Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, January 31, 1992 TAG: 9201310121
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By LAURENCE HAMMACK STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
TEEN GUILTY OF KILLING OVER BICYCLE
As he chased a man down Mulberry Street Northwest in Roanoke, a 16-year-old boy pulled a semiautomatic pistol from his pocket, fired a fatal shot at the fleeing man, then returned to tell his friends: "He got his."The youth, who is not being identified because of his age, was convicted Thursday of killing Sonni R. Warren.
Warren, 20, was shot in the right temple Oct. 17 as he was chased by a group of teen-agers that had accused him of stealing a bicycle, according to testimony in Roanoke Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court.
The scenario outlined during a day of testimony has become a common refrain in Roanoke courtrooms - kids armed with guns, and with an attitude to use them.
"It has gotten to be a thing of the norm, and I'm just one of the parents who has to bear the price," Warren's mother, Mary, said outside the courthouse minutes after the youth was convicted.
"I think we as parents and citizens of the Roanoke Valley need to get together and put pressure on the local authorities, the state authorities and the federal authorities," she said.
"Because until something is done, the killing will continue."
Judge Fred L. Hoback Jr. convicted the 16-year-old of second-degree murder and use of a firearm in the commission of murder.
The youth was allowed to remain free on bond until a sentencing date next month. Because he was tried as a juvenile, the most severe punishment he could receive is incarceration in a detention home until his 21st birthday.
The youth, who covered his face with his hand as Hoback pronounced the verdict, had admitted that he was one of the teens who chased Warren, but maintained he did not shoot him.
He testified that he spent Oct. 17 like many other Roanoke teen-agers: After riding the bus home from school, he played basketball at a park before going to Valley View Mall to hang out with friends.
But as he and three other teens returned to the Signal Hill area of Northwest Roanoke, they discovered Warren in the front yard of a friend's home.
Warren had taken two tires from a bicycle, witnesses said, and a confrontation led to punches before he turned and fled.
The 16-year-old testified that he and three other teens chased Warren to a spot on Mulberry Street, where Warren dropped a duffel bag that he had been carrying and continued to run. The 16-year-old said he had stopped to examine the bag when he heard two shots, but did not see who fired them.
The other youths, however, either testified Thursday or told police earlier that it was the 16-year-old who fired the shots and then flung the clip of the gun into some woods.
As he climbed into a waiting car to flee the scene, the 16-year-old told his friends: "He got his," 17-year-old Brieon Ross testified. The 16-year-old denied making such a statement.
Police were called after a neighborhood resident found Warren's body lying on the roadside, his right hand still clutching a red baseball cap. Authorities believe Warren was shot in the temple as he turned while running to look at his pursuers, and that he probably was dead by the time he hit the ground.
After interviewing several youths who witnessed the shooting, police arrested the 16-year-old a few days later.
Chief Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Betty Jo Anthony said the case was somewhat unusual because it did not center on drugs - often the key factor in Roanoke killings involving juveniles.
Instead, it illustrated how some teen-agers resort to gunfire over something as trivial as a bicycle. Anthony said the juveniles involved had called the .22-caliber semiautomatic a "little bitty gun," as if surprised that it could actually kill someone.
"I don't think a lot of young people realize the kind of damage they can do," she said.
The case also was unusual because the 16-year-old had been ordered to stand trial as an adult, but the case was sent back to juvenile court on appeal by Assistant Public Defender John Varney.
Varney said the youth had never had any problems with the law in the past, and that he could still benefit from the services of the juvenile court system.
Anthony disagreed, saying the 16-year-old should be punished as an adult for killing a man "in cold blood on a city street, as he was running away from these young men."
Keywords:
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