Teen 'sport killings' of homeless on the rise

CNN.com ^ | 7:55 p.m. EST, February 20, 2007 | Ashley Fantz

[Hoosier-Daddy]

MILWAUKEE, Wisconsin (CNN) -- All Nathan Moore says he wanted to do was smoke pot and get drunk with his friends.

Killing Rex Baum was never part of the plan that day in 2004.

"It all started off as a game," Moore said.

The 15-year-old and his friends were taunting the homeless man -- throwing sticks and leaves -- after having a couple of beers with him.

No big deal, Moore says, but he's sorry for what came next.

It was a mistake, he said, a sudden primal surge that made him and his friends Luis Oyola, 16, and 17-year-old Andrew Ihrcke begin punching and kicking Baum.

"Luis says 'I'm gonna go hit him,' We're all laughing, thought he was joking around,'" but he wasn't, Moore concedes. "We just all started hitting him."

[Logophile]

. . . the perps who did this (as well as the other crime that was basically identifical to this one) were white. Furthermore they were not from the inner-city.

You are right, of course.

I did not comment on the race of the killers because it does not matter in the slightest (except to those who are overly conscious of racial issues). The victim is dead, no matter what the color of his attackers.

[Steve0113]

ping