custody at the Essex County jail.
Killed in the shooting was 19-year-old Seton Hall honor student Jessica Moore. Police say Moore sustained a bullet to the head as she was tending to a friend who had been shot in the jaw.
The shooting happened after Welch was turned away from an off-campus house party, because bouncers thought he looked like a troublemaker. It's such a ridiculous reason to shoot anyone that I cringed even as I typed the sentence.
A Seton Hall student says he saw the gunman outside of the home as he was waiting to pick up two friends. The student said he saw a man walk away from the house toward another on a curb. One man said: "Give me the burner," which is common slang for a gun. After his two friends got in the car and he drove away, the student said he heard gunshots in the distance.
Gerald Saluti, Welch's attorney, said his client was "still in shock over the whole thing."
It's the community that should be in shock.
The fact that one young man would hand over a gun to another young man without any concern as to what he's going to do with that weapon is shocking. It's like the blind leading the blind. Essex County prosecutor Robert Laurino says Welch allegedly emptied his revolver of all five bullets. That's a shocking disrespect for life.
I might think that even a thug would have enough manhood to discourage someone from blindly shooting at people who did nothing to him, but I'm wrong. Instead, manhood is described as blind rage and the willingness to commit reckless acts in retribution for the slightest disrespect. That's shocking.
It's also shocking that black parents who raise their children right and send them off to college on the path to a decent life still have to plan funerals for their children.
One of the saddest parts about this is that Welch is a father of two. The mother of his children called him a "family guy" who "wouldn't do anything like this." If he is convicted of these charges, it, unfortunately, increases the chances that his kids will end up in prison as well someday.
There are more than 1.7 million kids with parents in prison. One in 15 black children and 1 in 42 Latino children has an incarcerated parent, compared with 1 in 111 white children, according to the Sentencing Project.
It's shocking that these figures have not shocked us into finding better solutions other than violence.
Comments: (40)
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By: bestausweh on 10/01/2010 12:15PM
The unemployment rate seem to parallel the number of people in prison if we want to consider race. Blacks continuing to be at the bottom of the "melting pot" when it comes to being accepted in the American culture thus, the higher rates of parents in prison, black parent who have and had no futures. Acceptance in the American culture means the participation in the society at any level, eg, fire depts., police, or other community helping professions. Exclusion of blacks at all levels in society really plays negatively on a black person's self worth and their outlook on life is bleak. Thus, the exclusion from an off-campus party can be looked at in another way if we want to start citing statistics that are just numbers and continue to explain NOTHING whenever something like this happens.
Unfortunately everyone is walking aound with guns these days either to shoot or to shoot is attacked.
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By: The Truth on 10/01/2010 1:12PM
Ron Popeil needs to come up with a
"Set it and forget it" "FRY DADDY"
If he can get it down to 3 easy payments of $19.95, it would save the taxpayers a whole LOTTA money.
You just place the convicted felon inside, set the timer and
SET IT and FORGET IT"
It could come with an easy removable tray that can go right in the dishwasher!
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By: lynn on 10/04/2010 1:33PM
AN EXCUSE IS FIRST COUSIN TO A LIE!!! stop with BS excuses. If we stop committing these types of crimes; yeah killing people because you can't get into a damn party. He is a pitiful excuse of a human being and God forbid that his two illegitimate kids will end up in prison too. Black women be careful who you mate with because these results are all to common.
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By: Miss Me on 10/01/2010 12:21PM
This is the reason why I never want my children to attend an HBCU!!!
There I said it..and for those who have attended an HBCU you know I am telling the truth!!! The thug/ the almost thug/ and the thug enablers mix in with the trying to achieve a better life kind of Black young folks and cause all kinds of havoc and chaos.
And you all know I am telling the truth --- the young women who make it out of these hell hole high schools and on to college - please read this response and make every effort to date and marry the Pakistani, Indian or White male students that you may encounter. To the young ladies again I say --workout at those beautiful field houses/workout centers on campus--UTILIZE those field houses/ excercise centers. It is okay..I give you permission if this is what you are waiting for. Make your life better - date out and MARRY UP - HYPERGAMY Young Black women --HYPERGAMY!!!!
By marrying up you won't have to move back to those violence plagued neighborhoods filled with single angry disappointed Black women with unfulfilled angry kids who then become -- you guessed it---- angry confused chaotic young people who throw bricks at old ladies and then cry when they are shot!!!!
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By: Matt on 10/01/2010 3:54PM
Men To Boys – 101 Things Every Boy of Color Should Know
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jsG5TIZJpAE&feature=player_embedded
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By: Millie on 10/01/2010 11:03PM
You are a dumbass. Seton Hall is not a HBCU. You are so ignorant its disgusting. What does marrying up have to do with anything? I never heard so much ignorance in all my life. This is a tragic situation that could of happen anywhere regardless of race or community.
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By: Yonah Hall on 10/02/2010 1:19PM
I hear you MissMe.The problem is that the Pakistani,Indian and White do not tend to date and marry Black women.Black women have the lowest interracial marriage rate of any ethnic group in America.Asians tend to marry out at over 50%,but they marry whites other Asians and their women in particular marry white males.All Hispanic groups marry out at a higher rate than Blacks and they do not marry Blacks at a high percentage.
The primary reason for this is because men are the ones to approach women and few non Blacks approach Black women with the idea that she is marriage material.It certainly happens but the odds are against it.Any foreigner is viewed as more approachable and desirable than the African-American woman.Even Africans and Haitians are more likely to be viewed as potential mates than are Black American women.
It's not only that non Blacks think Black-American women are physically not as attractive as other women,but also they are viewed as less intelligent and less less motivated and angrier.
So anyone who wants to snag one of those smart,aggressive Asians or other non Blacks has to work on herself to change the perception and then those men will see you in another light.
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By: bestausweh on 10/02/2010 11:45PM
I certainly don't need to marry "UP" into a different race in order to feel validated.
Nothing is achieved "By marrying up' in a culture of exclusion where because of ones race the other has to "marry DOWN". It makes as much sense as a "chaotic young people" who throw bricks at old ladies"
You are prejudice. The game of rising above an irrational of another race in order to "MARRY UP" is over except for those who are filled with self-hatred.
I don't know what a "HBCU" is but based on the prejudice of someone who subscribes to this method of racism, ie, to better ones self according to you, one must marry UP, in other word, one race IS actually better than another. It 's another divisive prejudice to afflict Black people or the poor in your society.
If you can't go to a "HBCU" for a better life in the 21st century, how much further or faster do you plan to run away from others?
I WOULD MUCH RATHER MARRY A BLACK MAN who stayed and fought things out in the country of his ancestors than a Pakistani or an Asian who simply ran from the problems of his own country then has the nerve to tell a black woman surviving the hell in America that she is to change the PERCEPTION of who SHE is. Why would I want to marry a racist whatever the color. I have nothing IN COMMON with them.
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By: clifton ford on 10/03/2010 11:01PM
You will probably keeping your dumb-a$$ kids at home with your dumb-a$$, Seton Hall is not a HBCU!
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By: Unknown on 10/04/2010 8:05AM
Uh, Seton Hall is not a HBCU, do your research before commenting. Also, shootings happen all over a country, a guy just killed himself after running wild with a rifle at University of Texas. Some of the worst shootings at Universities happened at predominantly white institutions, though they happen everywhere.
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