Homicide Report comments in the paper

Compounded grief: Readers of the Homicide Report responded strongly to the death of 37-year-old Timothy Johnson in November, and their comments drew the attention of Los Angeles Times editors. Check the Sunday Los Angeles Times newspaper for HR comments excerpted in a cover story of the Sunday Opinion section, or click below for the online version.
Los Angeles Times Opinion section

Johnson post on HR

Comments

[Shag]

I just read some of the reponse in today's Sunday paper and it was amazing. Never have I seen the contrasting views on crime in "the hood" played out so vividly. The fact that so many of the responses came from family of the this victim, or people said they had family killed by this guy is incredible. This is almost of novel proportions.

[Chicago reader]

this is a llittle off topic, but i read in the ny times where presidential hopeful mitt romney doesn't believe there are two americas. “Sometimes I get frustrated when I hear politicians say there are two Americas,” Mr. Romney said this month on a campaign stop at a general store in Windham, N.H., referring to the theme of Mr. Edwards’s 2004 campaign. “I don’t believe there are two Americas.”

i think i will send his campaign office a link to these comments to show him the contrast between this reality and his sunny outlook on life.

anyway, we've got a gang situation here in chicago that is pretty serious but i can see why these posts made the editors' heads spin. the shout outs from gangbangers are mind-boggling. on the other hand, i'm glad to see the majority of upstanding citizens make their voices heard.

fascinating.

[MrGhost]

Chicago's gang problem is NOTHING compared to Los Angeles and the Southland (Metro L.A.) area.

But I agree about Romney. He's a multimillionaire elitist completely out of touch with the common man.

[Ronald]

Sal LaBarbera sounds like an idiot rather then a "detective supervisor overseeing the investigation". His teary condolences for Mr Sinister make me wonder if Sal is a wanna be gangster? co-homie or what? Why am I thinking Rafael Perez????
No death should be celebrated. No family pain should be ridiculed. But is there something wrong with this picture?
I cannot judge Timothy but I have never had as many encounters in my 60 years with the police and with violence as this individual - God rest his soul. And I do not have a "street" name. Nor (I hope) would my mourners have all these BL89D and "my ni89a" and 20GANGLUV2 and "myniggathou.20min's" nicks in their messages of sadness.
Is SalLAPD$$$??? or what?

[golden]

I just read the article and comments in Sunday’s paper. This guy and all of his homies sound like losers! He's a real monster. I don't know him, but, I know his kind. When will we learn… violence doesn’t pay! We as black people are on the verge of extinction – jail and gangs are going to kill us off. Not only that every hood that was - is All Mexican…Take a look around... If we don’t stop this senseless killing and ignorance we’ll be statue in the Museum.

[T Jay]

My prayers is for the victims of this man who killed for the fun of it, because it gave him power, power, that couldn't even save his own life. Lord I pray that you will bless and protect, and comfort the victims families of this man and others like him who mame and kill our mothers, fathers and kids who never had a chance to live out their life, because of evilness. I pray that Mr. Sinister and all like him feel the wrath of God with great pain.

[The Lawyer]

Some members of our community just don't get it. But I wonder if it is partially our fault. ( those of us who do get it.) We need to make the curing disease that afflicts some of our brothers and sisters the number one priority for our community.

The cops didn't kill Timothy Johnson; racism didn't kill Timity Johnson; white people didn't kill Timothy Johnson.

What killed Timothy Johnson was the glorification of the gangsta lifestyle; what killed Timothy Johnson was black self hatred and ignorence; what killed Timothy Johnson were his own bad choices in life: what killed Him was most likely another misguided young black man who gave up on life before he really started living.

Finally, Sinister killed Timothy Johnson

[sr]

Wow!! I was reading all the comments people posted. These are comments that represent the loss of a loved one...Guess what? Eventhough, this man was a "killer" and hated for what he stood for in the streets, he was too, a loved one. It's disrespectful for his family and friends to have to read such hateful things about the one they loved and lost. It's not about showing respect to "Sinister", but to his family and friends that are grieving his death, just the same way that you are grieving the death of your loved one. My prayers go out to "Sinister's" family and friends and also to the family and friends of the victims of the streets.

[Wallace McGraw]

"He had gone to a party that night, then had stopped on his way home to socialize with friends outside. His shooters came by walking or driving. He was hit multiple times. When officers arrived, he was alone, dead on the ground, and the people who had been outside with him had disappeared."

"Friends"? "Disappeared"? Unbelievable! GEE's? Streets? That these people actually think that they are alive is amazing. Get a clue! You have no life, you have nothing, you are already dead. You have wasted your lives. PLAYING gangsters, and never growing up. It's a suckers life for the illiterate..

[DON'T CALL ME SQUID]

Three quick points I'd like to make:

1. Detective LaBarbera does NOT sound like an idiot. Your comment only shows a degree of ignorance and idiocy on your part. If you had taken the time to read Sinister's blog, you would have seen that the Detective has known the family for some 20+ years. Obviously, he wanted the best for them, but as a Police officer, he still has to do his job...if some of them break the law.

2. I was stationed at Great Lakes Naval Base in the 1990s and I can tell you that Chicago's gang problem is BAD.
Los Angeles is, without question, the worst of the worst. But the gangbanging, violence, lack of education, and hopeless in Chicago was almost like a mirror image of Compton or Watts.

3. Golden, black Los Angeles is slowly becoming 'Mexican Los Angeles' BECAUSE OF PEOPLE LIKE SINISTER! And Tookie Williams. And Monster Kody. And Big Country. And all the rest of the so-called "OGs". Working people, good people get fed up with the bulls#*t, and pack up and move away. To Palmdale. And Moreno Valley. And San Bernardino. And Las Vegas. So black Los Angeles is slowly fading away.

THE MOST DANGEROUS THING TO URBAN BLACK AREAS ISN'T RACIST POLICE OR MEXICAN GANGS, IT'S THUGS THAT DON'T HAVE THE OLD-SCHOOL VALUES, AND MAKE THE WORKING CLASS MOVE AWAY.

Arthur Winston got up and went to work for 72 YEARS! And he lived in times that were much more racist than today; the L.A. of Chief Parker in the 1950s!
If he could get up and go to work in the morning, for SEVENTY-TWO YEARS STRAIGHT, then why can't people like Sinister do it?

The demise of black Los Angeles would be a dream come true for people like Chief Parker, if he were still here, and you thugs, scumbags, and vermin are helping to bring it about. You're making Chief Parker and Daryl Gates' dream come true, and they'd love you for it, so I want no part of you.

Gangs are a virulent cancer on black America. A cancer that has metastasized from coast to coast. Now it's time to put that cancer into remission with education, old-school values and accountability, and an end to selling (and using) drugs as the answer to every problem.

[KEEPITREAL]

DON'T CALL ME SQUID....

WHAT YOU SAID IS PLAIN AND SIMPLE...PERIOD!!! BUT THESE IDIOTS DON'T GET IT. I HAVE LIVED HERE FOR 30 YEARS AND HAVE SEEN THE RACIAL TRANSFORMATION FIRST HAND.

MOM AND DAD WANT THIER KIDS TO LIVE OR HAVE HAD ONE CHILD DIE SO THEY PICK UP AND LEAVE (I KNOW I WOULD), AND GUESS WHO MOVES IN? DON'T BLAME THEM BLAME BABY LOC LOC OR RAY RAY OR O.G. STUPID LOC!!!

I JUST FEEL SORRY FOR THE HARD WORKING PEOPLE LIKE MYSELF, MY FAMILY AND OTHERS WHO ARE JUST TRYING TO MAKE A DECENT LIFE FOR THEMSELVES. MY FAMILY AND I WILL BE MOVING HOPEFULLY SOONER THAN LATER AND I CAN'T WAIT!

WITH ALL OF THE RACIAL TENSION HERE ON THE EAST SIDE I CAN'T BELIEVE THAT THESE DUMB ASS BLOODS AND CRIPS ARE STILL FIGHTING EACH OTHER! LET ME GO ONE FURTHER SOME OF THESE DUMB ASSES ARE KILLING MEMBERS OF THIER OWN SET!!! I WILL PROBABLY BE BRINGING THE SHERIFF'S AND LAPD BAGELS, DONUTS AND COFFEE MYSELF, BECAUSE IF IT WEREN'T FOR THEM, THINGS WOULD BE EVEN WORSE.

STOP SNITCHING?...NO STOP DOING DUMB SHYT!!!!! IF I SEE IT, I'M TESTIFYING, CALLING THE POLICE AND POINTING ALL OF YOU ANIMALS OUT!!!

[T]

I KNOW DET. SAL LABARBERA PERSONALLY, LIKE A FATHER SO LET ME SET EVERYONE STRAIGHT WHO THINKS THAT HE IS NOT ON TOP OF HIS JOB, MORE THAN YOU KNOW IT HE IS. I HAVE KNOWN THIS MAN FOR 12 YEARS AND DOES HIS JOB BETTER THAN YOU CAN UNDERSATND THAT'S WHY HE IS THE HEAD DETECTIVE, DON.T DISRESPECT HIM NOW BECAUSE WHEN HE CLOSES THE CASE THEN EVERYONE IS GOING TO GIVE HIM HIS PROPS, I AM SPEAKING FROM EXPERIENCE AND I KNOW HE IS A D--M GOOD DETECTIVE

[Iowa Farmer]

Looking at all the murders that are reported in your paper you can keep your year round sunshine. I'll take good old Iowa snowstorms any day.................

[anonymous]

A solution to the shooting problem, The state of California will have to put hidden cameras on all public streets. Like they do in Japan and England, its helps police trememdously in those countries. I know its like the book 1984, but its sadly the alternative since thier is no viable gun control in terrrorist times.

[me]

Being head detective doesn't make him any good at his job. I don't know this person but, his comment about this person was way off base. Maybe this dead person deserves for his murder to be investigated but for this detective to come out and say that he has known this family for years and he wants justice for them well was wron considering what this man is suspectd of. This particular detective put this whole career on the line along with his reputation and his word.

[debose]

i am a black man from south l.a age 31 and it sad to see black dont stick together at all the.it so bad with black i have turn my life for the mexican because the have everything in la black only have cars and gear but are not holding no power.i hate to say but you gangbanger going to get old one day so what are you going to have to leave behind for your family,when you are dead,go rent a video are write about people like the kenndeys they was not a angel but look at their mind state getting money power having estate for the generation that life homeboys not killng each other up then you boys double cross you and snitch.black folks wake up listen what i am telling you dudes its all about having wealth and life will always be about business and business will be personal..so all the murder and the attention that we hold about young black male just murdered each other is not fly at all.but it just a shame that i am black and i have turn to every other race but black because its nothing their in our race but stupid shit that wont even paid the bills nor to the exspensive thing i like out of life

[leap into 2008!]

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