When the news of UNC’s student Eve Carson broke, I wrote about it on my blog because two young black men were charged in her murder. I got slammed by several readers who said that I was being elitist and basically thumbing my nose at these two men. The problem I had then and now is the fact that gun violence in the black community is escalating and a serious problem. I was also angered by the manner in which this promising student was taken from us by two armed thugs with enormous rap sheets and who had nothing going for themselves, by choice, I might add. So, the details of her grisly murder have been released and it is really barbaric and these two men deserve the death penalty.
According to the Atlanta Journal Constitution, the slain student body president at the University of North Carolina likely raised her right arm to protect herself from a single shotgun blast that tore through her hand before striking her in the head, according to an autopsy report released Monday. Eve Carson was shot four other times, according to the report from the Office of the State Medical Examiner that simply lists her cause of death as “multiple gunshot wounds.” The 22-year-old from Athens, Ga., was found March 5 lying on a street not far from the university’s campus. Prosecutors have charged Laurence Lovette, 17, and Demario Atwater, 22 with first-degree murder in her death. Lovette and another man are also charged with the January murder of Duke University graduate student Abhijit Mahato.
The report said Carson was shot five times, including once in the right cheek by a “full metal jacketed bullet” and in the right shoulder by a similar bullet that penetrated her right lung and traveled into her small intestine. She was also shot in the right upper arm and in the right buttock. The AJC said that the most vicious wound came from a shotgun blast that struck her right hand before impacting her head and brain, where the medical examiner recovered a “numerous birdshot pellets and a plastic shot cup.” “These wounds most likely represent a single shot with the hand acting as an intermediate target,” the report said.
In court documents released last week, authorities said a confidential informant told police that Atwater said he and Lovette entered Carson’s home through an open door, took her and her vehicle to an ATM, and ended up withdrawing about $1,400 over two days–money that did not belong to them. Investigators confirmed the dollar figure by reviewing Carson’s bank records, according to the records. The informant also said Carson was shot by both suspects. An affidavit signed by an investigator said the informant’s statements were corroborated because two separate weapons were used in the shooting. Lovette and Stephen Oates, 19, of Durham, are charged in Mahato’s death. His autopsy showed the 29-year-old had been shot once at point-blank range in the forehead.
What these men have been accused of doing to this woman is heinous and they should be punished to the fullest extent of the law. I don’t care what color Ms. Carson was, the fact is that she was shot mercilessly by armed thugs who should have been behind bars for other crimes. The problem is the system lets too many criminals out on the street only for them to commit even bigger crimes. If these men are found guilty, the should be given the death penalty. What has gone so terribly wrong in the lives of these men for them to pursue a life of crime and gun violence? I am saddened by the fact that three lives have been lost and the lives of these two young men will be worth nothing because of the path they chose to take. Just my thoughts, you be the judge…….
Filed under: Demario Atwater, Eve Carson, Laurence Lovette, UNC
Black Political Thought 