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Police: Even while dying, teen won't talk-STOP SNITCHING?


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Robert Tate wasn't ever going to snitch -- not even when it came to his own murder, according to the Chicago Police.

Tate, 17, was shot in the chest as someone approached him on a West Side sidewalk on the evening of April 12, police say. Seeing that Tate was wounded badly and probably wouldn't make it, an officer asked: Do you know who shot you?

» Click to enlarge image

042010snitch.jpg_20100419_18_08_56_56-116-165.imageContent The sidewalk in the 900 block of North Avers where 17-year-old Robert Tate was fatally shot.

 

(Al Podgorski/Sun-Times)

 

 

 

 

"I know," Tate told him. "But I ain't telling you s---."

That's according to Harrison Area Police Cmdr. Anthony Riccio, who said the murder investigation is focusing on a possible shooter -- even though Tate took his secret to the grave.

"Unfortunately it's almost a culture among the drug dealers and gang members, that code of silence, that 'don't snitch' mentality that they not only have when they're witnesses, but also when they're the victims," Riccio said.

But Tate's mother Cynthia Washington doesn't buy it.

She doesn't know how her son -- a "very respectful child" -- could have told police anything as he lay dying on the scene in the 900 block of North Avers.

"Why wouldn't he tell them who shot him?" Washington wondered.

Riccio responded that Tate was lucid as he spoke to the officer, then died as paramedics tried to save him.

Riccio said it's commonplace for shooting victims whose wounds aren't life-threatening to refuse to cooperate. Just last week, a 22-year-old gang member was on a bicycle in the 500 block of East 88th when he was shot in the thigh. He didn't even want to report the shooting after he was taken to Stroger Hospital.

"But I have never seen anyone take it to the grave," Riccio said.

Police think Tate was killed because of his involvement in the drug trade in Humboldt Park.

"One of the things from people on the street was that he was ripping off [drug] buyers," Riccio said. "When that happens, of course, the buyers take their business elsewhere, and it affects the drug trade."

So detectives think Tate was killed because he was hurting business. They're reviewing surveillance video from police "blue-light cameras" in the area to identify the shooter, Riccio said.

Tate was "in and out" of Nancy B. Jefferson High School, housed in the Cook County Juvenile Detention Center, a Chicago Public Schools spokeswoman said. He had 14 arrests for drugs, weapons and car theft on his rap sheet; a tattoo that read "Make Money or Die;" and a nickname: "C Murder."

"I didn't give him that name," his mother said.

"He was a good young man who loved his mom," added a friend, Tasha Porter. "Neighborhoods like this are tough to grow up in."

But one detective also said the motto in neighborhoods like Tate's is: "Snitches get stitches."

And Tate is the most extreme example, police say, of the "no-snitching" mind-set they say is making it increasingly difficult to solve murder cases in Chicago. Indeed, the Chicago Police Department's murder-clearance rate dipped from 58 percent to 54 percent last year.

If Tate had talked before he died, police say, his statement most likely could have been used in court. In a practice dating back centuries, a "dying declaration" -- a statement from a dying crime victim naming the killer -- is typically allowed in criminal cases, even though the defendant won't have the opportunity to cross-examine his accuser.

In one notable case, in 1999, 24-year-old Michelle Monachello of Glendale Heights was stabbed, doused with gasoline and set afire in DuPage County. A neighbor called 911 and, as he tried to reassure Monachello, she said, "I'm going to die" and then told him, "My boyfriend -- he set me on fire." The boyfriend, Artarius Jett, got life in prison based in part on what Monachello said before she died.

In recent years, police and community groups have been ratcheting up a campaign urging people to report suspects in crimes -- despite fears of retribution, fear of the police and fear of being labeled a snitch.

Last year, the Rev. Michael Pfleger of St. Sabina Catholic Church on the South Side put up 20 billboards across the city that read: "Shoot or kill our children? You will be caught." The billboards offered $5,000 rewards for information leading to the conviction of criminals who shot or killed "our children" and urged people to call in anonymously with tips.

Chicago Police now have their own campaign called "Silence Kills." They're asking people to text-message anonymous tips to 274637 or call the police anonymously.

They're urging people to do just that in Robert Tate's case -- even though the teenager wouldn't do it for himself.

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I have a friend who was shot 4 times in the stomach, died in the ambulance, and then was resuscitated. At some point during this, he told the cops who did it, and the kid is currently locked up.

 

I try not to judge him for it really (we still chill when I see him around) because I've never been in that situation, but I'd be lying if I said I didn't lose respect for him.

 

Also, when he himself got locked up I bet shit wasn't easy for him. People find out very quickly when someone is on your enemies list, and it's pretty easy for them to figure out why usually

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You think murderers are automatically bad people? I can think of a million very good reasons to kill someone, any one of which could of been at play here.

 

Rapists I can agree on. I'm certainly not calling the cops and reporting any rapes anytime soon, but I don't really care when they get locked up either

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You think murderers are automatically bad people? I can think of a million very good reasons to kill someone, any one of which could of been at play here.

 

Rapists I can agree on. I'm certainly not calling the cops and reporting any rapes anytime soon, but I don't really care when they get locked up either

 

im not saying all murderers are bad people, theres plenty of people who kill in self defense or of other justifiable reasons...im sayin people who kill in cold blood for no reason, or over some petty shit shouldnt be walkin around on the streets. im not sayin that this kid should have ratted out his killer, i dont know the situation, but people killin for senseless reasons should not hve their freedom. theres a diffrence between being a snitch and doing the right thing

 

edit: if someone killed one of my boys, id prob hunt the motherfucker down and and kill em myself. thats a good enough reason for me...

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HA!

 

I understand how a lot of people on this site claim they would hunt the dude down themselves and all that because in an ideal world where you are Omar Little, you wouldn't snitch and quite possible would hunt the guy down. BUT COME ON! You sillY bastards ain't hunting down anyone who blasted you point blank anytime soon if in fact you survive it. After you recover months down the line you might go outside again, but nowhere near the person who shot you if you were dumb enough to not give him up to the police.

 

This is of course assuming you are a normal person who works, isn't involved in organized crime, thuggery and don't live in insanely stupid ghettos where 12 year olds carry guns to pose as the next Marlo Stansfield. Don't dare give me stories about being in the county jail for a month as proof of your street cred.

 

Come off it.

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HA!

 

I understand how a lot of people on this site claim they would hunt the dude down themselves and all that because in an ideal world where you are Omar Little, you wouldn't snitch and quite possible would hunt the guy down. BUT COME ON! You sillY bastards ain't hunting down anyone who blasted you point blank anytime soon if in fact you survive it. After you recover months down the line you might go outside again, but nowhere near the person who shot you if you were dumb enough to not give him up to the police.

 

This is of course assuming you are a normal person who works, isn't involved in organized crime, thuggery and don't live in insanely stupid ghettos where 12 year olds carry guns to pose as the next Marlo Stansfield. Don't dare give me stories about being in the county jail for a month as proof of your street cred.

 

Come off it.

 

aye

 

for real though, if you or your hommie got shot and you knew who it was who did it would you snitch?

 

fuck it ima be realistic...id fuckin snitch fuck that...call me a faggot but i would snitch

 

i should also add this is the only time snitching should be aloud...

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