Lawyer: Jena Six teen shot himself out of despair

[Auburn85 438]

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/articl...08hh3QD95D8A300

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — One of the teenagers at the center of the Jena Six civil rights case shot himself because he worried his Christmas Eve shoplifting arrest would ruin his dream of playing college football, a lawyer said Tuesday after speaking with the teen's family.

Mychal Bell, 18, shot himself Monday night at his grandmother's house in Monroe, in northeastern Louisiana. He remained hospitalized Tuesday, but police said the wound to his upper right chest was not life threatening.

"When it was broadcast that he was charged with shoplifting he just felt that the whole year had been wasted and that he had worked all of that time for nothing," said Louis Scott, who represented Bell in the Jena Six case.

Bell's grandmother, Rosie Simmons, and mother, Melissa Bell, told police that "Mychal had made comments over the past two days that, because of the current media attention he had because of the shoplifting arrest, he didn't feel like he could live anymore," Monroe Police Lt. Jeff Harris said, reading from a police report.

Bell was one of a group of black teenagers who once faced attempted murder charges in the 2006 beating of white classmate Justin Barker at Jena High School, in north central Louisiana's Lasalle Parish. The charges for all the defendants were eventually reduced. But the severity of the original charges brought widespread criticism and eventually led to more than 20,000 people converging in September 2007 on the tiny town of Jena for a major civil rights march.

After being sentenced to 18 months as a ward of the state following his guilty plea to juvenile charges, Bell moved from Jena to Monroe, where he was in foster care. He was released from state supervision on Dec. 4, said Bill Furlow, a spokesman for Reed Walters, the district attorney for LaSalle Parish.

A football star at Jena High until the Barker beating, Bell had hoped to play for Monroe's Carroll High School, where he is on track to graduate in the spring. But the Louisiana High School Athletic Association wouldn't grant him a fifth year of eligibility to play. Bell had spent 10 months in prison awaiting trial after his 2006 arrest in the beating case.

Bell held on to hopes that he might play for the University of Louisiana at Monroe, Scott said. University spokesman Adam Prendergast declined comment. A message was left Tuesday for the school's director of football operations, Peter Martin.

Police said Bell's Christmas Eve arrest came after he allegedly tried to steal several shirts and a pair of jeans from a department store and fled when a security guard and off-duty police officer tried to detain him. After they found him hiding under a car, Bell "swung his arms wildly" and one of his elbows struck the security guard with a glancing blow, according to a police report. He was freed on $1,300 bond.

Scott said he believed the arrest likely resulted from a misunderstanding.

"I would be very surprised if he was shoplifting," Scott said. "I had seen him working out every day even though he knew he wasn't going to be able to play high school football."

Monday's shooting was reported at 7:40 p.m. According to the police report, Bell was staying at his grandmother's home and his mother was visiting at the time. Melissa Bell told police she and Simmons heard a gunshot coming from Mychal's room. They found him on his bed, wounded in the chest.

Police recovered a .22-caliber handgun. It was not clear Tuesday who owned the gun.

[AURaptor 1,137]

He's not on Auburn's committ list, is he ?

[OldNewby 27]

"Mychal had made comments over the past two days that, because of the current media attention he had because of the shoplifting arrest, he didn't feel like he could live anymore,"

"police said the wound to his upper right chest was not life threatening."

Dyslexia?

[quietfan 233]

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/articl...08hh3QD95D8A300

NEW ORLEANS (AP) —

...

"When it was broadcast that he was charged with shoplifting he just felt that the whole year had been wasted and that he had worked all of that time for nothing," said Louis Scott, who represented Bell in the Jena Six case.

Bell's grandmother, Rosie Simmons, and mother, Melissa Bell, told police that "Mychal had made comments over the past two days that, because of the current media attention he had because of the shoplifting arrest, he didn't feel like he could live anymore," Monroe Police Lt. Jeff Harris said, reading from a police report.

Bell was one of a group of black teenagers who once faced attempted murder charges in the 2006 beating of white classmate Justin Barker at Jena High School, in north central Louisiana's Lasalle Parish. ...

After being sentenced to 18 months as a ward of the state following his guilty plea to juvenile charges, Bell moved from Jena to Monroe, where he was in foster care.

...

Police said Bell's Christmas Eve arrest came after he allegedly tried to steal several shirts and a pair of jeans from a department store and fled when a security guard and off-duty police officer tried to detain him. After they found him hiding under a car, Bell "swung his arms wildly" and one of his elbows struck the security guard with a glancing blow, according to a police report. He was freed on $1,300 bond.

Scott said he believed the arrest likely resulted from a misunderstanding.

"I would be very surprised if he was shoplifting," Scott said. "I had seen him working out every day even though he knew he wasn't going to be able to play high school football."

...

Sounds like a really messed up kid. I pray that he will get his life together.

But if the shoplifting arrest was a "misunderstanding", why come up swinging and resisting arrest? And why blame the media for the attention? Seems like he brought the attention on himself through his own actions.

But bottom line, sounds like a very confused and troubled kid in need of professional counseling. Hopefully he can grow up, mature, and pull his life together.