UPDATE: More Info On Female Shooter (LaTina Williams) In LA..

Still Many Questions Surround Deadly Shooting

(victim, Karsheika Graves)
(victim, Taneisha Butler)
(students mourn, below)
(scene of shooting-LA Tech College)

(Baton Rouge, LA - WAFB) Baton Rouge police say a young woman killed two female students in a classroom at a vo-tech college Friday, then killed herself. Police identified the victims as Karsheika Graves, age 21, and Tanieshia-Deanna Butler, age 26. Investigators identified the shooter as Latina Williams, age 23. Sergeant Don Kelly with Baton Rouge police says all three were students at the Louisiana Technical College campus. The shooter's family lives in Mississippi. Baton Rouge police visited with them Friday night, trying to figure out what might have led Latina Williams to open fire. Funeral arrangements for the victims are still pending.

9NEWS spoke with the family of Karsheika Graves. The tight-knit group believes Karsheika Graves will always be with them. "She was a beautiful person. Humble, kind, patient, never said an ill word about anyone," says Karlyn Leblanc, Karsheika's aunt. Her family is baffled. They have no idea why someone would shoot and kill the artistic mother of two. Graves was a painter, and on her way to becoming a nurse. Family members say in December, she would have graduated from Louisiana Technical College. "She had two babies but she wasn't going to let that stop her. And that's what I admired about her," Leblanc says. She also says coroners tell her Graves' body was found with a pencil in her hand, a strong indication of the kind of dedicated student she was. Graves was the mother of a one-year-old and a five-month-old baby. Funeral arrangements for the victims are still pending.

The family of Tanieshia Butler was kind enough to invite 9NEWS to their home to share Tanieshia's life. Butler was shot to death Friday morning while just simply sitting in a nursing class. "I am in disbelief. Until I actually see her face, I just don't believe. Right now, I don't believe it," Ernest Butler says. Tanieshia's husband is having a hard time staying strong, but he says he has to. "Right now, I am trying to pull it together for the kids, trying to get them through this." The couple's three children are 4, 9, and 12 years old. Tanieshia worked hard to put herself through school so that she could give her children a better life. Now, her mother wants to know how she's supposed to encourage Tanieshia's children to go to school. "You don't want to live out your kids, you are supposed to be able to go to school. It's supposed to be a safe place to go," says Bobbie Landry. Tanieshia's mother says she doesn't why the shooter chose her daughter, but she does have a message for the family. "Out of your hands once they grow up. I pray for you. I'm sorry for your loss." This family hopes whatever you take away from this that you learn from their lesson. "We've got little ones. You are preaching to them, teaching them to go to school and now, how are we supposed to tell them this, if they fear their lives how can you send them." Friday morning, Tanieshia's sister, Tont, was also at the college. She was across the hall, in another classroom. She heard the shots fired. Students and faculty at the school were kept on lockdown for nearly four hours as police interviewed witnesses to the classroom killings.

Young people called their parents from the Louisiana Technical College Friday morning, pleading for them to call 911. The school is located on Airline Highway at Winbourne Avenue. The investigation continues into why anyone would shoot and kill innocent school mates. Here is what we do know:

At 8:36, phone calls started pouring into Baton Rouge police from students inside the classroom building where the shots were fired.

At 8:37, police were on their way to the campus to investigate the complaints.

By 8:40, officers were entering the building, not knowing if the shooting was over or if someone with a gun was still roaming the halls.

"This is a situation where you have to analyze everything that goes on. There was nobody virtually that could have stopped, I believe, what happened today, absent checking everybody as they came into the building. But besides that, it's a sad commentary when you have young people who are here to be educated at a great institution. And yet, they are gunned down and become innocent victims of violence at school. So to those families, to parents, to other people in the community, relatives of these individuals on both sides, this is a tragic day for Baton Rouge, it's a tragic day for the nation," Mayor Kip Holden says.

The campus will remain closed until next Wednesday, February 13th. However, school officials say that may change, depending on funeral arrangements. LTC officials will meet with faculty and staff on Tuesday to help prepare them to work with students once they return to class. The school says ICare counselors are currently on-site providing support for students, faculty, staff, and family members. If you feel you need help processing the emotional effects of the killings at Louisiana Technical College, call Baton Rouge Crisis Intervention at 924-3900.

Thanks for the story, Deidra!




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Breakin News: Female Student Gets In On Murder-Suicide Action at LA Tech College

Stop the Madness!

(CNN) -- A female student shot two other women and herself Friday morning inside a classroom on the campus of Louisiana Technical College in Baton Rouge, authorities said.



(Emergency personnel gather at a building at Louisiana Technical College, where three people died Friday, above)

Baton Rouge police Sgt. Don Kelly said officers responding to a 911 call about 8:30 a.m. found all three dead in a second-floor classroom.

"There was mass pandemonium, people running," Kelly told The Associated Press. "One officer -- the first into the classroom -- told me he could still smell gunpowder."

The names of the dead were not released.

About 20 people were in the classroom at the time of the shooting, Kelly said. He would not give the room number or say what kind of class it was. Video Watch Kelly describe the sequence of events »

No shots were fired anywhere else, Kelly said.


"It's all self-contained in one classroom," Kelly said. The shooter was not believed to have left the room at any point, he said, and "no other students outside the classroom were in any danger."

Police will interview the other students who were in the classroom to find out why the shooting occurred, Kelly said. source

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**Sentiments expressed concerning Charles Lee Thornton is also echoed on this post** smh

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*UPDATE* JENA 6

Charges Reduced for Last Jena Six Member source

Charges were reduced Wednesday for Bryant Purvis, the last of six Jena, La., youths accused of attacking a white schoolmate in December, following several weeks of racial tension in the tiny, rural town.

Purvis, 18, now faces charges of aggravated battery and conspiracy to commit aggravated battery, said his attorney Darrell Hickman. A trial date has been set for March 2008.

The charges carry a maximum possible sentence of 22 years, Hickman told BlackAmericaweb.com. Earlier charges that had included attempted second-degree murder carried a possible maximum sentence of 75 years imprisonment upon conviction.

Will Freedom Ring????

Jena Six Case to Be Subject of Hearing Before House Judiciary Committee Tuesday Morning
credit-BlackAmericaWeb.com

The House Judiciary Committee has scheduled a hearing on the Jena Six case Tuesday morning, less than a week after a youth at the center of the controversy was locked up again.

Mychal Bell, the only one of the six youths who had been convicted in connection with a Dec. 4 fight with a white classmate, was ordered to a juvenile facility on Thursday.

The most recent sentence, handed down by LaSalle Parish Judge J.P. Mauffrey Jr., was not directly related to the December 2006 incident. The judge said Bell had violated terms of his probation from earlier convictions on juvenile charges of simple battery and criminal destruction. He must now spend 18 months in a juvenile detention facility.

An appeals court ruled in September that the lower court erred by handling Bell’s charges for the 2006 incident in adult court and his conviction was overturned. He still is awaiting trial on juvenile charges related to the fight with Justin Barker at Jena High School.

Bell’s parents and civil rights leaders were outraged by the latest sentence. Attempts by Bell’s family and civil rights leaders so far to get another judge on the case have been unsuccessful. The same judge who handled the adult case is also handling the juvenile case in the small town.

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Stand Still and See the Salvation of the Lord!!

On a lighter Note...aka File this Under: Huh? U Did What?! May I Ask Why?!

Man eats 21 pounds of grits for title

source: Yahoo News, image: Google Images

BOSSIER CITY, La. - He'll never want breakfast again.

Pat Bertoletti, a mohawk-sporting chef from Chicago, gulped down 21 pounds of buttery, goopy grits in 10 minutes to win $4,000 in the first World Grits Eating Championship at Louisiana Downs on Saturday.

The grits were presented in 2-pound trays, each about 8 inches by 6 inches and 1 1/2 inches deep, said Ryan Nerz, a spokesman for Major League Eating.

Bertoletti, in a statement, said the race "tested our stomach capacity like no other."

The buzz going in was that a lot of grits would go down because they are so easy to eat, Nerz said. There were nine contestants, and the top three ate a combined 60 pounds.

Tim "Eater X" Janus of New York was second, with 20 pounds. Joey Chestnut of San Jose, Calif., who this summer ate a record-breaking 66 hot dogs in 12 minutes to become world hot dog-eating champion, finished third, polishing off 19 pounds.

The top seven eaters split $10,000 in prize money.

Grainy grits — dried, ground corn that is then cooked back into mush or the soupy consistency used for the championship — are a Southern staple. They are often eaten for breakfast with butter or even sugar; sometimes chilled and then fried in slices; and, for more substantial meals, fortified with stronger-tasting foods such as cheese, bacon, shrimp.

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Seriously-what am I expected to say?!

Some questions, just can't be answered!

You all better recognize-even I can become speechless!

Ivent