Source: www.celebritymound.com
Police say DJ shattered gang truce at club, ending with 2 deaths
Two gangs declared a truce to celebrate a birthday. But police say one song shattered the peace.
For about an hour Sunday night, the leaders of two gangs ?? which remain unnamed by Dallas police officials ?? put rivalries aside, allowing a party at El Angel in the 600 block of North Harwood Street downtown to continue trouble-free.
That is, according to police, until the DJ began booming “Put Yo Hood Up,” a raunchy call-to-action gangsta anthem that police said practically sparked a riot inside the club.
The result was two young men ?? Lendl Carey, 22, and Kenneth Haggerty, 20 ?? shot dead in the streets outside the club. Injured were Dewayne Braxton, 24; Christopher Finley, 20; Jabari Andrews, 19; and Cornelius Finley, 19. They were treated and released from the hospital.
Police on Monday continued the search for the shooters and were reviewing parking lot surveillance tapes for clues to who was present and who was shooting.
But authorities laid the blame for how the fight began squarely on the rap song’s lyrics.
“Witnesses said this was the flashpoint,” said Deputy Chief Alfredo Saldana, who heads the crimes against persons division.
Police said that it is not confirmed that everyone who attended the club that night was in a gang. A mother whose son was celebrating his birthday there over the weekend said her son was not affiliated.
Marcus Francia, the brother of the man whose 21st birthday was being celebrated, said what police have labeled as a gang fight was a spontaneous conflict between young men from different neighborhoods.
“It’s not really gang violence. We don’t even know those boys,” Mr. Francia, 20, said of the men who killed his friends. “Everyone in there was against us. I guess the majority of people were from the same hood.”
Mr. Francia, his brother and their friends are from East Dallas. He said he thought the shooters were from Pleasant Grove.
He challenged the police’s assertion that the song “Put Yo Hood Up” sparked the mayhem.
“The songs played, they have nothing to do with nothing,” Mr. Francia said. “I’ve been to a lot of clubs, and they play the same songs at every club. I don’t think that would prompt nobody.”
He explained flashing a sign representing a part of town, or throwing one’s hood, happens at clubs regardless of what’s playing.
“People throw their hood with every song played. That one probably made them throw their hood more than usual,” said Mr. Francia, whose mother is a telephone operator at The Dallas Morning News.
The bloodshed was the latest in a long series of shootings and beatings that have plagued the eastern edge of downtown for several months.
In October, an 18-year-old man was stomped to death at a parking lot at San Jacinto and Harwood after a hip-hop bash at the nearby Adams Mark hotel. And police routinely have to quell huge brawls near Pacific and Harwood outside Blue, a rap club well-known for violence inside that spills out onto the streets.
Police on Monday stopped short of calling for a boycott of the popular song by Lil’ Jon & The East Side Boyz.
“We’re not in the business of policing lyrics,” said Deputy Chief Brian Harvey, in charge of downtown police activities.
He said troubles at El Angel began about two months ago, about the same time it changed its format and hired a promoter to fill it with revelers.
He met with the club’s management Monday and planned to sit down with owners of other establishments soon to reiterate the department’s safety message.
“We’re going to work with the clubs to make sure they have adequate security,” Chief Harvey said. He said El Angel’s managers were cooperative.
The club’s management could not be reached for comment.
He said three off-duty officers and an investigator were working the club’s parking lots that night but weren’t told about the conflict inside in time to quell it outside.
(dallasmorningnews)
