Posted on 07/29/2005 11:55:06 PM PDT by BurbankKarl
Moments before she was shot to death, 19-year-old Meleia Willis-Starbuck was heard by witnesses telling a friend on a cellular telephone to "bring the heat," which Berkeley police say was an apparent reference to a gun.
The revelation marks a new twist in the tragic July 17 death of the Berkeley native and Dartmouth College student. Berkeley police say Willis-Starbuck was slain moments after making a telephone call to ask for help in an argument she and some friends were having with a group of college-age men near UC Berkeley.
Two East Bay men who were longtime friends of Willis-Starbuck stand accused of murder in the slaying, which one defense attorney has called a "tragic accident."
Now it appears Willis-Starbuck may have told her friend to bring a gun to the scene, according to Berkeley police.
Officer Steve Rego said today that as Willis-Starbuck called for help on her cell phone, "one of the witnesses heard a female say 'bring the heat, bring the heat.' Based on the facts of our investigation, it does look like it was (Willis-Starbuck)."
Rego said "heat" is a street term familiar to police.
"It refers to a firearm, a gun," he said. "And it appears that's what was being asked for."
(Excerpt) Read more at mercurynews.com ...
Couldn't let this pass PING
What's that about not having a gun when you need it again? Hmmm.....
Maybe she was a webmaster
Whenever a defense attorney refers to a brutal murder as a "tragic accident," my bull****-o-meter's readings go right off the scale.
How far away were these guys when she called them?
Have I got this story straight?
She was in an argument, she calls her "friends" for help, they drive over and open fire, killing her?
They say: "Oops! My bad"?
I thought people who were working for "social justice" didn't believe in using weapons. So, why was she asking someone else to bring a weapon to "help" her out?!
There is obviuosly more to this story than what is written.
******
Police say Meleia Willis-Starbuck was murdered by Christopher Hollis, a former classmate she described as being like a brother to her. Hollis remains at large. Speculation is that Willis-Starbuck called Hollis for help as she and friends were arguing with a group of men outside her College Avenue apartment. The men reportedly tried to flirt with the girls and when rebuffed, insulted them.
Christopher Wilson, another friend of Willis-Starbuck’s who police say drove Hollis to the murder scene.
Danielle Youngblood, one of the four friends who were with Meleia when she was shot told the audience, “I just want you to know she left feeling loved. We were holding her hand telling her we loved her.”
Bill Pratt, one of Willis-Starbuck’s teachers at Berkeley High, said she “didn’t participate in classroom discussions, she ignited them. She wasn’t always an easy person to deal with, but few of the beautiful and original people are.”
******
Meleia Willis-Starbuck, 19, was standing outside her apartment complex on College Avenue with a group of friends about 1:45 a.m. when a gunman opened fire on the group, killing Willis-Starbuck. She was pronounced dead at 2 a.m.
Joe Okies of the Berkeley Police Department said that shortly before Willis-Starbuck was killed, her friends got into a brief argument with another group of people. That argument ended without incident.
A short time later, an unknown gunman got out of a car on Dwight Way and opened fire in the direction of the group.
snip
Willis-Starbuck was an activist for social justice and equality, equal opportunities for education, and government responsibilities to citizens. At Dartmouth, she was involved in the African-American Society, the Alliance for Children of Color and the Dartmouth College Greens.
n 2001, she participated in a school trip to Cuba, where she studied state-sponsored health care and educational programs, Pratt said. She also visited Vietnam during a class trip in 2002.
Police believe it was one of her very good friends — someone she had phoned to come and defend her from some rowdy young men that night — who pulled the trigger.
That longtime friend, Christopher Lester Hollis, 21, of Hayward, is still being sought by police. Another friend who had driven Hollis to the College Avenue scene, 20-year-old Christopher Larry Wilson Jr. of Berkeley, turned himself in earlier this week and was arraigned on murder charges Friday — just as Willis-Starbuck's service was concluding. But at her memorial, no one discussed "The Chrises," as the two friends were known. There was some talk of the horrors of gun violence in the world, but the ceremony focused on Willis-Starbuck.
She'd gone out Saturday night with a group of girlfriends. They all returned to her sublet apartment on College at Dwight Way around 1:45 a.m. Sunday to use the restroom. Outside, they started talking with a group of UC Berkeley guys who apparently asked the women to come party with them, but were rebuffed.
An argument ensued, with the men calling the women vulgar names, friends of Willis-Starbuck said. During this dispute, sources said, she phoned Hollis to come to her aid, and suggested he bring a weapon.
This request for help turned deadly. Hollis and Wilson drove up about a half block away, and Hollis allegedly got out and fired into the crowd, hitting Willis-Starbuck once in the chest, sources and police said. She died beneath a large redwood tree about 15 minutes later.
http://tinyurl.com/bz26t
Photos at link above...
Google Image Search for "bring the heat"
Meleia Willis-Starbuck and Christopher Hollis were such good friends that they called each other sister and brother.
She was a budding activist on scholarship at Dartmouth College, he a jobless young man with a criminal record. Despite their differences, they kept in touch by phone when she was away at school. When she was home, they hung out with mutual friends from Berkeley High, where they both graduated, and went to parties. She looked to him for protection, his relatives said.
But now police are on the hunt for Hollis, 21, of Hayward, who they say fatally shot his 19-year-old friend early Sunday near the UC Berkeley campus.
In a twist that has stunned Berkeley, Willis-Starbuck's friends have told The Chronicle that detectives are investigating whether Hollis accidentally killed Willis-Starbuck after she called him on her cellular telephone -- to ask for protection -- during an argument with a group of men outside her summer apartment.
Adding to the fallout, police say another friend of Willis-Starbuck's drove the car that delivered Hollis to the scene of the killing. Christopher Wilson Jr., 20, of Berkeley, who was in a social-justice program with Willis- Starbuck at Berkeley High, was arrested on suspicion of murder Wednesday after he turned himself in.
"This is an urban Greek tragedy," said Arnold Perkins, Alameda County's public health director, whose son, 21 year-old Darryl Perkins, is friends with Wilson. "My wife and I got into bed last night and just cried."
The theory that a friend's gunfire killed Willis-Starbuck, who was back in Berkeley for an internship helping homeless women and children, has devastated those who know the victim and suspects. Friends said Willis- Starbuck was the primary reason that the high school classmates kept in touch.
It's not clear what Willis-Starbuck said in the phone call to Hollis, if in fact the call was made. Some of their mutual friends said they did not know Hollis to carry a gun.
"We've gone through every emotion possible -- initial shock, disbelief, anger," said Arose Umar, 20, of Oakland, who graduated with Willis-Starbuck from Berkeley High in 2003. "Three lives have now ended. It's a tragedy in every respect. There's not going to be a happy ending."
The story played out as Willis-Starbuck's family and friends gathered Thursday for a viewing of her body. Her mother, Kimberly Willis-Starbuck of Stockbridge, Ga., released a statement saying the killing "has become a tragedy for the whole community. What the family wants most is for the violence to end and for healing for everyone to begin."
Meleia Willis-Starbuck's cousin, Chea Castro, pleaded for Hollis to turn himself in, as did Hollis' mother and police.
"We don't want him hurt. We don't want any more violence. Meleia would not want that," said Castro, of Minneapolis, as she stood outside a Berkeley funeral home.
Police said Hollis shot and killed Willis-Starbuck at about 1:45 a.m. Sunday after he got out of a car half a block away. Willis-Starbuck was standing outside her apartment on College Avenue with the men she had been arguing with.
The men had flirted with Willis-Starbuck and her friends and called the women "bitches" when rebuffed, which upset Willis-Starbuck, according to one of her friends. Willis-Starbuck's friends entered a parked Ford Explorer, but Willis-Starbuck remained on the sidewalk outside the vehicle with the men when she was shot.
Willis-Starbuck's friends said police have asked them whether the shooting could have been prompted by a phone call she made for help to a young man whom she referred to as her "brother."
Wilson, held on $100,000 bail at the Berkeley jail, was scheduled to appear in Alameda County Superior Court at 2 p.m. today. However, prosecutors did not make a decision Thursday on potential charges. His attorney, Elizabeth Grossman, said Wilson was involved in "a tragedy, not a crime."
"It's not a crime because, from everything I know, there was no desire, intent or forethought to cause harm to anyone," Grossman said. "My client did not know there was a gun, nor that there was any intent to discharge a firearm. "
Wilson declined to talk to The Chronicle on Thursday, and a group of relatives who visited him in jail also declined to comment.
But others who know Wilson -- a former baseball player at Berkeley High and Cabrillo College in Aptos who has worked at baseball camps at UC Berkeley and Stanford -- said that he couldn't have known what was going to happen when he got behind the wheel.
snip
Friends and family members said Hollis and Willis-Starbuck had been friends for several years. Umar, who spoke outside the funeral home, said it was not unusual for students of different backgrounds, or with different aspirations, to mix on a diverse campus like Berkeley High's.
"Everybody's in everybody's crowd," Umar said.
Hollis spent 15 days in jail after pleading no contest to misdemeanor hit- and-run after a car accident in Berkeley in June 2003. According to court records, Hollis had a previous felony conviction for possession of marijuana for sale and multiple arrests for resisting police officers.
DeMarcus Sumler, another Berkeley High graduate and friend of Willis- Starbuck, said he was as surprised to learn of the alleged involvement of Hollis and Wilson as he was to hear Willis-Starbuck had been killed.
"They were good people. They're not the type people classify as thugs," said Sumler, 22, of Berkeley, while visiting a shrine of flowers, pictures and candles outside Willis-Starbuck's apartment. "But they looked out for their loved ones. They wouldn't let anyone harm their loved ones."
Hollis' mother, Terry Waters, said she doubts that he killed Willis- Starbuck, but wants him to turn himself in so he isn't hurt.
"They're making him out to be a monster," she said. "He's a very gentle, passionate child. He kisses me every time he sees me." Referring to Willis- Starbuck, she said, "They were like sister and brother. He wouldn't dare hurt her."
******
The shooting happened after Willis-Starbuck argued with a group of young men who had approached her and her friends and tried to flirt with them. According to one of the friends, Danielle Youngblood, the men called the women "bitches" when rebuffed, which upset Willis-Starbuck, who explained to the men why the word was hurtful.
Youngblood, 19, said the argument appeared to be over when she and Willis- Starbuck's other friends entered a parked Ford Explorer, but Willis-Starbuck remained on the sidewalk outside the vehicle still talking with the men. That's when the shooting occurred, Youngblood said.
Willis-Starbuck's friends said police have asked them whether the shooting could have been prompted by a phone call she made, in response to the argument, to a young man that she called her "brother" -- but who she was not related to -- and whether he or someone connected to him may have arrived and opened fire.
The questioning by police angered some of Willis-Starbuck's friends, who believe the killer was more likely connected to the group of young men arguing with her.
******
Berkeley police are investigating whether the 1:45 a.m. homicide — Berkeley’s second killing this year — was related to an argument that had started only minutes earlier, between a group of young men and a group of young women, including Willis-Starbuck…
Willis-Starbuck spent Saturday night with a group of women friends from her old high school. The group was outside a UC Berkeley dormitory just across the street from Willis-Starbuck’s apartment. Inside the dormitory, a dance for the Summer Bridge program, which helps at-risk students prepare for their first year of college, had ended and let out.
A group of about seven young men walked by Willis-Starbuck and her friends, said they were Cal students, and asked the women to party with them. When rebuffed, they called the women “bitches” and an argument between the men and women ensued, Youngblood said.
The word offended the women, and they explained to the men why it was hurtful, she said. Willis-Starbuck asked the men whether they would call their mothers such a name, Youngblood said. The men then apologized. The argument appeared to be over and the women had crossed the street in front of Willis-Starbuck’s apartment when a car drove up Dwight Way. From approximately half a block away, a man got out and fired several rounds toward the women as they were getting into a friend’s parked Ford Explorer…
“We heard three shots, and I yelled ‘Everybody get down!’ ” Youngblood said.
Youngblood got out of the passenger seat, and crawled on the ground to Willis-Starbuck, who was hunched under a tree near the street. She was bleeding from the chest.
“I touched my friend to see if she was OK. She still had a pulse. I ran to see who shot at her. There was nobody,” Youngblood said.
While the friends waited for help to arrive, they urged Willis-Starbuck to hang on. “We just tried to let her know we were there, and to stay with us,” Youngblood said. “Unfortunately, she didn’t.”
******
Meleia was shot and killed whi le she was taking the time to try to explain to a group of young men—some of whom were reported to be Cal football players—why it was inappropriate and disrespectful to call her and her friends “bitches” for having refused their advances. Not one of the supposed UC Berkeley students has come forward to acknowledge his role in this tragedy or to express any regret for the verbal abuse that preceded the shooting. If in fact these were Cal students, perhaps UC’s Athletic Department can pay tribute to Meleia’s memory by sponsoring a seminar on gender issues which would include discussion on the notion of entitlement.
I have always disliked the word “bitch” and have likened it to a racist’s use of the word “nigger.” I find it demeaning and crude. I’ve been told by some young people, my own daughter included, that these words do not carry the same weight they used to and that they have the power to redefine these words, to free them from negativity. That may be so, but I still cringe at the current casualness of their use, whether in music videos, among friends or enemies. Apparently, Meleia and her friends cringed, too.
The behavior demonstrated by the young men who were simply looking for some females to party with is nothing new. When I was their age, thir ty years ago, my friends and I were also called bitches or at minimum labeled “stuck-up” if we failed to deliver the demanded digits, names, addresses or company. A simple “no, thank you” or “not interested” was rarely sufficient.
It’s not news that ther e are cultures all across the globe in which men believe that they are entitled to whatever they want to take from women and that they are justified in denying women equal rights. During the few minutes it takes to read this column, thousands of women all over the world are being assaulted, raped and murdered for refusing to say yes, for trying to say no or simply for being born female and physically weaker than their attackers. At the risk of being termed a “male-basher” I must say that the numbers don’t lie—even the statistics supplied by the U.S. Department of Justice are horrifying. And far from bashing males, I am trying my best to raise a healthy one. My son is kind, courteous, empathetic and fair-minded and I hope he stays that way.
Perhaps as a p arent who has lost a child I have yet to overcome my need to find someone, something to blame. Parents like me often ask; “What could I have done differently? If only I hadn’t let her go to that party, or that school, or get in that car. If only I had pic ked her up when she cried.” We start with ourselves, then move on.
Doctors, hospitals, society, culture, racism, ignorance, guns, God or the perceived lack of one—the list goes on. Finally, we realize that there are some questions that have no answers a nd there are many occurrences in life we have no control over.
Although it seems that Meleia would be the last person who would choose to resolve a conflict with violence, it tragically appears that she was killed by a close friend who mistakenly thought he was coming to her rescue, gun in hand. Nonetheless, I believe that Meleia would forgive her shooter. And her family has requested that we focus not on blame but on healing.
Meleia Willis-Starbuck was not a color or a race, a political label or a “bit ch.” Meleia was a warm-hearted, courageous, intelligent, beautiful young woman who had touched many lives and was dedicated to improving the lives of many more. Perhaps if I can try harder to let go of my anger and my need to place blame, you can try to d o the same. For Meleia.
http://tinyurl.com/9pt3x
[Willis-Starbuck may have told her friend to bring a gun to the scene, according to Berkeley police.]
Important safety tips for people who want guns to protect them.
Learn to responsibly use a firearm YOURSELF.
Know when to use it, and what to use it for.
NEVER call some irresponsible boob, who doesn't know about responsible firearm use, on the phone to BRING a gun to an argument.
A gun is not a toy, nor is it a magic protection device.
The articles describe this 21 year old African-American, Dartmouth/Berkeley student who had already journeyed to Cuba and Vietnam to study socialism, but also used the street vernacular Eubonics of 'brother' for any other black associate as being a beuatiful person simply explaining why the term "bitches" is offensive in the early morning hours on a Berkeley street to a group of rowdy men.
Isn't it amazing how language can so deceptively rearrange events? My impression is that the girl decided to win an argument, perhaps also using 'Eubonics' or confusedly to a group of 'Eubonics' intuitive men.
What a 'diverse' culture. Funny thing is that this type of event exhibits the exact type of behavior attributed to the same culture of 'beatches' which they find so offensive. A self-fulfilling prophecy of street socialist arrogance after they pulled the pin on the arrogance grenade and their frustration fuse burned to its natural conclusion.
And now for the next topic of discussion at Berkeley: Natural Selection.
LOL!
No great loss.
Well, some "Bitch" calling her friends to shoot them certainly is new to me.
The whole group sounds like so much scum.
"She was in an argument, she calls her "friends" for help, they drive over and open fire, killing her?"
Yeah, that's the story. You just left out: immediately upon arrival, from a block away, they open fire, killing her. And, there is no allegation that the confrontation was anything more than a verbal argument, no need for physical self-defense.
It's quite bizzare. I'm sorry to say it, but the moral of this story seems to be you can take the girl out of the ghetto, but you can't take the ghetto out of the girl.
It's really a shame for her family.
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