The official word of the Baltimore Sheriff’s Department on the matter of whether women were targeted for gang initiation murders Halloween night is this:
The sheriff’s office has no official word.
“The sheriff’s office takes no position on gang violence,” said Sgt. Carla Lightsey, a spokeswoman for the department. “Baltimore police are the experts on gangs. Baltimore police have a gang task force. Baltimore County police have a gang task force. The sheriff’s office has no gang task force.”
In my last column I revealed some of the contents of an e-mail giving the details about the Halloween gang initiation plot. Potential gang members would spot a woman driving, lightly tap her car from behind and then kidnap or kill her when she got out. The e-mail also revealed the location of the Bloods, Crips, MS-13 and Black Guerrilla Family gangs.
All this information was attributed to Deputy Theodore Haskins of the sheriff’s office. Problem is, Haskins made no such comments, according to Col. Henry Martin of the sheriff’s office. Before you conclude that it sounds as if Martin is covering for Haskins, consider another e-mail I got earlier this week.
The e-mailer said he and his wife received the message just before Halloween and couldn’t determine whether it was real or fake. A “Detective Larry Jackson Jr.” supposedly sent it, and they couldn’t figure out whether he was real or fake either. (Note: The public information office of the Baltimore Police Department said no Detective Larry Jackson Jr. works there. The public information office of the Baltimore County Police Department said no Detective Larry Jackson Jr. works there either.)
The contents of the “Detective” Larry Jackson Jr. e-mail are similar to the one about Deputy Haskins.
“I have just received some very important intelligence. Tonight Oct. 30 and tomorrow night Oct. 31 are supposed to be Blood Gang Initiation Nights. On these nights new gang members are supposed to be initiated and as part of their initiation they are supposed to carry out some random acts of violence. As of this minute, I am being told that women are being targeted and [gang members] are to kill [or] injure at least 30-35 women.”
A source who forwarded the e-mail mentioning Haskins got it from Yvonne Cook, who works at the University of Maryland Biotechnology Center on Pratt Street. I called her earlier this week. She scrolled through her e-mail and found the one she received, but couldn’t tell who the originator was.
Just how far back does this e-mail chain go anyway? And what should people do when they receive them?
The Web site snopes.com has been found to be a great debunker of urban legends. It turns out the Halloween gang initiation plot is one of them. According to snopes.com, similar e-mail messages were sent in New Jersey, New York and South Carolina. Some hinted at a racial angle, saying that specifically white women would be targeted for violence.
Earlier this month, according to snopes.com, New Jersey police arrested a man who allegedly started the false rumor chain.
“A Jersey City man who allegedly made mischief on the Internet on Mischief Night by spreading false reports of gang violence in Jersey City and Bayonne was arrested,” snopes.com reported. “Officials subpoenaed information from Comcast and the Web site JCList.com, where the postings appeared, leading to the arrest of Andrew T. Lazaro, 19, on a count of causing false public alarm. … The sick warnings posted on JCList on Oct. 30 under the moniker ‘Tom’ claimed that several schoolgirls and women in Jersey City and Bayonne were shot as part of a gang initiation, and caused a flood of 911 calls, officials said.”
In addition to checking out snopes.com, what would be wrong with checking with your local daily newspaper?
That is what we’re here for: to check out rumors and falsehoods, to double-check and triple-check, and to ferret out the truth. Now this may sound self-serving, because I work for a newspaper and clearly have a vested interest in seeing that the industry survives. But if we go, you’ll miss us, and remember this.
You sure as heck saw our value the day after Sen. Barack Obama was elected president.
Gregory Kane is a columnist who has been writing about Baltimore and Maryland for more than 15 years. Look for his columns in the editorial section every Thursday and Sunday. Reach him at [email protected].
