UC Berkeley Student Murdered

coureur · 05-05-2008, 09:50 AM

It's being reported as a possible "town vs. gown" conflict:

Fatal stabbing of UC Berkeley student reveals two worlds within one city - Los Angeles Times

Excerpt:

"Although details of the fracas early Saturday were still being sorted out, the incident laid bare the two faces of this college town on San Francisco Bay -- the world-class university and multimillion-dollar hillside homes with sweeping views versus the poor and working-class bungalows and apartments of the flatlands."

rider730 · 05-05-2008, 10:05 AM

Berkeley City College student arrested as alleged perp - more like gown vs gown. Stories suggest two large crowds yelling at each other in a sorority parking lot at 3AM, alcohol definitely involved.

kenf1234 · 05-05-2008, 10:14 AM

Quote:

Berkeley City College student arrested as alleged perp - more like gown vs gown.

The alleged stabber was a Berkeley High graduate, Berkeley City College is the local community college, this actually probably is a "town vs. gown" thing on some level. It's not clear that it was "murder".

lextalionis · 05-05-2008, 11:35 AM

@kenf1234 - Do you mean not murder, but manslaughter? Or perhaps you believe the perp stabbed the victim in self-defense?

As the mother of a son going to Cal in August, I have read many news accounts of Chris Wootton's tragic death. While we cannot protect our children from all of the evils of the world as they go off to college, we can give them advice on situations to avoid, etc.

One of the news accounts mentioned an eyewitness account that stated that the alleged perp warned the fraternity group that he had a knife and yelled at them to back off. This account backs up the father's version as relayed to him by his son.

Whether the perp and his friends were the aggressors or were simply defending themselves, I will reinforce to my son the notion that alcohol, weapons, and heated arguments create a potentially combustible mix. If someone threatens you with a knife, you back away, protect your life, and then seek police intervention to pursue an arrest for assault with a deadly weapon.

What a tragic loss for the world. Chris was weeks away from graduating and only months away from starting graduate work in nuclear engineering. Instead, he will be 6 feet under, resting beside his mother who passed away when Chris was 14 years old. Chris will never be able to contribute his obvious brain power to better mankind, will never start a family of his own, and will never see another sunrise.

My deepest sympathies and prayers go out to Chris's family and friends.

momof2inca · 05-05-2008, 12:46 PM

I have an S at Cal. This is a truly sad outcome to random stupidity fueled by testosterone and alcohol. I believe there is evidence of "turf wars" between the Cal fraternity members and the "flatlander" young men; one student interviewed said that the city college student and his friends were trying to walk through a path that cuts across sorority property. Words were exchanged, etc...

This may sound harsh, but the media, especially today's L.A. Times story, is making the Cal student out to be some kind of a saint (he stayed up all night to help friends study, attended bible study, etc...) but I looked at his MySpace page yesterday and he had written blogs proudly detailing his participation in a recent nighttime brawl. His words gave me the impression that he rather enjoyed getting into fights after drinking and did not exactly try to avoid them. He also ruminated about whether he would end up lying to his own children someday about his wild days at Berkeley. In my mind, he did not seem to be just a kid at the wrong place and time, but was part of a group that, depending on circumstances, didn't avoid violence. What's really too bad is that the other guy had to be carrying a weapon or the outcome likely would have been limited to some black eyes, etc...

I feel so sorry for both men's parents, family and friends. Senseless.

kenf1234 · 05-05-2008, 01:15 PM

Quote:

@kenf1234 - Do you mean not murder, but manslaughter? Or perhaps you believe the perp stabbed the victim in self-defense?

I don't know what happened. It certainly may have been that the stabber was afraid and overreacted. The whole circumstance is horrible to think about, and I don't want to blame the victim. But by reading the stabbee's blog, I can't help but think that what happened had as much to do with him, as the stabber.

jmmom · 05-05-2008, 01:24 PM

I love how the press wants to codify this story into a neat little equation. Affluent Berkeley hills/fraternity row vs. flatlanders they disdain.

I don't think so.

Lots of students live in the flatlands. I did.

I don't think this is town and gown, hill vs. flats or any such neat little package tied up in a bow.

Whatever went wrong here has to do with something else - alcohol? weapons where they shouldn't be?

vc08 · 05-05-2008, 01:49 PM

mom: agree. Senseless, but avoidable. Any time, on ANY campus where there is heavy drinking (happens everywhere, unfortunately), there's potential for a bad outcome.

JaneyPT · 05-06-2008, 02:16 AM

so very sad

dannyhuangster · 05-09-2008, 11:23 PM

go here to find out what really happened: RIP Chris Wootton

Ryan, a frat bro of Chris's was there when it happened and he talks about it a little bit. Rest in peace Chris.

xiggi · 05-10-2008, 12:23 AM

Indeed, Dannygangster, thank you for sending us to a place where we can read more about the normal behavior of the good blood "brothers" who are part of those wonderful greek "institutions."

Quote:

Writing blogs is kinda wack but I've told this story about 17 times and it's a good story but I am tired of telling it.... Alright, so this is basically a recap of my weekend in which my brother Josh came to Berkeley to give me a surprise visit. So... surprise, my weekend ****in rocked. To tend to the title, I'll start off with the 'fighting' portion of the weekend. You probably know me pretty well if you're reading this and the word fight is most likely a shock to you coming from my weekend story but.... it has happened. So what happened was one of my fraternity brothers was being disrespected by a yoked 220 lb. mother ****er and he got kicked out of the house but he decided to wait outside for at least 15 minutes, which is ****in stupid when there are at least 25 bro's in the house that will **** him up. Unfortunately, I was dancing with a legitimate female at the time and enjoying my night at our party but i was quickly interrupted by a report that someone wanted to fight my bro... so, being the dedicated friend that I am, i immediately answered with "who the **** is he and where?" followed by "let's **** him up" and yes, I was drunk, but not blacked out. So my bro Rex replies " lets find him" and we walk outside and by some form of dumb-**** magic, these 3 idiots are standing outside waiting for a fight. About 6 of us (including my blood brother Josh and his pledge bro) are making our way outside when I see my bro Rex surrounded by the guys. So i sprint up because i am the 2nd guy to work my way through the fat crowd. There we are, Rex and I, and I march up to the 220 lb. juggernaut and get in his face shouting "**** YOU, IF YOU GOT A PROBLEM WITH REX, YOU GOT A PROBLEM WITH ME, *****" and then, without hesitation or any warning, the ****er socks me in the chest...all 220 lbs of him. I'm thankful me face wasn't the target because my chest is ****ed up to the point where I can't even do a single push up. For the meat of the story: I am ready and basically unphased at the time so I swing a left and a right, landing only the right. But my brother josh, the ****in man of the hour, comes out of nowhere and grabs this kook in a headlock so quickly that by the time my next set of punches come, I end up accidently landing a hard right on my brother's eye (sorry again)... Well, josh handles this ****head and and drops him to the ground via a nice DDT and begins to grind his face into the coarse pavement of the sidewalk while several of are taking turns on his ribs and dome. By now, about 10-12 bro's are outside and there are only 3 opponents so my bro's decide to try and break **** up but if you know josh (or myself as I have discovered this weekend), then you know that we get an intense adrenaline rush and calming us down is not very easy. well..... in most cases it isn't easy but when a pig rolls up with a night-stick and waves it in the air shouting "get the **** out of here and go home," then separating **** is quite easy... the fighting story pretty much ends here but its a good one because my chest feels like a **** MAC truck ran into me and because my brother and I threw down together... I don't know, but around here in Berkeley, this was quite a story....

How many more senseless deaths --or drug busts-- will it take before colleges understand the need to COMPLETELY eradicate those cancers from our campuses.

collegemom16 · 05-10-2008, 02:38 AM

Did this fact somehow escape the person who wrote this horribly slanted article? Bellflower is a working class/poor neigborhood in Southern CA. It is largely hispanic. This kid was not from a wealthy family. He did not have a privileged upbringing. He worked hard to get to UCB.

Race Per 2000 U.S. Census
Hispanic 43.2%

White 30.7%

Black 13.1%

Asian 9.7%

Other 3.3%

"Although details of the fracas early Saturday were still being sorted out, the incident laid bare the two faces of this college town on San Francisco Bay -- the world-class university and multimillion-dollar hillside homes with sweeping views versus the poor and working-class bungalows and apartments of the flatlands."

Oh please....and Thomas Hoeft-Edenfield just happened to have a knife because he was a boyscout?