Here is an image of the beginning of the massive doc. We blurred out selected information to protect these Good Samaritans:

Entries ranged in simplicity from the first post, “Small apartment; can accommodate 1 or 2 people” at 5:39 p.m. EST to this one that offered quite a bit of information on the volunteer and even his friend:

I’m staying with a friend in Livermore, east bay area of San Francisco, and am out of work now for a couple of months. As a runner and a human being this is a great opportunity however since it gives me something away from the constant job hunt and allows me plenty of time to help in any way someone may need. Contact me by the most convenient method to you and allow me to do whatever I can to help.

The outpouring of offers spoke to the selflessness of so many in our society, but this “act of terror”  inflamed our sensitivity over personal information. We weren’t the only ones.

“Sometimes, social media in the event of a crisis like this brings out both the best and dumbest in us,” Steve Quigley, a Boston University associate professor in the College of Communication told The Atlantic Wire. “I do think it’s moving to see how many people will respond generously, offering support and information. In some ways, it shines a spotlight on the best of us. It also perhaps gives low-hanging fruit to those who may represent the worst in us.”

As access and participation in digital spaces mushroom, more and more opportunities arise to spread personal information with insufficient safeguards. In this case, the Google doc is a click or tap away for anyone, whether a marathon victim or a criminal preying on personal information. Quigley thought it was “really risky” and would have preferred to see people provide their neighborhoods and e-mail addresses but hold their names and phone numbers. “I think people forget the medium they’re using and maybe even in a very best of instinct of trying to help somebody. It’s easy to rush in and provide more information than is wise to provide,” he said.

Granted much was public information, but a disaster like the Boston bombings creates an opportunity for scammers to capitalize on massive amounts of personal data. It suddenly becomes easier to juxtapose with information that location-based platforms like Foursquare make available, Quigley said.

Our concern – hopefully just paranoia – isn’t anything new. A Foursquare parody site pleaserobme.com launched in 2010 to raise awareness about over-sharing. “The danger is publicly telling people where you are. This is because it leaves one place you’re definitely not…. home,” the website says.

If that sounded like a stretch, this shouldn’t: scammers tweets. A much retweeted message came from the phony marathon account “@_BostonMarathon”, since deleted by Twitter, reading: “For every retweet we receive we will donate $1.00 to the #BostonMarathon victims #PrayForBoston.” As Benny Evangelista of The San Francisco Chronicle explains in his blog post:

Such tragedies always bring out the scammers trying to make a quick buck, and this is no exception. The Domains, a website that keeps track of Internet domain name news, reported that there were at least 70 “troubling” new domain names registered after the Boston bombings, “many that look like charitable domains that can be be used to raise money for the victims.”

Digital spaces, like public places, can harbor danger, but Quigley sees the glass as half full. “I’m not saying that these outlets are not being used to harm others but I have a general feeling that there’s more good coming from them than bad.”

We haven’t heard any reports of crime related to the Google doc sharing and sincerely hope we are being overly cautious in thinking such a positive use of social media could lead to harm.

UPDATE: The Boston Globe took down personal information from the Google doc and stopped accepting submissions on Wednesday morning after receiving nearly 6,000 offers for help.

A row added at the top of the Google doc reads: “NOTE: The Boston Globe has removed personal information from this list, but left up the details column as a tribute to all those who offered up their homes and hearts.” The timestamps remain, as does “Other info” detailing what was being offered up, but the name, phone number, e-mail address and neighborhood are blanked out.

Again, excuse our paranoia, but we’re relieved.

Want to add to this story? Let us know in comments or share ideas for stories on the Open Wire.

“Me siento triste porque era mi mejor amiga”, expresó Alexandria Martínez, de 12 años, ayer cerca del altar creado en los escalones al frente de la escuela primaria Willard Elementary School. “No voy a tener a nadie para sentarme al lado o con quien hablar”.

Según explicó el Departamento de Policía de Long Beach (LBPD) en un comunicado, a las 5:50 de la tarde del viernes agentes acudieron al hospital después de ser notificados de que la familia de una niña de 11 años la había llevado a la sala de emergencia. Estaba inconsciente y no respiraba, pero no tenía señales visuales de trauma en su cuerpo.

Doctores la trataron y quedó en condición crítica hasta aproximadamente las 8:50 de la noche, cuando fue pronunciada muereta, según el comunicado policial.

Al investigar el incidente, se determinó que después de clases, dos chicas y siete espectadores caminaron a un callejón cercano a la escuela para una pelea preplaneada. Se cree que la lucha entre las chicas duró menos de un minuto, no implicó ningún arma, y que nadie cayó a la tierra, según LBPD.

Docenas de compañeros de clases de Joanna fueron ayer a los escalones de la escuela Willard para poner fotos y recuerdos de Joanna en el altar.

Alexandria, que también cursa el quinto grado, dijo que se enteró de la pelea el jueves y que las niñas y los espectadores caminaron al callejón frente de la escuela, ubicada en el 1055 Freeman Avenue, después de que acabaron las clases a las 2:15 de la tarde. Como muchos alumnos los seguían, se fueron un par de cuadras a otro callejón en la cuadra 3100 al este de la Calle 11. Ahí, dijo, empezó la pelea entre Joanna y la otra menor, que no ha sido identificada por las autoridades.

“Se quitaron los suéteres y se pusieron el pelo en chongo. Se prepararon con sus puños arriba, esperaban a que alguien dijera ‘Go!'”, relató Alexandria.

La otra niña golpeo a Joanna en el estomago, Joanna la golpeo en la barbilla. La niña pegó a Joanna en la nariz, y le sangraba, contó. “Luego la otra niña paró porque parecía que Joanna quería llorar. Pero Joanna dijo que, ‘No, no voy a llorar’, y empezaron otra vez a pelear. Y la otra niña la golpeo atrás de la cabeza”.

Por fin, Alexandria y otros espectadores las separaron, y Joanna fue al programa de después de clases como siempre. Un compañero ahí, Jared Estrada, de 10 años y tambiéñ de quinto grado, dijo que Joanna “tenía morado en la izquierda de la cara, pero no tenía sangre”.

Otra niña de 11 años cuya madre no quiso que fuera nombrada, señaló que la pelea surgió porque Joanna decidió pelear por parte de una amiga, quien había terminado una relación con un niño. El niño supuestamente entró en una relación con la niña que golpeo a Joanna.

La madre de Joanna, Cecilia Villanueva, en una entrevista por teléfono con La Opinión, dijo que la tragedia la sorprendió, porque su hija nunca habló de problemas con otros estudiantes. “Era una niña muy alegre, cariñosa, un poco rebelde como niñas de su edad, pero no le gustaba pelear”, dijo.

Indicó que su sobrina recogió a Joanna del programa de después de clases y que ella se quejó de dolor de cabeza y vomitó al salir del coche. Al llegar a la casa de su sobrina, Villanueva, de 42 años, dijo que Joanna dijo, “Me siento mal”.

“Le dije, ‘¿Qué pasa?’ y dijo que ‘Estoy cansada’. Se acostó en la puerta de la casa en el cemento, boca abajo. Dijo que, ‘No quiero ir al doctor'”.

Llegaron al St. Mary Medical Center pero no la pudieron salvar.

Villanueva pasó la tarde de ayer en el cementerio Hollywood Forever de Los Ángeles, haciendo arreglos para el sepelio de la niña, planeado para el sábado.

Joanna era la menor de dos hermanas y un hermano. Ni Villanueva ni su esposo tienen trabajo y ella dijo que necesitan ayuda para pagar los gastos del funeral.

Hasta ayer las autoridades no habían detenido a nadie, según la agente Nancy Pratt, portavoz de LBPD, quien dijo que se esperan los resultados de la autopsia por parte del Forense del Condado de Los Ángeles para determinar la causa de muerte.

“La investigación todavía está en curso”, afirmó. “Vamos a presentar nuestro caso a la fiscalía para determinar si se presentarán cargos se presentarán”.

Cualquier persona que tenga información sobre l investigación puede llamar a la división de homicidio al (562) 570-7244. Información anónima también puede darse a través de la web o texto visitando www.tipsoft.com.

“Es difícil ver a una niña chiquita de 11 años ser golpeada e ir a casa y no regresar”, dijo el padre de Alexandria, Carlos Martínez, de 38 años. “Voy a hablar con el director de la escuela el lunes para asegurar que es seguro que mi hija este aquí”.

De visita otra vez en el callejón, Alexandria, compañera de Joanna en la clase de coro, recordó que ella quería estar en la televisión y ser cantante.

“Cuando me gradúe, planeo cantar una canción para Joanna”, expresó Alexandria, limpiándose las lagrimas. “La canción de Whitney Houston que va “I Will Always Love You” (“Siempre te amaré”) .

A San Antonio police officer who had been on the force for a year and a half, William Karman was trained to shoot when he felt his life was threatened. He found himself in that position, he told a jury Tuesday, when he interrupted what appeared to be an armed robbery.

A man had pinned another man to the ground with a gun, then pointed the gun at Karman and advanced, the officer testified.

“‘San Antonio police, drop the gun'; I know for sure I yelled it three times,” Karman said. “And he didn’t. That is when I fired.”

Time passed “very slow,” Karman said, as he shot two rounds that hit the man in the upper torso and stomach.

The man kept coming, he said, so Karman fired two more rounds, hitting him in each leg, but still the man stepped forward.

After a fifth shot, the man fell.

“He didn’t drop the gun until he hit the ground and it bounced off his hand,” said Karman, 29.

But the final bullet hit the man being robbed, James Lee Whitehead, 45, still on the ground with his hands in the air, prosecutor Miguel Najera said in an opening statement at the murder trial of Jesse Ramon, accused of being the assailant in the robbery.

Whitehead was a female impersonator, but authorities concluded the robbery wasn’t a hate crime. He died later at a hospital.

And though Ramon, 24, didn’t pull the trigger, he was charged under a provision of state law that if someone committing a felony does “something dangerous to a human life and somebody ends up dying, … the person who was committing the felony is guilty of that murder,” Najera said.

Ramon could face up to life in prison if convicted.

Karman was flagged in the 600 block of Ogden near San Antonio College about 3 a.m. Aug. 30, 2009. He saw two men robbing and beating Whitehead, Najera said.

One of the assailants ran to an SUV that Karman had seen driving slowly in the area. Authorities say its occupants were Michael Martinez and Fernando Rodriguez, both 21 at the time, who also face murder charges in Whitehead’s death.

Ramon didn’t flee but pointed his gun at Karman and advanced, said Cynthia Kopecki, a Family Assistance Crisis Team volunteer who was accompanying Karman and watched from his vehicle.

“He looked angry,” Kopecki said. “They were slow in pace, but full steps.”

Defense attorney Richard Langlois did not give an opening statement but will have a chance to later. He asked Karman if he heard gunshots before firing. Karman hadn’t.

If Karman, upon arriving at the scene, “had the opportunity to shoot Ramon to prevent him from shooting (Whitehead),” why didn’t he take it, Langlois asked.

“He was too close. I didn’t want to hit Mr. Whitehead,” Karman said, looking down and shaking his head.

http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/local_news/article/Murder-trial-opens-in-robbery-related-shooting-2236292.php

]]> http://kwonglede.com/2011/murder-trial-opens-in-robbery-related-shooting/feed/ 0 http://kwonglede.com/2011/little-noticed-killing-snuffed-out-dream/ http://kwonglede.com/2011/little-noticed-killing-snuffed-out-dream/#comments Mon, 11 Jul 2011 01:52:28 +0000 http://kwonglede.com/?p=464

It took Lorena Smith a decade working as a dancer at strip clubs to get to where she was, close to paying off her mortgage on a home in a gated community and only a couple of courses short of earning a nursing degree.

The single mother had raised two sons and only recently started going out, rewarding herself after three years of strictly studying. As she celebrated this new chapter, a gunman took her life.

“That is the ironic thing,” said her older son, Dorian Dégagé, 21. “She always wanted to search for that American dream. Wanted to show her parents she was independent, that she could succeed in this country.”

Smith, 46, and her date were talking in the parking lot of two bars near U.S. 281 and Bitters Road in the small hours of the morning of May 28 when someone drove up near her vehicle and shot her in the neck.

She died shortly afterward at Brooke Army Medical Center. The killing received only cursory notice by news organizations because it came less than two hours after the high-profile slaying of Bexar County Sheriff’s Sgt. Kenneth Vann.

Area, state and federal law enforcement organizations poured manpower into the Vann case and investigators made an arrest slightly more than a week later. Six weeks after Smith’s death, San Antonio police have no firm suspects.

“There’s going to be another family where a kid loses a mother,” Dégagé said. “For it to be forgotten and become a cold case is something that none of us want.”

Smith, born Lorena Larios in Tequila, Mexico, was the youngest of four children and dreamed of escaping a life of poverty, family members said.

“All she ever wanted was for a prince to find her under a tree and take her to America, and live happily ever after,” Dégagé said.

It was never much of a fairy tale. Smith’s relationship with Dégagé’s father was short-lived. Another American got her into the United States, where her son was born. Later, she came to San Antonio with her first husband and father of her second son, Dillon Smith, now 17.

When her husband stopped working and needed money, he brought her to dance at clubs, family members said.

“She was a stripper because he made her do that,” said her sister, Maria Romisch, 52. Divorced, remarried and divorced again, Smith continued to dance at places like the Wild Zebra. It was a steady income for an immigrant without a college degree.

Despite working most nights of the week in that environment, Smith never drank or partied, Romisch said.

“She would get off at 3 a.m. and there was never a day she would not come and pick up her kids from me and take them to school, so they could go to a better district,” her sister said.

Smith was blunt and had a strong sense of self: It is part of family lore that she once refused to bring a former Spurs player a drink because it was not her job.

“Men would drool for her because she was a gem in a pile of coals,” Dégagé said. “She wasn’t there to get the next rock. She had no other alternative because she wanted to have a future for herself, and she kept to that despite things men would offer.”

Looking back, Dégagé said his mother’s occupation, “as terrible as it was as a job, definitely assisted in what we have now.” He and his brother live in a two-story house Smith had designed and built in Shavano Park. “It was her castle,” he said.

Bob Thornburgh, 46, an aviation electronics technician who knew Smith for 14 years and called her “the best friend I ever had,” urged her to go to school after she developed a condition called Bell’s palsy, which temporarily paralyzed half her face.

In the Surgical Technology Program at St. Philip’s College, Smith was reserved and “struggled but was a fighter” who practiced until she mastered techniques, said a classmate and close friend, Christy Hardin.

Hardin, 37, said Smith was casually seeing a few men at the time she was killed. Her date that night was a man she found on the Internet and was meeting for the first time. Dégagé said she left at midnight, a lot later than usual, and he had a bad feeling about it, but she called him chismoso, a gossip, when he asked for details.

It was her date who called police after running from Smith’s car when she was shot, officers told her family. There were others in the large parking lot.

“I just cannot see how so many people witnessing this happening were not able to give information,” Thornburgh said. “It’s very frustrating for us.”

The killer could have been someone Smith knew, or it could have been a random act of violence like a carjacking, which would make the case harder to crack, said Tom McNelly, an SAPD detective.

“The case has some promise of being solved,” McNelly said. “We do have some leads.”

Crime Stoppers is offering up to $5,000 for information leading to an arrest. Tips can be called in anonymously to 210-224-STOP.

Smith’s sons aren’t getting any of her life insurance because she missed the latest premium payment. Thornburgh will finish paying for their house, which is still decorated with her paintings — images that stuck with her that she attempted to put on canvas — and her collection of Betty Boop memorabilia.

“The character seems like everything that a woman would want to be: strong, independent, kind, generous and beautiful,” Dégagé said. “Very symbolic of her, I think.”