compiled by Patrick H. Moore
More information has been disclosed by CNN concerning the backstory that led to the senseless “boredom” murder of 23-year-old Australian baseball player Christopher Lane.
Three days before the shooting, one of the suspects, 15-year-old James Edwards Jr., tweeted, “With my n****s when it’s time to start taken life’s.”
Edwards, who is black, had tweeted in April, “90% of white ppl (people) are nasty. #HATE THEM.”
Those closest to Edwards have stated that he changed dramatically in the six months leading up to the killing.
His sister saw the change and so did family friends. Edwards’ American Eagle clothes and sweet demeanor were replaced by drooping pants, do-rags, and a vile stream of braggadocio, sexism and racism unbecoming in a 15-year-old-boy, or anyone, for that matter.
“I don’t understand. God, I wish I could have just got to him,” Danielle Crudup, 20, said of her little brother. “I tried to talk and talk and talk to him, and it just seemed like he wouldn’t listen. I’d never in a million years expect that he’d be sitting in jail on a murder charge.”
Edwards and Chancey Luna, 16, are being charged as adults for felony first degree murder. Their alleged driver, 17-year-old Michael Jones, faces two charges: use of a vehicle in the discharge of a weapon and accessory after the fact to murder in the first degree.
A judge set bond at $1 million for Jones, while no bond was set for Edwards and Luna.
Jones, the driver, is the one who ultimately told the police:
“We were bored and didn’t have anything to do, so we decided to kill somebody.”
Lane, a promising young athlete, was living his dream of studying in the United States on a baseball scholarship. The people of Duncan, an affluent town of less than 25,000 people, welcomed him.
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This is proving to be somewhat of an international incident.
“It is another example of murder mayhem on Main Street,” former Australian Deputy Prime Minister Tim Fischer told CNN’s Piers Morgan.
“People thinking of going to the U.S.A. for business or tourist trips should think carefully about it, given the statistical fact you are 15 times more likely to be shot dead in the U.S.A. than in Australia, per capita.”
“There is deep-seated anger this time.”
One Australian newspaper, under mug shots of the three suspects, ran the headline: “Faces of Evil: The teens American police say shot our star.”
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Christopher Lane’s girlfriend Sarah Harper visited the death scene on Tuesday, where flowers have been placed with messages of regret and condolence.
“I’m going to miss him forever. But I’m really glad I got four years with him,” Harper told reporters.