Were College Kids in Newark victims of race attack?

[Ghost of]

http://www.ksdk.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=126220&provider=top

Not sure how many of you have been following the case of four college kids who were shot execution style in Newark, NJ. One survived and helped police in the investigation, thank goodness.

They have two arrests, both of Hispanic males, one is 15 and they showed the picture of the 31 year old suspect, Jose Carranza.

Initially, I was thinking that these could have been Puerto Ricans, which could have meant they just happened to be some of many in Newark or New Jersey but Carranza looks to be clearly Central American in origin.

Considering the murder of a 12 year old black girl in LA by a Latino gang, rising tensions where blacks cannot enter certain neighborhoods around LA and the strange (not an angry fight) manner in which these kids were shot, should we be thinking about the possibility that this is a case of anti-black violence also? ALL of these kids were black and so far the suspects are Hispanic. Plus, the cold nature in which they murdered tends to lead one down paths other than a fight or war of words that got out of hand. In fact, from what the investigators have released, the group of men came up to them at the playground and the kids exchanged text messages about getting out of there soon.

I wish they had made it. Rest the souls of those that did not survive.

[Bang]

Could be. Sounds like a "Gangland slaying", but I don't know if the victims were involved in that sort of thing. I think the racial angle should stay on the table until it is proven to not be a motive.

~Bang

[Clinton "F'n" Portis]

Sad thing is my wife grew up right by Mt Vernon Elementary....she went there and went to Westside High School where the kids went and knew the youngest one who had the braids...my sister in law still lives up there and recently just moved from where she was (by the Elizabeth Towers - high rise projects) but I can tell you it is rough as hell up there

[Ghost of]

Could be. Sounds like a "Gangland slaying", but I don't know if the victims were involved in that sort of thing. I think the racial angle should stay on the table until it is proven to not be a motive.

~Bang

These kids were all off to Delaware State and so far, I have not heard a thing suggesting they were into anything too unseemly. Also, the likelihood that FOUR would be executed is quite small, even for most gang activity (which typically involved drive-bys or single or double murders.)

The text messages also seem to indicate (From what I've heard) that the kids were approached and were uneasy with the group of men who began to mingle with them.

THe nature of the murders, though less depraved from the details I've heard (no rape or torture) is VERY reminiscent of the racial murders of young whites by black perps in Tennessee and Wichita as even robbery (on the street) is almost never followed up with execution shootings of four individuals.

It just SCREAMS to me racially motivated murder based on those other cases and the fact that your normal "drug deal gone bad" or "he looked at me with disrespect" is just about never followed up with THESE kinds of murders.

EDIT: I'm kind of sad that I have not seen anything on this board about it. It's on national news (and the victims are black, showing that there has been progress on this type of reporting) and it's absolutely a tragic case of three lives lost and countless others irrevocably altered. It is also a situation which could be used to discuss and debate a host of social and political issues.