MySpace turns deadly...

[Che Guava]

...or "gangs go digital"....

Video on myspace labelled gun victim as snitch, lawyer says


A man gunned down outside a Malton, Ont., home earlier this month was marked for death as a snitch in a hip-hop tape made by his accused killers and posted on the Internet site myspace.com, his family's lawyer said Sunday.
The tape calls the slain man, David Latchana, a snitch for testifying against Jayson Hay, one of those accused of killing him, Toronto lawyer Selwyn Pieters said in a press release.

The release announced that Mr. Latchana's family will hold a press conference Monday to demand answers about the 23-year-old's death.

In the presence of his girlfriend and his sister, Mr. Latchana was shot outside a house known for loud house parties on Monica Drive in Malton, in the wee hours of the morning of Nov. 3.

Mr. Pieters said the slaying raises a number of questions about the ability of the state to protect witnesses who testify in cases involving threats and violence, including the question of why the police failed to act on the threats contained in the myspace.com posting, which has been on the Internet for some time.

Last week, Peel Regional Police arrested and charged two men, Demar Duntin and Mr. Hay, with first-degree murder for the shooting, while four others who were in a car with Mr. Duntin when he was arrested face a variety of charges, including firearms offences and being an accessory after the fact.

Police have said the dead man and his accused killers were members of the Crips gang, and that Mr. Duntin was also known as Kobra and Mr. Hay as Digit.

In his news release, Mr. Pieters said the killing has nothing to do with gang membership, but it occurred because the government could not protect Mr. Latchana, who was regarded as a snitch for testifying against Mr. Hay, who served 18 months for aggravated assault.

In the myspace.com posting, one of the three songs on the Holding Cell Records label by a rapper called Kobra from Malton, contains lyrics that Mr. Pieters said names Mr. Latchana as a snitch and points to his killing.

“You came to court . .. .. .. .. ., and pointed in my face, but when I get home, you know your place. Don't let me catch you cause those guns will spark. I will find you after dark. I don't give a . .. .. .. . man, because the time is soft. I won't forget this until your time is up,” the voice on the tape says.

A graphic video posted on YouTube also preceded a shooting massacre in Finland last week. Pekka-Eric Auviven, 18, who shot and killed seven students and his principal at his high school, warned in the posting, “I am prepared to fight and die for my cause. I, as a natural selector, will eliminate all who I see unfit…”

Mr. Latchana's family wants to know why the police allege that his killing was the result of internal gang matters, when the evidence suggests he died because he was a Crown witness, and how the police reached the conclusion that the victim was a Crips member, Mr. Pieters said.

Mr. Latchana, who had just returned to the GTA after working in Alberta, was an aspiring architect who was “a wonderful son, brother, grandson and cousin” and “a treasure to his close-knit family,” the lawyer said.

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I've heard of a few videoposts that preceded killings (see teh latest finnish example) but none so far that actually sparked a killing all its own. Do sights like MySpace and Youtube need to be better managed so that information like this doesn't get out?

 

[The Yankee]

It'd probably take monumental resources to monitor such things so that a video could be identified, reviewed, and taken off quickly after it appears.

 

[Bugfatty300]

Video on myspace labelled gun victim as snitch, lawyer says

When will Canada do something about those evil guns running around killing people?

 

[Mandeville]

Well this is what happens in the big T O t-dot hogdown.

 

[Leonel]

Holy crap! I expected this from the US, but Canada?!

 

[Masquerouge]

I've heard of a few videoposts that preceded killings (see teh latest finnish example) but none so far that actually sparked a killing all its own. Do sights like MySpace and Youtube need to be better managed so that information like this doesn't get out?

Absolutely not. People need to better manage themselves, and learn that these social sites are not a private diary. Or else we might as well shut down the whole internet thing.

 

[amadeus]

Violence, in hip-hop "culture?" Impossible. I absolutely refuse to believe this.

 

[skadistic]

Holy crap! I expected this from the US, but Canada?!

Street gang violence is just as bad in Canada.

 

[mdwh]

I've heard of a few videoposts that preceded killings (see teh latest finnish example) but none so far that actually sparked a killing all its own. Do sights like MySpace and Youtube need to be better managed so that information like this doesn't get out?

I'm more concerned at, you know, people being murdered, than videos on a video site.

 

[emzie]

Street gang violence is just as bad in Canada.

Toronto, which is the same size as Chicago, has about one sixth the murder rate.

Nevertheless, I saw 'Canadian gangsta' and LOL'd.

 

[Che Guava]

I'm more concerned at, you know, people being murdered, than videos on a video site.

How about people getting murder with the help of video sites? I think the issue here is that the guy was fingered as a snitch on youtube...