October 9, 2008
CTA Shooting Suspect Turns Himself In
Answering pleas from his mother, Milton Wardlaw (pictured right) turned himself in and declared his innocence in Sunday's shooting death of 17-year-old Kiyanna Salters aboard a CTA bus. Wardlaw joined his family at Evening Star Missionary Baptist Church and was later escorted away by police. While police did not confirm that Wardlaw was the man on the surveillance tape, they did say they had a suspect in custody. Not to mention Wardlaw's own words:
We had an argument, dude pulled a gun on me and he basically escorted me off the bus with the gun. This should also be on camera. He escorted me off the bus with the gun. I'm like, 'Man, just don't shoot me in the back, please don't shoot me.' He cussed at me, like 'M-F'er, run' so I took off. I was running. I heard shots and I kept on running."He later added, ""I don't have any gun to fire. I'm innocent." Wardlaw is currently on probation for previous drug and weapons convictions. While police say eyewitness testimony as well as the surveillance footage points to Wardlaw as the shooter, Wardlaw and his family did have a valid point when they asked about the police's pursuit of the other man involved in the incident. Sonja Wilcox, Kiyanna's aunt and mother of the girl who was with Kiyanna on the bus when the incident occurred, said, "The evidence will show who's telling the truth and who's lying. I'm just glad he turned himself in. And now we can go on and do what we have to do to bury Kiyanna."
Photo of Wardlaw taken from CBS 2 Video
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"I just thank "God" that everything turned out this way"
O.K I'm not going to get into a conversation about the sad undo reliance and utter failure of religion in the African American Community,especially during the last tweenty years, equally sold and promoted like coke and dope on the south and west side.
just like I'm not going to get into conversations of the historical role- stemming from slavery of loud bright (Roberto style) over priced cheap clothing(that was made fun of in this beerless cyber bar) favored by poor and working class Black folk-including poverty pimping Ministers, like the minister at the "Evening Star Missionary Baptist Church"
Nor am I going to get into the how a limited and failed educational system in these communities promotes senseless violence or as Lester in "HBO's The Wire" said "all pieces are important because every piece matters"
See these sorts of conversations are mostly wasted in this room of W. Bush speak of "Hunt em down and kill" em like cockroaches.
Yea, I think this man is guilty and should be punished to the max, but from the mother to the minister, to the mayor, to us all, we are all Guilty of being passive and blind at best and at worst being unwilling to engage these issues systemically
p.s yea I did laugh at the Roberto Clothing Store comment ;-)
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Yea, I think this man is guilty and should be punished to the max, but from the mother to the minister, to the mayor, to us all, we are all Guilty of being passive and blind at best and at worst being unwilling to engage these issues systemically
Actually, if you look past yourself, you would have seen, in previous postings on this matter, that many people, myself included, generally agree with you on this point. Of course this is a huge problem for which we all share blame, and one can still think that and--as you do--support the maximum punishment for this person upon conviction. One can still demand accountability from individuals while acknowledging the often dim societal forces that push people toward crime and nihilism. That's life: Complicated as all hell, and composed of many moving and contradictory parts (as your "Wire" quote supports).
But hey, go ahead and tell us how we are just like W., or merely stupid Midwesterners, or Nazis, or whatever--even though we generally agree on this point, and many other points. God, if only people like you could drop the lame righteous act, the pure-soul act, you would change more minds and win more support for your views.
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Dear Matilda:
After carefully reading you above note,
please allow me to respond in detail with two words.
Come ya hair!
Forthwith in Confidence and Sincerely,
Spook
p.s a copy of this letter will be placed in your permanent personnel file.
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First: We're supposed to believe, as this guy's story puts it, that he ran off the bus gun-less, and that apparently someone ELSE unrelated to the incident started shooting into the bus from outside and hit Kiyanna Salters? OK...
Second: I agree to an extent that society has a lot to do with creating a value system that creates the idea that it's "me" above all else. We can't put the entire burden of shaping our personality and sense of right and wrong on the educational system. They're there to teach us 2+2=4, not why it's wrong to kill. If a student can glean that lesson from their history book, etc., great. But the problem is not that the schools are not doing enough, the problem is that they're being called upon to do too much.
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Spook: Huh?
I guess I'm not hip enough, or too stupid to know if you are mocking me or, well, just being your lovable, fun self, but thanks for trying in any case.
I often regret talking to you as an adult. That's my fault for expecting different results, I guess*
Well, I also blame the schools, society at large, black preachers, crack, the NRA, Laura Bush, yuppies, sushi and other yuppie food, excessive bank branches in neighborhoods that used to be authentically gritty, violent TV shows, Kathleen Parker, George Will, clueless white people, The Barenaked Ladies, the later phase of Public Enemy, cheap Scotch and drivers who try to cut in front of scooters. I think I covered it.
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what the hell are you people talking about? seriously. a girl got murdered here and you're bickering about whatever the hell it is you're bickering about.
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I do find it interesting that no one is talking about the other guy with the gun.
However, since the whole thing was obviously caught on tape, it shouldn't be very hard to figure out who's telling the truth and who isn't.
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Stealth: He's claiming that the guy he got into the altercation with is the shooter.
CTA sent over the unabridged tape to the police last night, so we will eventually see who's telling the truth here. If it was the other guy who pulled the gun out and shoved him off the bus, it would be on there.
Unless there's some clips of this incident I haven't seen, I didn't see the guy in the act of pulling the gun and shooting so it's entirely possible that the police marked him as a person of interest because he got into an altercation with the other person (who may or may not be the shooter) and because he would be more recognizable because of that loud ass Roberto coat.
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Spook/Matilda,
Why must you fall on your swords?
Why not a response similar to the parents suing the limo driver for busting those kids with booze at a homecoming dance?
In that case reprehensible behavior was ridiculed as it should be. Nobody mentioned yuppies, the mayor, or cheap scotch. Just good old fashioned ridicule and shame.
I guess you could mention racism and slavery....blah blah blah. Its been mentioned! Is it going to help this community anymore than the 'pimp-preachers' that wont let anyone forget it?
Seriously, maybe things might change with a bit of honest criticism from the rest of society? Will another day free from shame and the scorn of ridicule really help the Black community?
Time for a change. Obama '08.
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Matilda,
You forgot something in your list.
I cant say it. But Chris Rock does an entire routtine on this group.
And like Chris Rock, when I go to the ATM at night, Im not looking over my back for Ted Coppel, Im looking for..........
Might not be the hippest, or wittiest addition to the list, but at least its honest.
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Matilda,
That was a qoute “Are you complaining about dat sh*t again? Come ya hair" was what the RZA said to Old Dirty Bastard, God rest his soul. I thought it was highly à propos in this situation. Consider yourself honored, now have a blessed day.
Chris 60614
I think you mean Matilda should fall on her Sword, cause I in the words of The Genius Gza,
"Swing my swords, I'm the chopper
the body dropper, the heartbeat stopper
I'm the child educator and the head amputator
Cause n*ggaz styles old like mark 5 sneakers
Lyrics weak, like clock radio speakers
So stop in my station I attack
ya plan failed ryhmes stale, hit the rail, like amtrak..."
Matty!
Once again!
This time with feeling!
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Chris,
As always, you are correct. That was not the hippest OR the wittiest addition to the list.
Why don't we wait until the police arrest someone and there is an indictment before we decide who/what is at fault here? Is it possible that there is a shooter unrelated to the beef? Yes. It is possible. Seems unlikely, but not impossible. Wait and see.
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Stealth: He's claiming that the guy he got into the altercation with is the shooter.
No, all he said is he "heard shots". He didn't say the guy on the bus shot at him.
And even with all of that, it's gotta be fairly easy to determing if shots were fired INTO the bus or OUT of the bus. I'm guessing the cops would release that info.
But I guess a bullet could richoet off of that red ball that hangs down so you can open the door in an emergency and hit someone in the head and kill them..
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Seriously, maybe things might change with a bit of honest criticism from the rest of society? Will another day free from shame and the scorn of ridicule really help the Black community?
Ridiculing the poor black community with out any kind of self reflection or critical thinking is something lots of commentors on chicagoist can get behind.
Chris 60614 08' You're a shoo-in to win!
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I don't want to flame Spook's ego here, but he did mention something a while back that was right on, concerning the self hatred that kids like this alleged perp grow up with.
When you wrap your head around what they go through day in and day out it's hard to even imagine. Imagine the lack of impulse control you have to have in order to pull out a gun and start a fight over being accidentally bumped into.
But you know what? I have seen, with my very own eyes, extremely wealthy kids with no impulse control. These so-called spoiled rich kids can have just as much anger, violence, rage and lack of impulse control...and of course, they're going to get away with much more because daddy has dollars to spend on legal teams, but my point is when you grow up in an atmosphere where people don't care about you (or maybe they do care, but it's not you they care about, it's your family's money) then your values get all screwed up.
It's about unconditional love and strong family values. It's amazing what a little unconditional love can do to a growing child.
That being said, they still know right from wrong. And I really don't care how bad your life was growing up, you cannot use this as an excuse to wreck havoc on society.
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and, of course, I meant 'wreak'...
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But you know what? I have seen, with my very own eyes, extremely wealthy kids with no impulse control. These so-called spoiled rich kids can have just as much anger, violence, rage and lack of impulse control...
Yeah, I've always thought that it's not a class or race thing but a generational thing. At the risk of walking off into Old Fogeyland, younger people today just don't seem to care about anything beyond themselves (and of course I don't mean all younger people but, well, I'm not sure what I mean). But just from my observation it's this "all about me", "The World is Mine (thanks, Shaq)", "I gotta get mine/you gotta get yours (from some forgotten rap hit from a few years back)." So many are worried about being "disrespected", whatever the hell that really means, that nobody want to look like a "punk" in any regard, whether it's being told to wait in line like everyone else or having their hand brushed. Minor shit. Where this attitude comes from, I'm not sure. (Some) aspects of the rap culture that tells you don't take shit from nobody no matter how small the infraction? Glorification of vapid "stars" like Paris Hilton or Brittney Spears who crash cars while drunk and still end up hosting the MTV music awards. Hell, that Sliwiski incident (man, I know I mangled her name) where the wanna-be model tried to end her life and to hell with whoever happened to go along with her: It's about me. (and yes I know she was deemed "mentally unstable" or whatever...)
Is it stupid to blame the media (somewhat)? Probably. have younger people always been a bit self-absorbed? Probably. Hey, I never claimed to be an award-winning psycholgist (as if that wasn't extremely evident).
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Ingrid, saying something like I know Spook is no Joe Six Pack, but maintains a six pack is the way to flame Spook's ego ;-)
But when I make a MISTAKE and get into( on Chicagoist) complicated concepts like self hate in the black community or even with Women, I end later thinking, I can't belive I got suckered into doing that, as it will more than likely get twisted( SEE Navin's Comment) and used against the very same people that I'm trying to give both historical and social context too.
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Spook:
Interesting enough, I don't see the same sort of criticism levied at Milton Wardlaw's Anglo-Saxon counterparts in certain UK neighborhoods who shank people for "looking at me funny, mate" and smack people with machetes for sport. The only reason why people aren't getting shot the hell up over there is because of the gun laws.
I'm also not seeing people use these people as an example to denigrate a whole group sector, either. ~_^.
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I guess you don't read "internationally) a Kaonanshi, I also guess you've never been to England and got yourself a pudding while riding on the tube drinking a Heineken. I also don't think you got the cool black T shirt that says Brixton. I also don't think you read
And I some how get the idea that you read locally or nationally as you would know that the only people that denigrate whole groups is white people like David Duke, Rush Limbaugh, and thousands of other joe and Jan six packs. Hell even Farakahn has given up on that. See here I go again, why do I even get started! Finally I most certainly can confirm there is far much denigrating folks of color on on Chicagoist than the other way around. Now excuse me, I need to do something that the devil never did, laundry and I think I'm going to get my Drank on early. Nice to have Christopher Columbus Day off Monday Named after that Great American Hero who discovered America and brought civilizations and love to all of North and Central America
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Wow. Uh, I think you've been sipping a lil early, because this:
there is far much denigrating folks of color on on Chicagoist than the other way around.
was kinda the point I was trying to make, along with "stop pointing fingers at other communities when you have just as much crazy going on in your own." If there's crime post and the perp is white the posts are about "what an asshole" the person is and how he might or might not deserve to go to jail; if it's a POC the usual suspects pop out with the usual comments and it turns into race wank. No reason to be a prick about it.
p.s. Heineken and pudding is bad for you. Have some shepherd pie instead. :P