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U.S. NEWS Wednesday 10 July 2019

Outrage over killing of black

teen over rap music complaint

By ANITA SNOW
Associated Press
PHOENIX (AP) — Hundreds
of people including a presi-
dential candidate spoke
out on Twitter this week
after a 17-year-old black
youth was killed at subur-
ban convenience store
This March 30, 2004 file photo, shows the grand stands at Vernon by a white man who said
Downs in Verona, N.Y. he was threatened by the
Associated Press boy’s rap music.
Local permit denied Family members have told
local media that Elijah Al-
for Woodstock 50 Amin would have turned 18
in two weeks and was look-
at upstate NY track ing forward to his last year
in high school.
Friends and family hugged A makeshift memorial for Elijah Al-Amin is set up at a local Circle
K store for the death of the stabbing victim Tuesday, July 9, 2019,
VERNON, N.Y. (AP) — An as a possible site for the Monday at the Islamic in Peoria, Ariz.
upstate New York town has Aug. 16-18 anniversary festi- Community Center in Tem- Associated Press
denied a permit to stage val after the original venue, pe, where prayers for the dren has been murdered in black teenagers.
the Woodstock 50 festival Watkins Glen International, youth were held before a heinous and unprovoked In the Arizona attack, first
at a local horse track, say- pulled out last month. burial in Maricopa County. way_the DOJ must investi- responders discovered Al-
ing the application is too A festival at Vernon Downs A modest makeshift me- gate this hate crime imme- Amin collapsed outside the
late and incomplete. could host up to 65,000 morial outside the conve- diately,” Democratic can- Peoria Circle K store’s gas
Organizers can appeal the people, as opposed to the nience store where Al-Amin didate Cory Booker wrote pumps and took him to a
permit denial to the town’s 150,000 planned for Wat- was stabbed was still erect- on his Twitter account Mon- hospital, where he died.
planning board within five kins Glen, and it would not ed on Tuesday, with a pair day. “RIP Elijah. #Justice- Several people inside the
days, Vernon town attor- feature camping. of white porcelain angels, ForElijah.” store had watched as Al-
ney Vincent Rossi said Tues- Before the permit denial fresh flowers and burning Linda Sarsour, a Palestinian- Amin was stabbed in the
day. Organizers did not was announced, Wood- calendars — including one American civil rights activist throat and the back before
immediately respond to re- stock 50 president Greg dedicated to the Virgin of from Brooklyn, New York, he ran outside.
quests for comment. Peck said Tuesday that the Guadalupe, the Catholic called the crime “outra- Officers found Adams
The denial came a day af- group is working with law patron saint of Mexico. geous” and said it recalled nearby with a pocket knife
ter opponents of the three- enforcement and public The Twitter hashtag #Jus- the 2012 killing of 17-year- and blood on his body. Ad-
day festival packed a safety officials to address ticeForElijah began trend- old high school student Jor- ams told them he had felt
Vernon town board meet- concerns. “We are confi- ing over the Independence dan Davis in Jacksonville, threatened by the rap mu-
ing Monday night, voic- dent that this careful plan- Day weekend after police Florida. “Rest in power Eli- sic coming from Al-Amin’s
ing concerns about safety ning and consideration of in the suburban Phoenix jah Al-Amin,” she wrote. vehicle.
and traffic in the rural area. community concerns will city of Peoria arrested Mi- Michael Dunn, who is Adams’ attorney, Jacie
Oneida County Sheriff Rob result in a safe, world-class chael Adams, 27, on suspi- white, was later convicted Cotterell, told the judge at
Maciol told the crowd it festival,” Peck said in a pre- cion of first-degree murder of first-degree murder in his initial appearance hear-
would be impossible to en- pared release. The festival in the early Thursday morn- that earlier killing, a shoot- ing that her client was men-
sure public safety on such has faced other setbacks, ing killing. Adams had been ing that erupted during an tally ill and released with-
short notice. including the losses of a fi- released from state prison argument about loud mu- out any medication, “no
The Vernon Downs race- nancial partner and a pro- two days before. sic coming from a car car- holdover meds, no way to
track and casino emerged duction company. q “Another one of our chil- rying Davis and three other care for himself.”q