Results 1 to 10 of 25
Thread: Marine gunned down on leave
-
June 1st, 2008, 10:15 PM #1
Marine gunned down on leave
These stories really upset me. Nothing like getting home from a tour of duty and then getting killed.
CLEVELAND, Ohio (AP) -- On leave from the violence he had survived in the war in Iraq, a young Marine was so wary of crime on the streets of his own home town that he carried only $8 to avoid becoming a robbery target.
art.marineshot2.jpg
The casket of Marine Lance Cpl. Robert Crutchfield after his funeral service, in Cleveland, on Tuesday.
Despite his caution, Lance Cpl. Robert Crutchfield, 21, was shot point-blank in the neck during a robbery at a bus stop.
Feeding and breathing tubes kept him alive 41/2 months, until he died of an infection on May 18.
Two men have been charged in the attack, and Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Bill Mason said Friday the case was under review to decide whether to seek the death penalty.
"It is an awful story," said Alberta Holt, the young Marine's aunt and his legal guardian when he was a teenager determined to flee a troubled Cleveland school for safer surroundings in the suburbs.
Crutchfield was attacked on January 5 while he and his girlfriend were waiting for a bus. He had heeded the warnings of commanders that a Marine on leave might be seen as a prime robbery target with a pocketful of money, so he only carried $8, his military ID card and a bank card.
"They took it, turned his pockets inside out, took what he had and told him since he was a Marine and didn't have any money he didn't deserve to live. They put the gun to his neck and shot him," Holt told The Associated Press.
The two men charged in the attack were identified as Ean Farrow, 19, and Thomas Ray III, 20, both of Cleveland. Their attorneys did not respond to The Associated Press' requests for comment.
Crutchfield knew he was returning to Iraq for another tour of duty, but had hesitated to tell his family until he was nearing the end of his 30-day leave.
He apparently had a troubled family. Holt wouldn't discuss it except to say "his mom and dad didn't raise him, just his grandmother and me." He didn't smoke or drink, she said.
He had attended Cleveland's inner-city East High School, but asked that he be allowed to live with his aunt and grandmother and attend suburban Bedford High School for his final two years.
"He saw his school was in turmoil and asked to get out," Holt said.
Bedford High teachers recalled Crutchfield's smile, his pride in his appearance, his determination to join the Marine Corps after graduation in 2005 and his aspiration to become an architect.
"He was friendly and kind and willing to help out in any way that he could," counselor Yvonne Sims said in an e-mail.
Connie LaNasa, who works in the school office, said Crutchfield was a well-behaved student and went about his school work with little notice.
"He lived out what he wanted to do and that is to be a Marine," LaNasa said.
Faculty members remembered Crutchfield as a top student in the computer design program, an office assistant and participant in the prom fashion show.
After his long hospitalization, an infection broke out a week before he died. "He said it felt like he was getting hit by lightning," Holt said.
When Crutchfield's body was laid out Tuesday in the Sacrificial Missionary Baptist Church, his white military dress hat was tugged down close to his eyes to conceal the skull flap that had been kept open to relieve swelling in his brain.
Marines provided an honor guard at his funeral service and carried the casket to his grave at the Western Reserve National Cemetery near Akron.
He was buried there on the same day as a Vietnam veteran, two veterans from World War II and three from Korea.
http://www.cnn.com/2008/CRIME/06/01/....ap/index.html
Semper Fi
"I Am Become Death" - J. Robert Oppenheimer
-
June 1st, 2008, 10:20 PM #2Active Member
- Join Date
- Oct 2007
- Location
-
Harrisburg,
Pennsylvania
- Posts
- 192
- Rep Power
- 46
-
June 1st, 2008, 10:22 PM #3Super Member
- Join Date
- Oct 2007
- Location
-
Wilkinsburg,
Pennsylvania
(Allegheny County) - Age
- 43
- Posts
- 513
- Rep Power
- 226
Re: Marine gunned down on leave
My prayers go out to his family.
May he get some rest at last. It is a shame that this young man tried so hard to get out of the situation he was in, served in Iraq, was getting ready to go back only to be murdered in cold blood by some stupid thugs in his home town.
This is really sad...
-ANo matter who you vote for the government always gets in.
-
June 1st, 2008, 10:25 PM #4Grand Member
- Join Date
- Apr 2006
- Location
-
Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania
(Allegheny County) - Age
- 53
- Posts
- 7,320
- Rep Power
- 37698
Re: Marine gunned down on leave
those motherf*ckers should be burned alive...
1 square inch at a time...
over the course of several days.
RIP Lance Cpl. Crutchfield.
-
June 1st, 2008, 10:27 PM #5
Re: Marine gunned down on leave
Gloria: "65 percent of the people murdered in the last 10 years were killed by hand guns"
Archie Bunker: "would it make you feel better, little girl, if they was pushed outta windows?"
http://www.moviewavs.com/TV_Shows/Al...he_Family.html
-
June 1st, 2008, 10:29 PM #6
Re: Marine gunned down on leave
Any murder should get the death penalty turn them over to his buds in the Corp. And cut overcrowding in the jails.
My Prayers go out to his families and Buddies
-
June 1st, 2008, 10:44 PM #7
Re: Marine gunned down on leave
Both those pieces of trash should get a death sentence, carried out by military firing squad. Failing that, tattoo "Muslims are pig sodomizers" and drop him buck ass naked into the middle of the hottest hotzone in Iraq.
-
June 1st, 2008, 10:58 PM #8
Re: Marine gunned down on leave
This is very sad news. May his soul rest in peace.
-
June 1st, 2008, 11:03 PM #9
-
June 1st, 2008, 11:06 PM #10
Re: Marine gunned down on leave
Firearms are second only to the Constitution in importance; they are the peoples' liberty's teeth.- George Washington
"I thought Lycan was a she"-dragonofpa
Similar Threads
-
as i was about to leave Gander Mouantin
By 4XLT in forum GeneralReplies: 15Last Post: May 11th, 2008, 11:40 PM -
Oooooo!....THAT'S gonna leave a mark!
By Bib in forum GeneralReplies: 16Last Post: February 4th, 2008, 05:09 AM -
quick question before i leave
By idpasharpshooter in forum GeneralReplies: 4Last Post: January 11th, 2008, 04:51 PM -
2 Federal Agents Gunned Down in Mexico
By Lambo in forum GeneralReplies: 4Last Post: August 3rd, 2007, 05:11 PM -
.357—Don’t Leave Home Without It
By WhiteFeather in forum GeneralReplies: 0Last Post: July 2nd, 2007, 08:34 AM
Bookmarks