Coyote Tales: HGF

Jason Gage

Jason Gage (1976 - March 11, 2005) was a 29-year-old man who was murdered in his Waterloo, Iowa apartment, by an assailant who claimed Gage made sexual advances. Jason Gage was last seen alive on March 11, 2005, socializing with friends in Waterloo's downtown bars. Sometime that night he went home to his apartment in the Russell-Lamson building. With him was 23-year-old Joseph Lawrence. Gage was originally from Oelwein, Iowa. He'd lived in Chicago and Milwaukee before moving to Waterloo years earlier. He settled downtown, and worked waiting tables in the Italian restaurant of his apartment building. He enrolled at the College of Hair Design in Waterloo, Iowa, in January 2003, and his friends said he dreamed of working in a big city salon.[1] Lawrence moved to Iowa from Farmington, New Mexico, where he'd been an oil worker. New Mexico court records show that Lawrence pleaded guilty to possession of one ounce of marijuana in January 2003. He spent 30 days in the San Juan County Jail. Lawrence was born in Seaford, Delaware and was adopted at age 5. He moved with his adoptive parents to Maryland, New Jersey, and then to Ohio. He was removed from his birthparents for severe abuse and spent several years in foster care before he was 5. He has a history of mental illness for which he spent time in mental health group homes and hospitalizations. He has a history of intermittent rage disorder for which he has been treated in the past. During his time in Ohio, he decided he no longer wanted to be adopted and moved back into foster care at age 16. From there, he moved to Phoenix, Arizona and then on to New Mexico. In early 2003, Lawrence moved from Farmington, New Mexico to Cedar Falls, Iowa, to be with his girlfriend—Elizabeth Hostetler—who was six months pregnant with their child. The couple—who had been together for a year—decided to move to Cedar Falls, because Hostetler had many "lifelong friends" in the area who could help with the baby . Hostetler said she introduced Gage and Lawrence about a week before Gage's murder. Hostetler had met Gage through an acquaintance and had known him for about two years. Witnesses said Gage and Lawrence were together the night Gage was killed. They were seen at Kings & Queens, the local gay club, before heading to an after hours party at The Times Bar. The two left at some point and headed back to Gage's apartment. According to Hostetler, Gage told Lawrence that he could wait for a ride at his apartment, which was two blocks away from The Times Bar. A female friend and roommate of Hostetler's said Lawrence called late Friday or early Saturday asking for a ride home from downtown, because he "didn't like the hospitality of the place," and needed a ride or he was going to "end up in jail." An investigator said he received a call from a man who had been asked to give Lawrence a ride home from a downtown club. Lawrence never showed up for the ride, and the man said he later heard that from Hostetler that Lawrence had beat up Gage. In the early hours of March 12, phone records show Lawrence sent several text messages to friends in Iowa and New Mexico via his cell phone. "I just killed a guy I think, " one read. A second sent to Michael Bailey in New Mexico flashed "U need to call me soon." A phone conversation between Bailey and Lawrence, in which Lawrence said "some guy" tried to "hit on him real bad" and described "a fight that got way out of hand," indicated that Lawrence may not have known Gage was dead Lawrence gave a videotaped statement at the Waterloo police station after plain-clothes police officer went to the home he shared Hostetler and asked him to come in for questioning. A police affidavit Lawrence acknowledged hitting Gage twice with a bottle and stabbing him with a piece of glass On December 16, 2005, as part of a plea agreement, Joseph Lawrence entered an Alford plea in the case of Jason Gage's murder. The plea allowed Lawrence to avoid admitting guilt while acknowledging that he would likely have been found guilty of Gage's murder had the case gone to trial. Originally charged with first degree murder, which would have meant a life sentence without parole, Lawrence pleaded to the lesser charge of second degree murder. As part of the plea agreement, Lawrence also waived his right to appeal the plea and the sentence, and to pay a $150,000 civil penalty to Gage's estate. After entering his plea, Lawrence added "I have nothing appropriate to say," and sat silent during his sentencing. Judge Bruce Zager sentenced Lawrence to 50 years, which was the mandatory punishment under Iowa law. Lawrence must serve at least 70 percent—35 years—of his sentence before he is eligible for parole.

Jimmy Lee Dean

Dean, a native of Cincinnati, had lived in Dallas for about 20 years, and had lost contact with his family. Dean worked as a freelance web designer, but his true love is music and playing his guitar, and his goal is to open a home recording studio to help other artists cut demos.Around midnight on July 17, Dean left Alexandre's — one of two gay bars he'd been to that night — and began walking back towards his apartment complex 50 yards away. Michael Robinson, a 48-year-old gay man and car salesman, walked out of Zini's Pizzaria around the same time. He encountered Dean, who was walking in the same direction, and the two struck up a conversation. Near the corner of Throckmorton Street and Dickerson Avenue, they passed Bobby Jack Singleton, 26, and Jonathan Russell Gunter, 31, walking in the opposite direction. Dean gave them a nod, having recalled seeing them there before, and kept walking. Singleton and Gunter doubled back and came up behind Robinson and Dean. Robinson turned to confront them. A verbal exchange occurred between the parties, and Robinson urged Dean to keep walking. When Singleton and Gunter got between him and Dean, Robinson ran to his apartment one block away and retrieved a kitchen knife. When he returned, Dean lay on the ground with Singleton and Gunter kicking him, stomping his face and yelling things like “you gay ass motherfucker, punk-ass bitch,” according to Robinson. Singleton and Gunter attacked Dean, pistol-whipped him with a 9mm Glock handgun, as well as kicking and stomping his head, face, and body. Witnesses said that Singleton and Gunter used anti-gay epithets before, during, and after the attack. When Robinson approached with the knife, one of the men pulled the gun on him that they'd used to beat Dean. Distracted, they began walking a way from Dean. Norman Draper, 26, a heterosexual passing motorist acting as designated driver for some gay friends, saw Singleton and Gunter pass behind his car on foot, and saw Dean lying in the street. Draper left his vehicle, put flares on the road, and called 911. A former security officer and Police Explorer, he used latex gloves to retrieve the gun that Singleton and Gunter had tossed into some high grass, as well as a bloody knife lying next to Dean.5) Singleton and Gunter later admitted to police that they'd targeted Dean because they thought it would be easier to rob a gay man. Dean was taken to Parkland Memorial Hospital. He suffered a broken jaw and vertebrae, as well as facial fractures and swelling. Witnesses at the scene said that after the beating, Dean's nosed was attached only by a piece of skin. Dean's injuries were so bad that police were unable to interview him. The attack left Dean unable to talk to police for at least 24 hours, and hospitalized for 10 days. His jaw and cheek bones were crushed from kicks to the head. Seven months after the beating, Dean still lived with pain from the attack, suffered depression, and had not regained his sense of smell, He awaited surgery to repair and replace death damage or lost as a result of the attack, but surgery to repair his drooping eyelid was unsuccessful, making it unlikely that his facial injuries from the attack will be repaired surgically. Following the attack, Robinson went on to organize an hate crimes advocacy group, United Community Against Gay Hate Crimes. Singleton and Gunter were apprehended at the scene by security guards from the nearby clubs. They were arrested and held on bail; $300,000 for Singleton, and $300,500 for Gunter. They were charged with aggravated robbery with a deadly weapon, a first-degree felony, because investigators recovered a set of keys and a Zippo lighter from them, which belonged to Dean. On July 31, the Dallas County prosecutors announced that they would not seek hate crimes charges against Singleton and Gunter. Dallas police plan to categorize the attack as a hate crime for statistical purposes. Prosecutors, however, decided not to pursue hate crime charges because Singleton and Gunter already face the maximum penalty — up to 99 years — if convicted. Under Texas law, a hate crime conviction by a jury could not result in enhanced sentencing, but a hate crimes charge could put a greater burden of proof on the prosecution. Texas law dictates that a hate crimes designation is made during the sentencing faze of a trial, after conviction. On March 4, 2009, Gunter was sentenced to 30 years in prison for his role in the attack on Dean. He face up to life in prison after being convicted of aggravated robbery with a deadly weapon.

Jorge Steven Lopez

"On November 14 the body of a gay 19 year old was found a few miles away from the town in which he was residing in called Caguas. He was a very well known person in the gay community of Puerto Rico, and very loved. He was found on the site of an isolated road in the city of Cayey, he was partially burned, decapitated, and dismembered, both arms, both legs, and the torso. This has caused a huge reaction from the gay community here, but its a difficult situation. Never in the history of Puerto Rico has a murder been classified as a hate crime. Even though we have to follow federal mandates and laws, many of the laws in which are passed in the USA such as Obama’s new bill, do not always directly get practiced in Puerto Rico. The police agent that is handling this case said on a public televised statement that 'people who lead this type of lifestyle need to be aware that this will happen'. As If the boy murdered Jorge Steven Lopez was asking to get killed..." His mother later said: “When my son told me he was gay, I told him, ‘Now, I love you more.’ I want to tell the world that hatred is not born with human beings, it is a seed that is planted by adults and is fostered creating a climate of intolerance and violence. We must change our ways and understand that anyone …could have been my son. And I want everybody to know that Jorge Steven was a very much loved son.”

Christopher Skinner

A crowd estimated at around 1,000 turned out for a vigil in honor of Christopher Skinner, a 27-year-old gay man in Toronto who was beaten by a group of people in an SUV and then run over and killed while walking home from a birthday party last week. Late last week, authorities held a press conference at which they released images of the SUV they believed killed Skinner. Authorities are not sure what the motivation behind the murder was, but they have some theories they are floating. Based on a security camera video, police say Skinner may have accidentally touched the SUV while hailing a cab, inspiring the violent attack which took his life. It's also entirely possible that a group of kids, emboldened by alcohol, saw a vulnerable looking guy they perceived to be gay trying to hail a cab on the street, stopped, beat the crap out of him because of hatred for gays, and then ran him over.

Ian Baynham

"Ian Baynham, 62, was punched and kicked to the ground on 25 September. He suffered head injuries and died in hospital on Tuesday. A 30-year-old man who was with him suffered minor injuries. Police have started a murder inquiry and have appealed for information about CCTV images of two women who were in the area at the time. Officers said Mr Bayman (sic) and his friend were initially verbally abused by a woman as they got off a bus near Duncannon Street. He went to remonstrate with her but she and her two friends, a man and another woman, attacked him. The suspects were seen seated in the area before the assault at about 2245 BST. They are all described as being aged between 16 and 20 and the two females (seen above, in a surveillance photo) had blonde hair. The male was described as dark-skinned, about 5ft 8in tall (1.72m), with black hair." Baynham and his friend had apparently taken the bus into London to enjoy a night out.

Michael Wrenn

Warren and Hudy were walking home from Seattle's Belltown neighborhood around midnight on August 4. Walking down the 2200 block of First Avenue, they passed a group of six men, one of whom was urinating. One of the men in the group offered Hudy $20 to tell the man who was urinating that he had a “red-fox penis,” meant to be a comment on his penis size.1) Hudy declined, and he and Wrenn continued walking. 2) The man who had been urinating stopped and approached Wrenn and Hudy and asked, “What are you guys, fags?” When Wrenn answered “Yeah. I'm gay. What's your problem,” the man shoved Hudy aside, pushed Wrenn to the ground and began punching him. After the attack, the men ran away. Hudy followed the men while also talking to 911 on his cell phone. and eventually led police to them. The primary attacker had fled, but the police were able to get his name. At the scene, medics treated Wrenn for a bloody nose, cuts to his chin, and bruises to his body. He would later develop two black eyes. After the attack, Wrenn and Hudy spoke to the policeman on the scene, and explained to him that they believed the attack was a hate crime, motivated by Wrenn's sexual orientation. The police office did not get out of his car during the interview.3) When Wrenn emphasized that the only reason he was attacked was his sexual orientation, the officer responded that to him that being gay “is your issue.”4) The same officer later filed a which made no mention of the attacker's anti-gay remarks or the bias-based motive of the attack. The incident was classified as an assault, and the “bias crime” box was unchecked. In an interview with Seattle Gay News, a Seattle Police Department spokesman stood by the officer's actions and the veracity of the report. Seattle has a hate crime statute that covers investigations of crimes based on sexual orientation and gender identity. Seattle City Councilmenber Tom Rasmussen asked the Seattle Police Department to look into the incident, and on August 8 Wrenn was informed that a bias crimes detective was being assigned to the case.5) No arrest has been made in Wrenn's assault.

Lisa Craig

On July 4, Craig, 35, and her family – her partner Debbie Riley, 37, and their five-year-old and nine-year-old daughters – went to Boston's Piers Park to watch the fireworks.1) Around 9:00 p.m., an “intoxicated” teenager urinated in view of their children. Craig protested, and the teenager cursed and yelled anti-gay slurs at Craig.2) Riley said the teenagers continued to harass them.3), and followed them through the park taunting them with anti-gay slurs throughout the evening.4) After the fireworks, at about 10:40 p.m. Craig and Riley encountered the teenagers again, after buying ice cream for their daughters.5) The teenagers began fighting and accidentally shoved Craig's and Riley's five-year-old into the ice cream truck.6) Craig then turned and confronted the teenagers. One of them recognized the family and again started yelling anti-gay slurs. The teenage girl then punched Craig. The rest of the teenagers set upon Craig, knocking her to the ground punching and kicking her as she lay on the ground. Craig's head hit the pavement and she was knocked unconscious.7) The teenagers punched and kicked her as she lay on the ground, with her partner and children watching.8) C One of the teenagers grabbed Craig's head and repeatedly slammed her head into the sidewalk, in an attack that lasted several minutes.9) The teenagers grabbed Craig's purse and ran off when a police officer told them to leave before they were arrested. Riley criticized the officer for not arresting Craig's attackers.10) Riley said Massaport police could have arrested the teenagers, but the officer yelled “Get the fuck out of here before I arrest you!”11) With Craig unconscious and an “orange-sized lump” growing on her head, Riley called for help, directing the crowd to call 911 and summon police. But, Craig would later say, “there were no police to be found.” As their daughters screamed “Don't die, mommy!”, several men in the park helped Riley and Craig until a police officer arrived. The officer reported, “Approximately 20 teenage males and females were hostile and verbally threatening the victim, her children.”12) Craig was rushed to Massachusetts General Hospital, where doctors operated to slow the bleeding in her skull.13) Craig underwent two operations and received more than 200 stitches.14) Over 150 members of Boston's LGBT community15) held a rally in Piers Park on July 26, where speakers urged the crowed to take action in response to the hate crime against Craig and her family.16) Anita Santiago, 15, was arrested and indicted for assault and battery. Santiago disputed Craig's version of events in a civil case deposition. Santiago claimed she and Craig exchanged words over Craig's daughter being pushed, but that Craig put her hands on her before she punched Craig. On December 4, 2003, Santiago was indicted as a “youthful offender,” and charged with aggravated assault and battery. The Suffolk County district attorney decided not to prosecute Santiago for a hate crime in the attack on Craig. A spokesperson for the D.A.'s office said that prosecutors could not prove that Santiago made the anti-gay statements attributed to her. Craig and Riley filed a civil suit against the the Massachusetts Port Authority for reckless disregard of public safety, for failing to have sufficient police forces in the park. Depositions in the civil case showed that Massport planned to assign two officers to the park, however the lieutenant in charge of the East Boston patrols testified that he repeatedly warned against under staffing the park on a night when thousands of people would gather to watch fireworks. Documents showed that Massport police were trying to reduce overtime costs. Captain Michael Grady, in charge of scheduling, declined to pay the $300 overtime costs that an additional officer would have cost Massport spent $600,000 defending itself in the suit and then settled in the fall of 2006, for $205,000, under a confidentiality agreement with the plaintiffs. On July 12, 2005, Santiago was sentenced to one year of probation after pleading guilty and admitting to having attacked Craig. Santiago was ordered to stay away from Craig, obtain her GED, be evaluated for anger management counseling, and pay Craig $65 per month during probation. http://www.lgbthatecrimes.org/doku.php/lisa-craig

Paul Broussard

Before there was Matthew Shepard or James Byrd Jr., there was Paul Broussard. Broussard, a 27-year-old gay banker from Houston, was brutally beaten and stabbed to death by a gang of 10 youths in the city’s Montrose area on July 4, 1991. Seven years prior to the legendary murders of Shepard and Byrd, Broussard’s case became one of the first anti-gay hate crimes in the nation to be covered by the mainstream media. The Broussard case also precipitated Texas’ first hate crimes law. “I think if it hadn’t been for the Paul Broussard case, the Matthew Shepard case would not have developed as it did,” said Ray Hill, a longtime Houston gay-rights activist who helped bring Broussard’s killers to justice. “The Matthew Shepard case had the benefit of the field already being plowed. You just had to plant it.” Andy Kahan, who heads Houston’s Crime Victims Assistance Office, began working on Broussard’s murder shortly after he was appointed to the position in 1992. Sixteen years later, Kahan still hasn’t been able to put down the case. Jon Buice, the only one of Broussard’s 10 killers who remains in prison for the crime, will again be up for parole in 2009. “It was humungous down here,” Kahan said of the murder. “It echoed a firestorm for obvious reasons. You had 10 middle-class youth from a well-to-do suburb specifically targeting gay males. And this was not just an anomaly. “They had come down several times previously as well ,” he continued. “You have a pack of wolves that went after three men who were just minding their own business leaving a club. It touched a nerve. Hate crimes wasn’t on anybody’s radar until Paul Broussard met his grisly death.” ‘Where’s Heaven?’ Broussard and his two friends, Cary Anderson and Richard Delaunay, were walking back to their car after a night out in the Montrose at about 2:30 a.m. The 10 youths approached in two vehicles and asked for directions to Heaven, a gay bar. After Broussard and his friends told them the route — an indication the three were gay — the youths jumped out and attacked them. Anderson and Delaunay managed to escape after sustaining only minor injuries, but when Broussard turned down a dead-end street, he was cornered. The youths pummeled him with their fists, their steel-toed boots, a two-by-four studded with nails and at least one knife. Broussard fought back but suffered a broken rib and crushed testicles, as well as stab wounds to the stomach and chest. He died about eight hours later at St. Joseph Hospital. Hill, who then served as an unofficial liaison between Houston’s LGBT community and the police department, said he was summoned to the scene shortly after the attack. Gay-bashings were relatively common in the Montrose at the time, Hill said, but law enforcement rarely took them seriously. “By 1991, I was not willing to accept that,” Hill said. “I said this is not going to be another hate crime that is not going to get investigated.” Hill helped raise reward money from Montrose-area businesses, and he organized a protest a week after the murder that drew 1,200 people, blocking traffic. The case was quickly elevated to the front page of the daily paper and to the top of TV newscasts. “This was the first nationally publicized gay-bashing killing, and the whole purpose of that was to identify the culprits using the media as the vehicle,” Hill said. And the strategy worked. A few weeks after the attack, police got a tip from one of the suspect’s girlfriends that eventually led to all 10 youths. Seven of the 10 were only 17, and the eldest was 22. They were all residents of the Woodlands, a suburb halfway between Houston and Huntsville, who’d attended the same high school. The suspects became known as the Woodlands 10. According to news reports, the 10 boys had been drinking and partying for a few days before the attack when they decided to travel to the Montrose to engage in what had become a ritual — harassing and sometimes physically assaulting gays. They drove around asking for directions to Heaven, and when people indicated that they knew the location of the bar, the youths would throw “queer rocks” at them. Earlier the same evening, they’d hit a car windshield with one of the rocks and struck another man in the mouth. Five of the 10 youths were sentenced to probation, which included boot camp and community service in the LGBT community. Two of those five violated their probation and were sent to prison. Three of the remaining five youths were sentenced to 15 years in prison, one was sentenced to 20 years, and Buice — the knife-man who inflicted the fatal wounds — got the longest sentence, 45 years. The saga continues Back in Warner Robins, Ga., where Broussard grew up, his mother said she was getting ready for work when the phone rang about 6 a.m. on July 4. It was a man calling from the hospital to tell her what had happened and that her son wasn’t likely to survive. “The phone call will stay in my mind for the rest of my life — it was an absolute nightmare,” said Broussard’s mother, Nancy Rodriguez. “I remember begging him, just do what you can. … They did everything they could for him. He never had a chance.” Rodriguez said her son had been an Eagle Scout and an honor roll student who played in the high school band and sang in the church choir. “He was a very good son, a loving son,” she said. “Everybody loved Paul. He had tons and tons of friends.” Broussard moved from Georgia to College Station to attend Texas A&M University, and he worked two jobs to put himself through school, his mother said. After graduating, he moved to Houston. Rodriguez said her son phoned home every week and was especially close to his younger brother and sister. In fact, at the time of his murder, he was saving money to bring his sister to Houston for a visit. Broussard had come out to his family a few years earlier, while he was still in college, his mother said. The family was supportive, and while she feared things like HIV/AIDS, she never dreamed he’d fall victim to anti-gay violence. “I never even knew about gay-bashing,” Rodriguez said. “I got quite an education after Paul was murdered.” Since her son’s death, Rodriguez has been active in groups like PFLAG, Parents of Murdered Children and Compassionate Friends. She’s also worked tirelessly to ensure that his killers serve as much of their sentences as possible. Even now, with all but Buice having been released, she must travel to Texas every two years to testify at a parole hearing. Rodriguez said preparing for the hearings can take up to six months. The case has gotten renewed attention from the media in recent years due to a storyline about Hill, who’s become an advocate for Buice’s release. Hill, an ex-con himself who hosts a radio show for prisoners and their families, said he no longer believes Broussard’s murder was motivated by anti-gay hate. Hill also said he believes Buice — a model prisoner who’s expressed remorse for the crime —is fully rehabilitated. Hill’s stance has led to a bitter, emotional dispute with Rodriguez and Kahan. But all parties agree about one thing, which is that the legacy of the case hasn’t died. “Certainly the life of Paul Broussard is not worth any of this, but out of that came a lot of public awareness,” Hill acknowledged. “Before Paul Broussard, people did not make apologies for their prejudices against gay people. I think it has resulted in some deep and pretty broad socio-cultural changes.”

Ryan Skipper

Ryan was stabbed to death on a stretch of rural road in central Florida. Though comments had allegedly been made by his killers about his sexuality, the focus of the trial is on the robbery. No mention was made of the remarks in prosecutors opening statements. Ryan was 21.Second Killer in Ryan Keith Skipper Murder Found Guilty William Brown Jr. has been found guilty of first degree murder and robbery in the March 2007 death of Ryan Keith Skipper: "The verdict was announced at 2:56 p.m. Jurors had been deliberating since 12:34 p.m. Brown will be sentenced to life in prison Dec. 1. During this morning's closing arguments, Assistant State Attorney Cass Castillo rejected Brown's statement to detectives that he 'blacked out' during the 2007 stabbing attack." Brown's accomplice, Joseph Bearden was found guilty of second-degree murder, theft of a motor vehicle, accessory after the fact to robbery with a weapon, tampering with evidence, and dealing in stolen property on February 27 of this year. He was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole in 25 years.

Isaac and Julio

27 year old Isaac Ali Dani Peréz Triviño (left) was born in Spain. 32 year old Julio Anderson Luciano (right) was born in Brazil. They lived together in the Spanish province of Vigo and were planning to get married.Both were stabbed to death by Jacobo Piñeiro Rial in their apartment in the early morning of January 13th, 2006. The bodies showed a total of 57 stab wounds, according to forensics. * After killing them, Piñeiro took a shower and cleaned himself up. He filled a suitcase with some of their belongings to make it look like a robbery and then spilled clothing all over the place. He poured alcohol over everything, including his victims' bodies, turned on the gas spigot on the stove, and set everything on fire. Piñeiro was acquitted.

Larry King

The E.O. Green School shooting refers to the February 12, 2008, murder of Lawrence "Larry" Fobes King, a fifteen-year-old student at E.O. Green Junior High School in Oxnard, California, United States. He was shot and killed by fellow student, fourteen-year-old Brandon McInerney. McInerney has been charged as an adult with premeditated murder with enhancements of discharge of a firearm and a hate crime; he is being held in lieu of US$770,000 bail, and faces a sentence of 50 years to life imprisonment if convicted. The motive for the shooting remains under investigation. Newsweek has described the shooting as "the most prominent gay-bias crime since the 1998 murder of Matthew Shepard", bringing attention to issues of gun violence as well as gender expression and sexual identity of teenagers.

Carl Joseph Walker-Hoover

Carl Joseph Walker-Hoover was 11-- hardly old enough to know his sexuality and yet distraught enough to hang himself last week after school bullies repeatedly called him "gay." Derogatory labels regarding sexual orientation torment kids across the country. The Springfield, Mass., football player and Boy Scout was ruthlessly teased, despite his mother's pleas to the New Leadership Charter School to address the problem. Sirdeaner L. Walker, 43, found Carl hanging by an extension cord on the second floor of the family's home April 6, just minutes before she was going to a meeting to confront school authorities again. "I am brokenhearted," she told ABCNews.com. "We worry about the economy and about Iraq, but we need to be worried about our schools." Walker, who works as a director of homeless programs, said Carl -- a slight child who loved his schoolwork -- had endured endless taunts since he started sixth grade in Septemb

Jaheem Herrera

"On Thursday afternoon, after returning home from Dunaire Elementary School, Jaheem quietly went into his room and hanged himself. His 10-year-old sister, Yerralis, also a fifth-grader, discovered Jaheem’s dead body. 'His sister was screaming, ‘Get him down, get him down,’' said Norman Keene, who helped raise Jaheem since the boy was two years old. When Keene got to the room, he saw Yerralis holding her brother, trying to remove the pressure of the noose her brother had fashioned with a fabric belt. Jaheem was bullied relentlessly, his family said. Keene said the family knew the boy was a target, but until his death they didn’t understand the scope. 'We’d ask him, ‘Jaheem, what’s wrong with you?’' Keene recalled. 'He’d never tell us.' He didn’t want his sister to tell, either. She witnessed much of the bullying, and many times rose to her brother’s defense, Keene said. 'They called him gay and a snitch,' his stepfather said. 'All the time they’d call him this.' In an interview with WSB-TV, the boy’s mother, Masika Bermudez, also said her son was being bullied at school. She said she had complained to the school. She said she asked him about the bullying Thursday when he came home from school and he denied it. She sent him to his room to calm down. It was the last time she would see him alive." The school has subsequently denied there was any bullying taking place.