On May 3, Charlottesville police charged another 17-year-old boy with crimes stemming from the April 21 assault of two teens near Friendship Court, a low-income housing project near Garrett Street. The suspect was charged with robbery, aggravated malicious wounding, malicious wounding and participation in a criminal street gang. The suspect allegedly beat one of the victims so badly that his injuries required two metal plates to be implanted in his cheek. The other victim allegedly had a tooth knocked out by the suspect. Another 17-year-old, who is also being held at the Blue Ridge Detention Center, was charged with obstruction of justice by threatening or intimidating a witness. Both these arrests follow the previous week’s arrests of a 16-year-old and a 19-year-old, Otis Scott-Wilkins, in connection with the incident.
The beatings are being treated as gang activity. Charlottesville Police Captain Chip Harding says some of the young men arrested thus far, including Wilkins, “originally came from New York and were saying they were part of the Bloods.” Still, Harding says he’s not sure whether the suspects are actually “Bloods,” as has been claimed, or if they’re imposters: “I don’t think the Bloods carry a membership card,” Harding says. “All I can say is that they were saying that night that they were [Bloods], and in one of the searches of a home they found materials, writings by one of the guys outlining [the Bloods’] signing.”
At Friendship Court, however, a reporter finds more ambivalent views. Longtime Friendship Court resident Brenda Fountain, for one, is not convinced that the group is a well organized: “I don’t think [the suspects] know what Bloods and Crips are. They might know one and then they try to portray them,” she says. “It’s a shame that they’re being labeled,” Fountain adds. She expressed fear that her 14-year-old grandson, who is not in a gang, could be labeled as a troublemaker if he wears clothing
she recently bought him: black jeans and a red shirt.
Fountain’s nephew, Sean, agrees that the “gang” question has gotten undue attention: “They call Charlottesville a city, but it’s not Boston, Chicago or New York. If a real Blood came to Charlottesville and went up to one of [the suspects] and they didn’t know the handshake, he’d kill them.” Fountain says she suspects “old G’s,” or “Retro Gangsters,” could be involved, explaining that these individuals could be Bloods recently released from prison or Bloods who have recently relocated to the area. “They want to pick up where they left off and these young kids just think it’s cool.” Still, she adds, “It’s not really the people that live in the housing project [that are involved], it’s the people that come from elsewhere.”—Esther Brown
The beatings are being treated as gang activity. Charlottesville Police Captain Chip Harding says some of the young men arrested thus far, including Wilkins, “originally came from New York and were saying they were part of the Bloods.” Still, Harding says he’s not sure whether the suspects are actually “Bloods,” as has been claimed, or if they’re imposters: “I don’t think the Bloods carry a membership card,” Harding says. “All I can say is that they were saying that night that they were [Bloods], and in one of the searches of a home they found materials, writings by one of the guys outlining [the Bloods’] signing.”
At Friendship Court, however, a reporter finds more ambivalent views. Longtime Friendship Court resident Brenda Fountain, for one, is not convinced that the group is a well organized: “I don’t think [the suspects] know what Bloods and Crips are. They might know one and then they try to portray them,” she says. “It’s a shame that they’re being labeled,” Fountain adds. She expressed fear that her 14-year-old grandson, who is not in a gang, could be labeled as a troublemaker if he wears clothing
she recently bought him: black jeans and a red shirt.
Fountain’s nephew, Sean, agrees that the “gang” question has gotten undue attention: “They call Charlottesville a city, but it’s not Boston, Chicago or New York. If a real Blood came to Charlottesville and went up to one of [the suspects] and they didn’t know the handshake, he’d kill them.” Fountain says she suspects “old G’s,” or “Retro Gangsters,” could be involved, explaining that these individuals could be Bloods recently released from prison or Bloods who have recently relocated to the area. “They want to pick up where they left off and these young kids just think it’s cool.” Still, she adds, “It’s not really the people that live in the housing project [that are involved], it’s the people that come from elsewhere.”—Esther Brown
