Melissa Cameron

An enormous big THANK YOU to everyone who has got in touch from locations all over the USA in repose to my call for containers to help this research project take concrete form. I have almost half the objects I am seeking, with 41% of the places claimed. If you are in, or know people nearby, the following as-yet unclaimed places (a number next to the place indicates I need that more than one objects from that place), I will send you a newly made limited edition piece of jewellery in exchange for your item. Shoot me an email (with a pic of the object if you can) and then send the container here:

Melissa Cameron
2212 Queen Anne Ave. N. #412
Seattle WA 98109

See the original post for more details, and I need the objects ASAP as my deadline is looming…!

/// Now, back to the last 10 guns

Twenty-five year old Jeffrey Pope was shot in Meridian, Miss. before 5am on New Years Day 2017. After an investigation Aundre Rashaun Tubbs handed himself into police on February 27 after a warrant was made for his arrest earlier that day.

Tubbs was later arrested in connection with a later fatal shooting in Meridian,  at which time it was reported that for his January 1st crime:

Meridian City Court Judge Robbie Jones ruled at Tubbs’ initial hearing on March 2 that Tubbs couldn’t be held on bond until the next available grand jury and had to be released due to lack of evidence.

The dismissal, made during an initial hearing for Tubbs, does not rule whether Tubbs is guilty or not guilty. It determines if it is likely he committed the crime.

It is unknown if Tubbs is still a suspect in the ongoing police investigation into Pope’s death. What that same article could shed light on was the weapon:

The city’s evidence at the preliminary hearing consisted of conflicting statements on Tubbs’ wardrobe and testimony from Tubbs’ associates who said Tubbs carried a 40-caliber pistol. Forty-caliber shell casings were found near Pope’s body the night of the murder.

Back in February I nominated a .40 semi-automatic pistol for my list, the Smith & Wesson Military & Police. It happens to by the weapon I’ve used as Default Pistol 2, and owing to its origin (and title – though remember that S&W like to recycle familiar titles to help out with marketing ) it crops up for officer fired weapons too. We add an extra one now to make an unbroken run of three.

Christina Anderson (30) was shot in Birmingham, Alabama, on January 1st at close to 10pm. Police went to the scene to find evidence of a shooting but no victim, as she had been taken it to a local emergency room by way of the car of a Good Samaritan.  She was transferred from Princeton Baptist Medical Center to UAB Hospital, where she died on the afternoon of the 2nd from her injuries, having not regained consciousness.

The mother of one had been walking down the street with a friend when a group approached and there was a discussion/altercation. Her friend then told her to run. She received a bullet while fleeing. Police investigating think that her killer may have been known to her.

No evidence of gun reported. DP 1

In Cypress, Texas, we have an unnamed homeowner killing an unnamed guest at a 200 person invitation-only New Years celebration. The killer, a 48 year-old male said that his son was hosting the party.

 The homeowner claims it took a turn when a drunk guest refused to leave.

According to that homeowner, the guest began fighting with him, and he had no other choice but shoot.

The wounded guest was pronounced dead on scene.

It was also reported that the homeowner shot him to prevent further disruption.

The neighborhood in Cypress is Dry Creek Airport – a gated community with private airport, with many of the neighboring properties having hangers on their land. A witness said the the party was taking place in the hanger of the property.

My multiple searches did not reveal any further evidence of the weapon, or even the names of the killer or his victim. It is reported that the killer has been cooperative, and that a grand jury will decide if the man faces charges.

Needless to say, I’m incredulous at all of this. DP2

Another event in which the killer and victim are not named, happened outside of The Crazy Leprechaun in Philadelphia, PA at about 2:15 am on New Years Day. A thirty-one year old security guard was attacked by a thirty-two year old man when the guard refused entry into the closed bar in order to use the bathroom. The man and his friends attacked with a Club steering security lock and the guard also received a knife wound, and so shot his weapon twice, hitting the man once in his back. He was taken to hospital but later died. The last reports imply that charges were unlikely as the guard acted in self-defense. No weapon named. DP 1

[We reach the point now where we diverge from the Gun Violence Archive listing again, as this is where the judge from this post is currently placed in the GVA’s list. As it turns out, though, there’s a replacement, which seemingly got added to the list at position 28. Owing to other complicated shenanigans on my initial spreadsheet, you might be surprised to find that I did have this city in the ‘places’ list (above), and I was instead missing Richmond, Virginia. I hadn’t compensated for the Judge appearing twice, and I had incorrectly recorded our Richmond victim (only in the spreadsheet, he’s recorded correctly here) which, lucky for me, meant that I just had to ask one of my Virginian volunteers to switch their allegiances by a few miles. Phew.]

Kristen Zambo for RRstar.com on the 5th of may, 2018, writes:

A Rockford man acquitted of murder in a fatal New Year’s Day 2017 shooting was sentenced on Friday to 10 years behind bars — the maximum sentence — for having a gun the morning four men were shot at a Rockford hotel.

Sean D. Burks, 32, was accused of killing Joshua Jamerson during a party at Cliffbreakers Riverside Hotel & Conference Center, 700 W. Riverside Blvd. Jamerson, 34, of Rockford, and three other men were shot. Burks was charged with 39 counts of various offenses including first-degree murder, aggravated discharge, aggravated battery and unlawful possession of a weapon by a felon. He was convicted of the unlawful possession of a weapon by a felon charge.

On the 9th of March this year Burks was cleared on the murder charges. It is still unclear who shot Jamerson, who died from a gunshot wound to the back that penetrated his spine. Police were called when a gunfight broke out in a hallway of Cliffbreakers. No specific weapons were mentioned in any of the reports I saw. DP 2

Brothers Tony Lashuan McRae (31) and Quanta Guan McRae (29) of Ashboro, NC, were killed around 2am on New Years Day when an argument between themselves and suspects Curtis E. Little (25) and Rodney Jontae Patterson (27) escalated. Both suspects were eventually arrested. The men are survived by their children – Tony has six, and Quanta, three.

The last mention of the suspects is in an article about Randolph County’s new district attorney, and his hopes to clear a bunch of cases that are holding many murder suspects in jail pending hearings in the district or superior courts. Little and Patterson are in a queue of 13 that begins with crimes that took place in 2007.

Little was reported arrested by East Orange police in New Jersey on the 12th of January, while Patterson turned himself in soon after his warrant was issued. The police were reported as saying that the incident occurred after an “altercation in the parking during a New Year’s Eve celebration in a strip shopping center on Shana Lane.” No weapons were mentioned. DP 1+2, one for each of Little and Patterson.

Brandon Moles (22), was shot in Knoxville, Tennessee just before 10:00pm on New Years Day, outside an apartment building. Taken to UT Medical Center for treatment of his injuries, he later died. The reports say he was shot in a dispute over illicit drugs, but did not name any suspects, and further internet searches revealed few other details about Moles. DP1

Adrian Anguiano (20) was shot in the neck outside an apartment complex in Redmond, Washington, around 2am on New Years Day 2017.

Redmond firefighters responded to a fire alarm set off inside a large recreation room at the complex at 16800 N.E. 39th Court around 2 a.m. Sunday, police said. They didn’t find a fire but determined the alarm was likely set off by people smoking indoors.

While on scene, firefighters heard what sounded like a gunshot and called for police backup and medical assistance. Arriving officers found Anguiano dead from a gunshot wound just outside the recreation building, where a party had been under way.

As of March 30th, police were still looking for his killer and were hoping to speak with some of his over 200 fellow-party-goers from that night.

Trevis Stephens (33) was shot inside bar by man who had just been kicked out. The alleged shooter, John Word (35) banged on the door in an attempt to reenter the bar. He eventually got a gun and fired two shots into the bar, hitting Stephens as he was attempting to hide. Stephens later died in hospital.

Initially another man wanted for questioning turned himself in and was released, no longer considered a person of interest. A warrant was later issued for Word, after police released security-camera image of him, and hours after they arrested a woman with complicity to murder. He then turned himself in. Several articles later revealed that he has a long criminal history, and had been let out of his last term early.

Clairese Murray (35) was the woman charged, for allegedly acting as a getaway driver. There were no details of the gun in any of the reports I read. DP 1

On New Year’s Day, police found 41-year-old Mark Fields with a gunshot wound to the neck around 3 a.m. on a porch on the 1900 block of West Williard Street in Tioga. He was pronounced dead at the scene at 3:03 a.m. Police later arrested and charged 36-year-old Cauras Garland, of the 5300 block of North Camac Street.

Once again, there is a real paucity of information on this incident. The above was the extent of the mention in an article about eight shootings in early January in The Inquirer, and the only article that I, or the Gun Violence Archive before me, could find. Thanks to a different Mark Fields being a fortune 500 player, it’s hard to get any more intelligence down that line of googling.  Cauras Garland is a unique enough name hereabouts, but the only other thing that comes up aside from Facebook is his telephone number.

On a lack of evidence, I close my investigations with one final DP2.

The investigation is over. Begin the making.