Posted on 05/28/2002 5:18:20 PM PDT by GailA
Suspects sought in boy's shooting death
By Lawrence Buser and Amos Maki The Commercial Appeal May 28, 2002
On Monday, as family members tried to make sense of the shooting death of a 9-year-old boy in Orange Mound Sunday night, homicide detectives hunted for those responsible.
A bullet struck the youngster in the neck when he was caught in the crossfire of a brief gunfight.
Marrqutte Desean Mason, who was playing with a football when he was shot, was the second child killed at play this spring when roving gunmen put them in harm's way. Family members said Marrqutte was a good boy who had a lot to look forward to.
His mother, Beverly Moten, said Marrqutte had just made the principal's list at Southpark Elementary School and he was looking forward to going to summer camp with his pals.
"He was a smart boy and he just loved to be outside with his friends," she said.
He also loved to play his Super Nintendo and football, said Robert Vassar, Marrqutte's cousin.
"He was just a good boy," said Jasper Moten, Marrqutte's stepfather. "The only time I had a problem was when I asked him to clean up."
Marrqutte, known by everyone as "little man," won $20 in a rap contest shortly before the shooting, Moten said.
Homicide Lt. Walter Norris said no suspects had been arrested but would not comment Monday on the shooting or the investigation.
A police press release said Marrqutte was at Deadrick and Bradley near Melrose High School about 6 p.m. Sunday when a man began firing shots at a group of three other men. It was not clear whether the group of men returned the fire, the release said.
Sunday night, detectives at the scene said a vehicle stopped on Deadrick and at least one man got out and began shooting at another man standing down the street on Bradley. That man returned the fire, detectives said, though it was not determined which shooter fired the fatal shot.
Witnesses said at least three shots were fired and that the boy ran about 40 yards before collapsing in the living room of Torry Langston at 1019 Bradley.
"He came in and said 'somebody help' and then he just fell out," said Langston.
Marrqutte was pronounced dead about an hour later at Le Bonheur Children's Medical Center.
Family members and well-wishers created a makeshift memorial Monday for Marrqutte on the corner where he was shot.
There were flowers, American flags, red ribbons and a note that read "God is always with you" with two small footballs colored in crayon on the note.
Marrqutte's killing came six weeks after 10-year-old Damien Woodard was shot and killed April 14 on a playground. The bullet struck him while he was trying to escape gunfire from several men who fired as they chased another man through the Oak Park apartments at 1267 Willett in South Memphis.
Five men have been arrested and charged in that shooting.
"There are too many children dying around here," said Vassar. "We are not going to have a future if these kids keep getting killed."
Anyone with information in the shooting of Marrqutte Mason is asked to call Memphis Police homicide bureau at 545-5300 or Crime Stoppers at 528-CASH.
- Lawrence Buser:
529-2385
- Amos Maki: 529-2322
The Attorney General the mayor's office and black ministers are to hold a meeting tomorrow to discuss the open gang warfare taking place that is killing innocent 9 and 10 year olds.
I certainly don't blame you, but I was wathching "The Alamo" the other day, with and by John Wayne as Davy Crockett...
and I gotta ask...
what the hell happened in Tennessee betweeen Davey Crockett and Al Gore?
I'll give the state a few points for Fred Thompson, but ???
when they have Davy Crockett...
and Alvin C. York as role models??
Yes I am a New Yorker, Brooklyn to be exact and you can let me have it when you can explain!!
Of the gang problem, the media only brings the subject up when a bystander is killed. Meanwhile, Memphians try to make smaller target of them selves
Stick it in your ear! It may be cesspool, but its our cesspool,
I am an Irish-Catholic and all I remember about MLK day in 1968 is I didn't have the day off!
Now that you mention it, I do recall wondering why we didn't get a day for Kennedy!!
As for the earlier question, I had no idea about your riots...
but the question still stands...
how could the Great State of Tennessee with two of the greatest heroes of all American History...
Davy Crockett and Alvin C. York...
send Al Gore?
You could say the same thing about forced bussing to acheve total school intergration. That was a bright and shining lesson for the liberal social designers that any drastic action is followed by a drastic reaction.
The consolidation of Memphis into Shelby County is about be a replay of the bussing disaster. It dosn't have to be that way, but the politics of the Herrington-Fords makes it a guarantee
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.