12/27/13VIDEO: VIOLENT GAME OF ‘KNOCKOUT’ BREAKS OUT AT BROOKLYN MALL AFTER HUNDREDS OF TEENS PLAN MASS LOOTING ON FACEBOOK AND TWITTER
Hundreds of rowdy teenagers shut down a Brooklyn mall, trashing stores and reportedly assaulting security guards during day-after Christmas sales on Thursday. The teens reportedly used Facebook and Twitter to plan mass looting, vowing to put the mall “on tilt.” More than “400 crazed teens grabbed and smashed jars of candy, stole cheap items such as baby balloons and beat up security guards at Kings Plaza Shopping Center in Mill Basin between 5 p.m. and 7 p.m., merchants said,” according to the New York Post. Further, sources also told the Post that a violent game of “knockout” broke out on the upper level of the mall. There were fears that at least of the teens may have had a gun. Watch some of the video footage reportedly showing the wild scene at Kings Plaza.
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WABC-TV reports that the flash mob may have been started by a shirt one girl was wearing that included a picture and an ugly message about another girl. The girls reportedly responded to a message on Facebook to meet at the mall. “Videos posted online show the unruly teenagers in the mall, and at least one was taken down by a police officer. Some of the videos appear to have been taken on the second floor, near the Best Buy store,” the report states. Abu Taleb, a clerk at Candy Plaza 2, told the New York Post he’s never seen anything like the chaotic scene that unfolded at the mall on Thursday. “I’m so scared,” he said. “I know they will come back. I was begging them to stop. There were a lot of kids hundreds of kids… [Security] would chase them out one door and they would come back in another door,” the clerk added.
Clerks at other stores were also terrified and forced to roll down the metal gates protecting their stores as security and police attempted to break up the unruly mob. The mall remained closed for about an hour, according to the Post’s sources. “People were getting really scared. A tall white guy with a grey bubble coat was wearing a ski mask and a skull cap and he had his hand under his coat like he was holding a gun,” a perfume merchant recalled. Some of the teens took to social media to brag about the mob violence, including the assault of security guards.
This next article states this Knockout attack was a hate crime? Since this attack was a white guy attacking a black man. How come when a black guy attacks a white guy its not a hate crime?
11/24/13
Feds: 'Knockout' attack was a hate crime
A man has been charged with a federal hate crime in connection with what authorities say was a racially motivated "knockout" assault against an elderly black man, the U.S. Justice Department said Thursday. Conrad Alvin Barrett, 27, of Katy, Texas, has been charged with one count of violating the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act. According to the federal complaint, Barrett attacked the 79-year-old man "because of the man's race and color." He will next appear in court Friday afternoon for a detention hearing.
The suspect made a video of the attack November 24, the complaint said. In the video, he allegedly commented that "the plan is to see if I were to hit a black person, would this be nationally televised?"He then allegedly "hit the man with such force that the man immediately fell to the ground. Barrett then laughed and said 'knockout,' as he ran to his vehicle and fled." The victim suffered two jaw fractures and was hospitalized for several days, the complaint said. Barrett's attorney, George Parnham, told CNN the affidavit does not "pull back the layers of mental health." His client has bipolar disorder and takes medication, Parnham said in an earlier call. Parnham said he could not state whether his client carried out the attack, but, "mental health issues definitely played a part in anything that occurred." Barrett "is very sorry for this person," Parnham said, adding that he and his client haven't had much opportunity to discuss the facts of the case.
WABC-TV reports that the flash mob may have been started by a shirt one girl was wearing that included a picture and an ugly message about another girl. The girls reportedly responded to a message on Facebook to meet at the mall. “Videos posted online show the unruly teenagers in the mall, and at least one was taken down by a police officer. Some of the videos appear to have been taken on the second floor, near the Best Buy store,” the report states. Abu Taleb, a clerk at Candy Plaza 2, told the New York Post he’s never seen anything like the chaotic scene that unfolded at the mall on Thursday. “I’m so scared,” he said. “I know they will come back. I was begging them to stop. There were a lot of kids hundreds of kids… [Security] would chase them out one door and they would come back in another door,” the clerk added.
Clerks at other stores were also terrified and forced to roll down the metal gates protecting their stores as security and police attempted to break up the unruly mob. The mall remained closed for about an hour, according to the Post’s sources. “People were getting really scared. A tall white guy with a grey bubble coat was wearing a ski mask and a skull cap and he had his hand under his coat like he was holding a gun,” a perfume merchant recalled. Some of the teens took to social media to brag about the mob violence, including the assault of security guards.
This next article states this Knockout attack was a hate crime? Since this attack was a white guy attacking a black man. How come when a black guy attacks a white guy its not a hate crime?
11/24/13
Feds: 'Knockout' attack was a hate crime
A man has been charged with a federal hate crime in connection with what authorities say was a racially motivated "knockout" assault against an elderly black man, the U.S. Justice Department said Thursday. Conrad Alvin Barrett, 27, of Katy, Texas, has been charged with one count of violating the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act. According to the federal complaint, Barrett attacked the 79-year-old man "because of the man's race and color." He will next appear in court Friday afternoon for a detention hearing.
The suspect made a video of the attack November 24, the complaint said. In the video, he allegedly commented that "the plan is to see if I were to hit a black person, would this be nationally televised?"He then allegedly "hit the man with such force that the man immediately fell to the ground. Barrett then laughed and said 'knockout,' as he ran to his vehicle and fled." The victim suffered two jaw fractures and was hospitalized for several days, the complaint said. Barrett's attorney, George Parnham, told CNN the affidavit does not "pull back the layers of mental health." His client has bipolar disorder and takes medication, Parnham said in an earlier call. Parnham said he could not state whether his client carried out the attack, but, "mental health issues definitely played a part in anything that occurred." Barrett "is very sorry for this person," Parnham said, adding that he and his client haven't had much opportunity to discuss the facts of the case.
