logo
Texas nursing student fatally stabbed after heated debate over roommate's cat, reports say

Texas nursing student fatally stabbed after heated debate over roommate's cat, reports say

Yahoo07-05-2025
A man is accused of fatally stabbing his roommate, a British nursing student and content creator, more than two dozen times at their Houston apartment, authorities say. The deadly altercation reportedly began as an argument over her roommate's cat.
Officers discovered Elizabeth Tamilore Odunsi — known as Tami Dollars on TikTok, where she had amassed over 48,000 followers — lying on the kitchen floor of her apartment with 28 stab wounds, according to Harris County records.
Before finding Odunsi, officers were called to check on the apartment around 3:50 p.m. on April 26, Houston police said. When officers knocked on the door and did not receive an answer, they noticed blood on the rear concrete patio, prompting them to enter the apartment, according to the department.
When officers entered the residence, they found Odunsi on the kitchen floor with multiple stab wounds. In a nearby bedroom, they also found the suspect, Chester Lamar Grant, 40, who had at least one stab wound, according to police. Paramedics pronounced Odunsi dead at the scene, while Grant was transported to a hospital in critical condition. He was later arrested on May 3 and charged with murder. His bond was set at $500,000.
Odunsi had been scheduled to graduate from Texas Woman's University College of Nursing the following Sunday, about a week after her death.
During Grant's bond hearing, a Harris County judge addressed the severity of the allegations and the reasoning behind the bond amount.
"The allegations in this case allege he stabbed his female roommate 28 times, killing her over some disagreement over his cat," the judge said, per KHOU and ABC 13 reported. "So, this is an allegedly extremely brutal murder with an extensive history of violence, which I find to be an extreme danger to the community."
According to county court records, Grant has multiple convictions in Washington state for domestic violence, with his most recent being on Sept. 6, 2023, according to USA TODAY.
USA TODAY contacted Grant's defense attorney on May 6 but did not receive a response. His next court hearing is scheduled for Wednesday.
Father threatens to sue police, landlords
John Odunsi, the student's father, has threatened legal action against local police and her landlord, citing negligence after discovering that her housemate was a convicted felon.
According to The Times, a prominent UK newspaper, Odunsi claimed that police had visited his daughter's apartment multiple times in the past. He also argued that the landlord's screening process should have revealed the criminal history of the roommate, Grant.
Residents of the building reported that officers had been on site during a dispute between the roommates just hours before Odunsi's body was found, the Times reported.
'If there are failings, we will take legal action … I feel failed by the police from what I've heard,' he told The Times.
'The landlord should've done the necessary checks on the tenant who was staying with my daughter. I don't know what sort of vetting was done on the roommate — that's what we're trying to ascertain — but unfortunately it won't bring back my lovely daughter," he added.
'A beautiful soul, full of light, ambition, and kindness'
A GoFundMe was started for Odunsi, who was known on TikTok as Tami Dollars or "TD," and it describes the nursing student as a "beloved sister, daughter, and friend."
"Tami was a beautiful soul, full of light, ambition, and kindness. She was just 23 years old," the fundraiser page reads. "A devoted Christian, she was a God-fearing young woman who found strength and joy in her faith. She had a deep love for her church community, where she was actively involved and always eager to serve others with humility and grace."
According to the GoFundMe page, Odunsi moved from the United Kingdom to the U.S. to "pursue her dream of becoming a nurse." Her death came days before she was set to graduate from university, the page says.
"An unimaginable loss at a moment that should have marked the beginning of a bright and promising future," the fundraiser says. "Tami touched so many lives in her short time here."
This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Texas nursing student killed by roommate after dispute over cat
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Lil Nas X arrested and hospitalized after reports of possible overdose, police say
Lil Nas X arrested and hospitalized after reports of possible overdose, police say

USA Today

timean hour ago

  • USA Today

Lil Nas X arrested and hospitalized after reports of possible overdose, police say

Lil Nas X was hospitalized and arrested in Los Angeles. The 26-year-old "Old Town Road" rapper and two-time Grammy winner – whose real name is Montero Lamar Hill – was arrested just after 6 a.m. on Thursday, Aug. 21, according to Los Angeles Sheriff's Department inmate records. In a statement to USA TODAY, Los Angeles Police Department Officer Drake Madison said, "This morning, around 5:50 am, officers responded to the 11000 block of Ventura Boulevard for a nude man walking in the street." "Upon arrival, the suspect charged at officers and was taken into custody," the LAPD alleged. "He was transported to a local hospital for a possible overdose and placed under arrest for Battery on a Police Officer." Though the LAPD did not identify the man in their initial statement, Madison later confirmed the incident was related to Lil Nas X's arrest. USA TODAY reached out to reps for Lil Nas X for comment. The social media sensation's Instagram page has also been scrubbed except for 11 posts. One of Hollywood's most high-profile LGBTQ+ stars in the music industry, known for his eccentric forms of music promotion and signature humor, Lil Nas X has receded from the heights of his past viral stardom in recent years. In 2018, he broke out with his popular country-tinged single "Old Town Road" after dropping out of college. The track featured a buzzy remix with genre patriarch Billy Ray Cyrus, and the collaboration later became the longest-running No. 1 song in Billboard Hot 100 history. Two other Hot 100 No. 1s followed: "Industry Baby" with fellow rapper Jack Harlow and the solo "Montero (Call Me by Your Name)." The singer released his aptly-titled debut album "Montero" in 2021. He recently released the EP "Days Before Dreamboy" in late March, ahead of the release of his upcoming second studio album "Dreamboy," which is expected to drop later this year. He also boasts 11 career Grammy nominations. But earlier this year, the "That's What I Want" hitmaker faced health struggles. He posted an Instagram video of himself from a hospital bed late in April, telling his followers he "lost control of the right side" of his face. "This is me doing a full smile by the way," he said in the video, laughing in disbelief. "I can't even laugh right, bro. Oh my God!" He then joked about his condition on his Instagram stories, but assured fans he was OK. "Stop being sad for me!" he wrote. "Imma look funny for a lil bit but that's it," he said, adding crying emojis. If you or someone you know is struggling with mental and/or substance use disorders, you can call the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration's free and confidential treatment referral and information service at 800-662-HELP (4357). It's available 24/7 in English and Spanish (TTY: 1-800-487-4889). Contributing: Taijuan Moorman and KiMi Robinson, USA TODAY

The red flags you need to know to avoid being conned
The red flags you need to know to avoid being conned

USA Today

time2 hours ago

  • USA Today

The red flags you need to know to avoid being conned

On a special episode (first released on Aug. 20, 2025) of The Excerpt podcast: Is there a way to reliably spot a con artist? Jonathan Walton says there is. He explains how in his new book, "Anatomy of a Con Artist," on bookshelves now. Hit play on the player below to hear the podcast and follow along with the transcript beneath it. This transcript was automatically generated, and then edited for clarity in its current form. There may be some differences between the audio and the text. Podcasts: True crime, in-depth interviews and more USA TODAY podcasts right here Taylor Wilson: Hello and welcome to a special episode of USA TODAY's The Excerpt. I'm Taylor Wilson. Con Artists are lurking all over. It might be your neighbor or coworker, or just a stranger that steps in when you're desperate for help. They prey on vulnerabilities and can be deceptively charming, but how do you spot them? A new book explores just that and gives some tips from someone who found himself at the heart of a con artist manipulation. Here to tell me about his story and some of his tips is author Jonathan Walton, whose new book, Anatomy of a Con Artist is out now. Thanks for joining me, Jonathan. Jonathan Walton: Thank you so much for having me. It's a pleasure to meet you, a pleasure to be here. Taylor Wilson: A pleasure to have you on. So let's just start with the origins of your experience with a con artist, if you don't mind. It all seems to have started around this swimming pool drama at your apartment complex, correct? Jonathan Walton: Yes, we have this beautiful Club Med style swimming pool, and we lost it through no fault of our own. The building was in an uproar, 444 units, so probably 800 or 900 residents angry, wanted the pool back. I take it upon myself. And this is the kind of person I am. And this is what my con artist who weaponized against me. I discovered years later. I take it upon myself to post flyers up, galvanize all the residents, get them together. I want to write this wrong. I'm kind of a do-gooder. I have been my whole life. So little did I know that that flyer that I posted up simply read, "Hey, miss the pool? Want to get it back? Let's band together and do something about it," that was all the information my con artists needed to get into my life, to get into my heart, and to scam me out of close to a hundred thousand dollars over the course of four years. Taylor Wilson: I mean, what happened next? You don't have to give away the entire book here, but how did things unravel and just progress from there? Jonathan Walton: Well, yeah, the book is so much more than my case. I've investigated hundreds of con artists over the past eight years. Because after I put mine in jail, even after police turned me away, and I show people how to do that in the book, my case blew up in the press. And I started getting contacted by hundreds and hundreds of victims of other artists telling me I inspired them, asking, begging for my help. So without knowing any better, I started helping. Some people play golf on the weekends, I hunt con artists. So I started investigating all these cases. But with regard to my case, that's how she got into my life, my con artist, Mayer Smith, that's the name she gave me, not her real name. And again, I want to punch myself in the face even saying this out loud, but it's the truth. I was helping an Irish heiress get her inheritance. But it's so much more complicated and nuanced than that. She quickly became like a sister to me. At the time I was going through stuff with my family. I'd come out as gay. I hadn't been home for Christmas in eight years. I was kind of disowned. She used that as an emotional in into my psyche. She said that she was disowned too by her family back in Ireland because they're trying to get her disinherited, and she waved all the red flags that she was a con artist. I just didn't know what they were, and I fell for all of them. She would show me texts and emails from her cousins, Fintan, and Dermot, and Tristan, and her uncle Patridge Clark, and there's this 25 million Euro inheritance, and he dies. And she's using the red flag of technology that I write about in the book, showing me digital screens, showing me her phone. How many times has someone held up their phone and said, "Hey, look what so-and-so just texted." Did you ever think it wasn't so-and-so, that it was some character this person invented to sell you a story? No, no one thinks that, but you should. I fell for all of them. And eventually, very quickly, I loved her like a sister. I loved her as much as any gay man can love a woman. And we were ending phone calls with I love you, I love you, because we were two discarded souls here in Los Angeles. Our families didn't want us, so we kind of clung together. And people ask me all the time, "How does someone like you, you're a smart guy, how did you get conned?" And I say this again and again in the book, "Con artists don't outsmart you. Con artists out feel you." They use your emotions. They tap into this emotional need you have for something. And once you're making decisions with your heart and not your head, you're as good as conned. Taylor Wilson: Well, we'll get to some of those red flags because I think they're pretty fascinating. I just want to get a sense of who you turned to for help initially. Did you find there were even resources on this topic when you were going through it? Jonathan Walton: Yes and no, but mainly, no. I started reading voraciously a lot of books about artists, and they all kind of felt like they were victim shaming. All the writers of these other books are like... It was in between the lines victim shaming. One even admits in the second chapter of a bestseller, I'm not going to name the name, but it offended me. The writer writes, "Well, I've never been conned, and I don't know any artist personally." And I'm like, well, la-di-da for you. Well, let me tell you, and I write this in the book, here's some news from the front lines. Con artists are everywhere. And the only reason you don't know a con artist is a con artist is because they haven't conned you yet, but they're probably conning other people you know. It's embarrassing to admit you fell for a con. And they use another red flag I write about, the TMI technique. You meet a con artist, they tell you a lot of personal details about themselves very quickly. They tell you their deep, dark secrets for two reasons. Number one, it makes you think, ah, this person must really trust me. And then number two, you think, well, I can trust them. And they start to extract your deep, dark secrets from you. Only thing, their secrets are fake. Yours are real. So by the time they get your money, you don't want to go to police because you don't want your deep, dark secrets ending up in a police report, or court records, or court transcripts. So that's how they get you to stay silent, and your silence enables them to con the other person, and the other person, and the other person. Taylor Wilson: Well, you touched on police earlier, Jonathan. I mean, what role do police play here? I know you wrote about several notable counter-artist instances where the victim really had to, is it fair to say go above and beyond to prove they were being victimized? Is there any critical flaw to how police go about this? How do you see police in this conversation Jonathan Walton: When you go to police... Police initially turned me away. I went and told them I got conned. They said, it's not a crime because I gave her the money. And there's the inclination to believe they must be correct. They got the uniform, they got the badge. They must know what they're talking about, but they don't. The thing of it is law enforcement is overwhelmed. They have murders, and robberies, and rapes to deal with. They have people lying in pools of blood calling on them to help. So when you come in crying, "Boohoo, I got conned," your case is relegated, nine out of 10 times they will not take a police report. And they send you on your way and say, "Go pursue this. Go hire a lawyer and sue them. Go to the civil court system." But listen, anything, in most states, over a thousand dollars taken based on lies or deceit is a felony. It is a crime punishable by years in jail. You just can't go to police willy-nilly. You got to build a case. You have to go in there with a narrative, with an affidavit, with witness statements, with tons of evidence, that you have to pull a Vanna White, and present the evidence, and tell the story. You have to be prepared. You have to be rehearsed. You can't just be boohoo, because they will turn you away. They turned me away, but I pushed back. And in the book, I show victims how to push. Taylor Wilson: Back. Well, I am not going to ask you to give away all the red flags that you outline in this book, but can you share a couple with our listeners? What major ones that you want to outline here? Jonathan Walton: I would say the top three red flags... Now, individually, each red flag doesn't mean you're dealing with a con artist necessarily, but when they start to add up, two, three, four red flags, be suspicious and consider cutting ties. Red flag number one, by far. Every con artist will enter your life, most likely offering to help you. Who doesn't love a helper? Right? A stranger, a new neighbor, a new boyfriend, new girlfriend, new co-worker. They show up. They quickly figure out what your problem is, and they offer to help you. So you're naturally going to be grateful. You're naturally going to love them. You're naturally going to let them in your life. Who doesn't love a helper? So be suspicious. Red flag number two, stories from faraway places. Every professional con artist today will snow you with stories from faraway places. Why? Because it gives them credentials. It gives them legitimacy. And stories from faraway places are hard to prove false. So human nature being what it is, if you can't prove something false, you just think it must be true. Another huge red flag, I call it in the book, drama, drama, drama. You meet someone who turns out to be a con artist, but you don't know. So they got you. They're helping you. They're too kind, too quick. They're snowing you with stories from faraway places. Keep in mind, these people are infinitely charismatic. They're fun to be with. They're lovable. They seem so kind. They're very educated, and that's what they want. But then the drama starts, right? If you've got any drama in your life, they will create more drama. And it's all lies. If you've got a boyfriend you're trying to avoid, they'll say, "Hey, I saw your boyfriend outside your house. He was parked outside your house." That's not true, but if you are the woman or the man scared of the boyfriend outside your house, you immediately like, "Oh my God, I need help." And once you have that kind of reaction to drama, you're so much more easy to manipulate. Because when you're not thinking with your head, thinking with your heart, or worse, you're thinking out of fear, con artists don't outsmart you, they out feel you. And fear is a heck of a feeling and makes you very malleable. So yeah, those are, I would say the top three red flags con artists use to trick money out of their marks. Taylor Wilson: Well, for folks who maybe have missed some of those early red flags, what advice would you give for people in the midst of their own artists nightmares? Who should they turn to? What should maybe their first steps be? Jonathan Walton: If the money has exchanged hands, that's the crime. If you are in the midst of a con... And again, I have this fantasy frequently. Knowing what I know now, if I met Mayer, my con artist, would I know she's a con artist? And the answer is, yeah, within the first 20 minutes of talking to her. Because she was just waving all the flags, the stories from faraway places, the offer to help, the too kind too quick, the drama, drama, drama. She was waving them all. I would've spotted her quickly. If you are in the midst of a con and the con artist doesn't know that you know, start recording the phone calls, start getting video and audio, start gathering your evidence. Because you need that for police. When you go to police, the minute the con artist is outed, and mine did this to me, they all flip the script. They all make authorities think initially, you are the bad person, they're the good person. You are the one victimizing them. A month before the criminal trial of my con artist, and this is how brilliant she is, hats off. I'm a producer here in LA. I admire her creativity. As sickening as it is, she is a brilliant creative woman. So I've been pursuing this case for two years, and finally I'm going to have my day in court. A month before the trial, she files a restraining order against me. And I only find out about it because I got a lawyer's advertisement in the mail. This restraining order was not served. And if it's not served, it doesn't exist yet, but it's coming. And luckily I got the ad in the mail. I'm like, "Restraining order?" And I look it up online and I'm like, oh my God, she filed a restraining order. So I bring it to the prosecutor thinking he's going to help me. The prosecutor who's charged her with stealing from me, with grand theft. And he says, "There's nothing I can do." He says, "If a judge approves this restraining order, you will not be allowed in the courtroom." And I just turned white. I'm like, this is her checkmate move. He's like, "But don't worry. We can let you testify over video." I'm like, "well, what's a jury going to think? I'm too violent for the courtroom, so I'm doing testimony over video?" Like, "My case is sunk. This doesn't help my case." He's like, "Yeah, it really doesn't. This is a problem, but there's nothing I can do. This is a civil matter." So I hire a lawyer and the lawyer tells me, "Just don't get served." And I'm like, "What do you mean?" He's like, "Do you have a back way in?" I'm like, "I'm a gay guy. Of course I have a back way in." He's like, "Just don't get served." So I don't answer the door. I come and go through the back way. And sure enough, just like he predicted, off-duty deputies in uniform pounding on my door at all hours trying to serve me this bogus restraining order. But thankfully, the time ran out. The trial started, I hadn't been served the restraining order so I got to testify in court. And she was convicted and sentenced to five years in jail before she could file that bogus restraining order before a judge could approve it. But listen, nine times out of 10 when there's a woman filing a restraining order against a man, it's a no-brainer for a judge. He just approves it. That was a brilliant move on her part, but thank God I figured out a way out of it. Taylor Wilson: Wow. Well, years later, Jonathan, this might be a difficult question, but I'm just curious how you think and feel about this case looking back, and do you forgive Mayer at all years later? Jonathan Walton: I do forgive... You see, here's the thing. And I know you're going to think I'm crazy, but I've investigated a lot of these cases and this is how I feel. These aren't people as we understand people to be. I've spent a lot of time interviewing an FBI criminal profiler, Candice DeLong, amazing woman. And she confirmed, most con artists, if not all, are psychopaths. They're not like us. They don't have any feeling. They will destroy your life, walk away, and destroy another life, and destroy... They don't care. They don't care. Mayer, my con artists used her own children in her scams. She pretended to have cancer for myriad reasons. When she was in high school, I heard from a guy she dated in high school, she would date college guys, and tell them she was pregnant, and needed money for an abortion. And they all gave her money. Artists aren't people as you understand people to be. So I haven't really forgiven her because I don't even consider her a person. I've forgiven myself. I get why this all happened. It was meant to make me better, and it was meant, I believe, to help me shine a light on them so the world can see, and hopefully save untold numbers of people from getting conned. I don't hate her. She's like a shark. You can't hate a shark for moving through the water and eating whatever it sees. That's what they were built to do. Con artists were built to scam anyone and everyone, so the quicker you can identify them, the quicker you can just get out of their way so they can go onto the next. Taylor Wilson: Jonathan, it was a fascinating read. Thanks for hopping on. Jonathan Walton: Thanks so much for reading it. I appreciate that. Taylor Wilson: Thanks to our senior producers, Shannon Rae Green and Kaely Monahan for their production assistance. Our executive producer is Laura Beatty. Let us know what you think of this episode by sending a note to podcasts@ Thanks for listening. I'm Taylor Wilson. I'll be back tomorrow morning with another episode of USA TODAY's The Excerpt.

Street takeover party marred by violence was promoted by CPS aide who says he has been suspended
Street takeover party marred by violence was promoted by CPS aide who says he has been suspended

Yahoo

time3 hours ago

  • Yahoo

Street takeover party marred by violence was promoted by CPS aide who says he has been suspended

Jorge Sanchez was headed home from work on a Saturday night earlier this month when he encountered throngs of rideshares and pedestrians surrounding his home in Austin. Sanchez, 35, is used to people hanging out on his block, and found one of the guys he recognized from other weekends. 'I was like, 'You really outdid yourselves today,'' he said. 'And he said, 'Oh, this wasn't us.'' It was Club JROY: a massive end-of-summer party that had been all over Instagram and TikTok for days before people flooded blocks around the West Side neighborhood. It took place even after police had asked event promoter Jamal Williams to cancel, officials said. Police reports put the center of Club JROY at the intersection of La Crosse Avenue and Maypole Street, a few houses up from where Sanchez lives. Authorities responded to at least three instances of gunfire within six-blocks of the intersection in the early morning hours of Aug. 10 as they struggled to contain a crowd estimated to be in the thousands at its peak. Eight people were shot in the area, two fatally, and police arrested at least six others, according to public records and police sources. Those who were wounded and killed made up a quarter of the city's gunshot victims for the entire weekend, police said. The promoter, listed in CPS personnel records as a special education classroom assistant at Ellington Elementary School in Austin, has not been charged with any wrongdoing and strenuously denied that the shootings were connected with his party. He announced a few days later that he had been placed on paid suspension due to an investigation, which he said was meant to ensure his safety and that of the school following social media discussions of the shootings. 'The events that happened, I genuinely do feel bad,' Willams said in one post. 'But that didn't happen at the location I sent out. That was at different block parties that people decided to go to.' Asked to comment on Williams' announced suspension and the party, CPS representatives said in a statement that the district did not comment on personnel matters. Police met with promoter Jamal Williams at Ellington days before the event was scheduled to take place and asked him to call it off, Ald. Jason Ervin said. By the time Jorge Sanchez got home around 9:30 p.m. on Aug. 9, he found the street filled with people. They were still rolling up in droves around midnight, bringing people from as far away as suburbs including Lynwood and Plainfield. 'I was like, 'what the heck is going on?',' he said. 'Everyone was talking about getting to the party.' Sanchez and his brother-in-law did a few laps around their house and found that the party covered several blocks with people drinking, smoking and playing music in a crowd so dense that emergency workers couldn't get through at some points to assist people. Footage from Sanchez's Ring doorbell around 2:45 a.m. the next morning shows North La Crosse Avenue crowded but otherwise calm before two gunshots sounded. More shooting can be heard on the video, apparently from two different locations on the block, as the crowd turned and ran south down the street. Many people hustled onto Sanchez's front walk, sheltering in his doorway. At least six people were hit in the shooting, police said. One of them, a 22-year-old woman whom the Cook County medical examiner's office later identified as Jashura Monae Blackhawk, was shot in the back and died soon afterward. As police attempted to cordon off the crime scene, they arrested a 35-year-old man who allegedly wouldn't cooperate with their orders to disperse and shoved a cop. At the same time, a few blocks to the west, a different group of officers were headed toward the shooting at LaCrosse and Maypole when they heard a single shot in an alley on the 200 block of North Lamon Avenue. They saw a man running up the alley, records show, and arrested him minutes later. Police said Thursday no one was in custody in connection with the shooting that killed Blackhawk. One man was charged in a second shooting after the party that left a teenage boy dead. About two hours after the first shooting, Cook County prosecutors said 18-year-old Kaleb Williams and his friends — all high school classmates — were walking south down North Lavergne Avenue away from the party when they encountered Ortez Owens and a second person near the intersection of Lavergne and Maypole. Prosecutors alleged that 35-year-old Owens approached the teens and tried to talk to them about their car's broken sunroof. He then allegedly took out a gun, told them to drop their backpacks and fired along with his companion as the group of friends scattered, hitting Williams in the back and his friend in the shoulder. A few minutes later, prosecutors alleged that Owens returned to where Williams lay and took the backpack before he left again. After Owens was arrested, prosecutors alleged he told his wife that he had 'done a murder' and that he had been looking to retaliate over his sunroof having been shot out. He also allegedly admitted to taking the backpack from Williams and remarking that there was nothing of value inside. Cook County Judge Ankur Srivastava ordered Owens held while awaiting trial and said that his alleged actions showed 'a total lack of self-control (and) total disregard for human life.' Public defenders said that Owens' friends and family had gotten social media threats in the days following the party and asked that Owens be placed into protective custody while awaiting trial. His next court date is set for Sept. 2. In a TikTok dated Aug. 12, promoter Jamal Williams said that there were multiple block parties being held around the area and that he had left his party when he saw people clashing with police. He didn't know about the shootings until the next morning, he said, and hadn't canceled the gathering because the person who had been making threats later messaged him to say they hadn't been serious. Ald. Chris Taliaferro, 29th, whose ward covers Ellington Elementary, pointed out that there are plenty of gatherings in the area that go smoothly and 'don't get the same kinds of attention a street takeover would get' — in part because something like the Taste of Austin food festival or a city-sponsored midnight basketball game doesn't draw the same attendance as street parties, but also because 'it doesn't sell papers (or) increase viewership.' But he added that young people in particular needed more sponsored, well-organized outlets to have fun and socialize in their neighborhoods. And he said people who organize parties that attract violence need to see clear consequences for their actions. 'Their conduct is a participating factor in why these people are harmed,' he said. 'Did they pull the trigger? Maybe not. But they called the party that brought out these people in the first place.' Days before the gathering took place, Jamal Williams had posted a TikTok telling people who were discussing potential violence at the party to stay home. 'I just (saw) a post — it said 'I'm coming 30 deep to Club JROY, try me if you want,'' he said in the TikTok, dated Aug. 5. 'Who the (expletive) are you all into it with?… You can't come!' The next day, he posted another video. The party was still on.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store