Shots fired into home of town's first black mayor (Greenwood, Louisiana).

[slowry]

POSTED: (1634 GMT (0034 HKT), January 9, 2007)

Per CNN:

GREENWOOD, Louisiana (AP) -- Two shotgun blasts were fired into the home of the town's mayor, who says he had been cursed at before but never physically threatened.

Police stepped up security after the shots were fired early Monday at the home of Ernest Lampkins, who was elected in 2004 as the first black mayor of the small, predominantly white northwest Louisiana town.

One slug left a hole the size of a baseball in a glass panel separating the living room from the family area, and another lodged in a wall. No one inside the house was injured.

http://edition.cnn.com/2007/US/01/09/mayor.shots.ap

This is just a few hours from Westlake, where their first black mayor was found dead (currently under investigation by state police). I wonder if it's just coincidence...

[aquart]

1. Yeah. Coincidence. That's the ticket.

[goclark]

2. Huuum --let's move along, nothing here

:puke:

[ThomCat]

3. Anyone who dares to say that racism is dead,

or that it's rare and isolated, is a damned fool.

Racism is alive and well in America. x(

[MrPrax]

7. Washington's son doesn't think so,

"...Washington’s son, Geroski Washington, believes his father was murdered. A longtime community leader in Westlake, La., Gerald Washington was about to uncover some questionable financial practices of the city prior to his being elected last September, Geroski said. Westlake is a suburb of Lake Charles, La., which is about 200 miles west of New Orleans.

“This is not a race issue; this is a greed issue,” Geroski Washington, 35, told BlackAmericaWeb.com. “My father was in the process of doing an external audit on the previous administration.”

Geroski said his father was an upstanding citizen who owed no debts, had worked for more than 30 years at Conoco refinery and gained the respect of many people in Westlake, which has a white population of 80 percent. If his father was murdered, which Geroski believes, it was done to keep him quiet.

“He was mayor pro tem for eight years and had served on City Council for 12 years, but not the police chief, fire chief or former mayor came by to pay respects to my mother. Not one time,” Geroski said. “It’s just not making sense.”

BAM

My :tinfoilhat: Theory!

Since the investigation into Washington's assassination is now with the State, could it be that the killers from Westlake simply drove up to Greenwood and shot up another black mayor's house just to cloud the investigation and produce a media 'three ring' circus just to move it away from looking more closely at the son's allegation.

I could go either way on this one -- but financial dirty dealings especially in LA with the Katrina frauds would net the culprits hard hard time and would be extensive -- easily enough to kill for and stage a pretty phoney suicide.

[pitohui]

9. i had a similar idea to what the son is saying about greed or malfeasance

it seems clear that washington was well-liked and respected by the westlake community, which is a very industrial one, featuring such as the huge conoco-philips refinery

could be very interesting if more could be found out about this financial misdeeds that washington was investigating, very interesting indeed

could it be that the killers from Westlake simply drove up to Greenwood and shot up another black mayor's house just to cloud the investigation and produce a media 'three ring' circus just to move it away from looking more closely at the son's allegation.

that's fairly machiavellian but once you've killed once, why not? hmmm

[Original Jack]

4. A whole nuther story here

A small town (pop. 2,458) in rural Louisiana which is 77% white elected a black mayor.

I guess the times really are a-changing.

[daleo]

5. In Iraq, this would be called "sectarian violence". n/t

[NorthernSpy]

6. very suspicious...

Also, I don't believe that the new mayor of Westlake left his home and went to a parking lot to shoot himself in the chest. It makes no sense.

For one thing, men who kill themselves with firearms nearly always put the gun to their heads. Coincidentally (or not...), this man was very tall -- 6'5'' -- and an assailant attempting to stage a suicide would likely have had trouble making a convincing point blank headshot if his victim was standing.

[pitohui]

10. i will make a suggestion

don't believe that the new mayor of Westlake left his home and went to a parking lot to shoot himself in the chest. It makes no sense.

this is not a v. strong argument in my view as i do believe a thoughtful man might indeed go to a parking lot rather than killing himself in home where a family member could be horrified by finding him or killing self in car leaving them w. a mess to clean up

not saying i accept the suicide story w. the new info coming out, i'm saying that this particular line of thinking -- that no one would commit suicide in a parking lot -- might not be the case

people who kill themselves as an act of hostility and anger may kill themselves at home as a final expression of their anger but presumably some suicides are just depressed, ill, etc. and don't want to make any trouble, they just want to be out of pain

no evidence that washington was depressed OR angry, of course, i'm just saying the parking lot argument is not our best argument for murder

the lack of medical history or any motive at all for suicide (it has come out he had no debts, we are not aware of any physical or mental illness) is more convincing argument for further investigation as far as i'm concerned

[pitohui]

8. two very different regions

north louisiana is well known for its racism, especially aga. african-americans, i'm sorry to say that i never expect any better from them

westlake is a suburb of lake charles in southwest louisiana

it may be coincidence, it may be a copycat inspired by the conspiracy theories swirling around westlake, it MAY be the same folks but i put this last theory at a very low likelihood

time will tell