Somebody had to
Posted on 09/14/2009 11:53:53 AM PDT by greatdefender
MANATEE — County officials are holding a gun buyback and community forum on violence in light of the second fatal teen shooting in a month.
“You never know what guns you’re going to get,” said Manatee County Sheriff Brad Steube when asked about the gun buyback. “You never know if you’re going to get guns that are kept off the street.”
Authorities still haven’t found where 18-year-old Daniel Williams allegedly discarded a gun authorities say he used to shoot a Bayshore High School cheerleader.
Detectives say Williams fired into a car full of cheerleaders, hitting and killing 17-year-old Jasmine Thompson on Friday night after a high school football game. Williams gave detectives a general idea of where the gun was.
The sheriff’s office had a gun buyback a couple of months ago, and 77 guns were turned in for cash.
The buyback allows gun owners to trade in guns with no ID needed or questions asked. Participants will receive $50 for revolvers and $100 for rifles or shotguns.
The gun buyback will be held from 4 to 7 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 19, at the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office, 600 301 Blvd. W., Bradenton.
Before the buyback, community leaders will have a forum on how to curtail violence in hopes of coming up with a blueprint to address the issue.
“I can only hope that these discussions we’re having lead to less violence in the community,” Steube said.
The forum is from 12:30 to 3 p.m. Sept. 19 at Johnson Middle School, 2121 26th Ave. E., Bradenton.
In the meantime, authorities continue to investigate Thompson’s death.
Sheriff’s reports say just before 11 p.m., Friday, Williams walked up to a car holding Thompson, in the area of 37th Avenue East and 11th Street Court East, outside Southeast High School, and made a comment of a sexual nature to the four girls in the car.
When the driver of the car drove off, witnesses say Williams fired four shots at the vehicle, with one of the bullets hitting Thompson in the head. Williams, a former Horizons alternative school student, has been arrested on a charge of second-degree murder in the shooting. A motive for why Williams opened fire is unknown and may never be know, Manatee County Sheriff’s Office Public Information Officer Dave Bristow said.
“We don’t know. I don’t think we are ever going to have a clear motive,” Bristow said.
Detectives have several witnesses to the shooting and Williams has also made statements to investigators, but the hope is still to recover the gun.
“We would like to have it,” said Bristow. “He has given us locations around the area but we haven’t found anything.”
Bristow declined to discuss the nature of statements Williams has given to detectives, or whether he confessed to the shooting.
“He has been somewhat cooperative, but we aren’t going to go into what he told us,” said Bristow.
Thompson is the second teenager shot in a month with ties to Bayshore High School. In August, authorities say former Southeast High School student Byron Galloway opened fire on 18-year-old recent Bayshore graduate DeJuan Williams in his backyard. Sheriff’s reports say Williams had been searching for boys who had been in his house with his sister without his parents’ permission.
In Galloway’s case, detectives recovered the gun detectives say he used, but have been unsuccessful in finding how the teen got the gun. It is unclear if Williams obtained his firearm legally because it is legal for gun owners to sell firearms to person’s 18 or older. Without concealed weapon’s permit, however, Williams would have been in violation of state law by carrying the gun.
On Tuesday, dozens of public officials gathered to condemn both killings, and gun violence in general, pleading for parents and students to report anyone with weapons.
Professor James Wright, a University of Central Florida sociologist who has studied guns and gun violence, said when kids end up with guns it is usually a weapon obtained from a home, not through illicit street level sales.
“Guns coming from the home are a much bigger source for kids to get guns than stereotype of the creepy guy in the trench coat selling them guns from his trunk,” Wright said. “Kids often takes guns from their homes, and they are passed around and passed around until it is hard to tell where they end up.”
Wright also said the majority guns that do end up on the street for illegal sale come from burglaries from residences.
“For someone committing a burglary, guns are about the best thing they can find. They are portable, in demand and keep their value,” Wright said. “Unlike something like jewelry which have some value but little on the street, a gun worth $300 in a store is worth $300 on the street.”
Meanwhile, Thompson’s cheerleading teammates continue to mourn the loss of their friend, and raise money for her family. On Wednesday, members of the Bayshore cheerleading squad gathered donations at the Mexicali Border Cafe restaurant.
“She was such a good person,” said team captain Kristi Drobecker. “We are so upset this happened. It is shocking for all of us.”
The team is expected to be on hand at a memorial for Thompson at the Bayshore football field Thursday, and Drobecker said at future games an easel with a large picture of their teammate will remain at the center of the squad as they perform their routines around it.
“She was the type of person that loved being the center of attention. So we are going to do that for her,” said Drobecker.
The memorial for Thompson on Thursday will be at Bayshore High School, 5401 34th St. W., at 4:30 p.m., school officials said.
Beth Burger, criminal justice reporter, contributed to this report.
geographically lovely, however, what with the Manatee river and all.
Funny you should mention that. I have always wanted to set up a table a few yards away from one of those ridiculous “buy-backs” and offer $5 to $10 more than the cops are offering.
I once saw video on the news of a guy standing in line at a DC gun “buy-back” holding a new-looking Armalite AR15, for which he was going to collect the princely sum of $100.
Another woman bragged on camera about getting $50 for her dead father’s “...old revolver, which always scared me as long as it was in the house, but I just never knew what to do with it”. The “old revolver” turned out to be a ‘60s vintage nickel-finish Colt Python .357 magnum.
It never ceases to amaze me ho stupid some sheeple are.
“Manatee touts forum, gun buyback to fight violence”
Hmmmmmm... Manatees. It all makes sense now...
Cartman is introduced to the “Family Guy” writing staff, who turn out to be a group of manatees. The aquatic mammals, who live in a large tank, pick up “idea balls” from a large pile of them, each of which has a different noun, a verb or a pop-culture reference written on it, and deliver them, five at a time, to a machine that then forms a Family Guy cutaway gag based on those ideas. For example, “Laundry” + “Date” + “Winning” + “Mexico” + “Gary Coleman” becomes a clip of Lois asking Peter to do the laundry, after which Peter recalls winning a date in Mexico with Gary Coleman.
Humm.. That Gun Buy Back aside, that’s (Bayshore H.S.) where graduated from High School back in ‘81. It’s right across the street from Nick Bolitary tennis academy. Looks like the old neighborhood’s done down hill!
I have always thought the same thing.
I wonder how many cops have enhanced the quality of their personal firearms collections at public expense.
“I wonder how many cops have enhanced the quality of their personal firearms collections at public expense.”
Better than melting them down and letting them go to waste.
Another nice lib “feelgood” program with zero effect on crime. Typical. The only winners here are the thugs who turn in crap for $100!
I registered at the Bradenton Herald site and left a half dozen comments in response to other posters. Go check them out. I used my FR name, too.
Does Manatee county have a federal firearms license?
I've been asking this question for years! If they don't have a license why are these "buybacks" not illegal? And why is the Brady bunch not demanding that these sales be run through the "federal system" to "catch guns that have been used in crimes".
Wow! I can get $50 EACH for my Raptor and Hubby’s Raptor II? I’ll get right on that, you betcha.
Not to mention wee-wee up the local idiot sheriff.
The comments about LOL (little old ladies) bringing in their dead husband's weapons are especially true in Manatee County. Law enforcement is specifically targeting households with guns because they may be burglarized and guns are the prized loot, followed by kids taking their parents weapons.
So, instead of getting rid of the bad guys who burglarize homes, taxpayer funds are used to make a few folks feel good.
I think it's a great idea to set up a table just outside the buyback driveway to look for bargains and collector's items.
Somebody had to
This manatee looks sad that the cops are so stupid.
You do not need an FFL to buy firearms; only to sell them in quantity.
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