Willis-Starbuck killer caught
From the AP:
Christopher Lester Hollis, 22, was arrested in Fresno after a traffic stop Friday night, Berkeley police Lt. Wesley Hester said.
Meleia Willis-Starbuck, 19, a Dartmouth College student home for the summer, was slain July 17 on a Berkeley street, moments after calling Hollis for help as she and some friends argued with a group of young men. Police said she told Hollis to “bring the heat” - meaning bring a gun. (see Calstuff post)
Authorities believe that when Hollis arrived, he fired at the men from a car, unintentionally shooting Willis-Starbuck.
Glad to know that fugitives like to hit up fresno after they kill someone.
Comment by Fresno native — September 25, 2005 @ 7:19 pm
you would think that someone on the run from the cops would have enough sense to drive safely and, like, not hit other cars?
Comment by captain anonymous — September 25, 2005 @ 8:26 pm
never underestimate the idiocy of the common criminal
Comment by Anonymous — September 25, 2005 @ 10:43 pm
Now that Hollis is in custody, the police will probably reveal that W-S was not the only person he shot that night. A bullet grazed the wrist/arm of one of the men W-S was still arguing with while her friends were trying to get her to leave with them. I’m not sure why the cops kept that quiet, except that maybe the fact would reveal the man’s identity. Unlike JonP, the police wisely understood that as long as the killer was out there, it was not a good thing to identify the men. There was a concern that Hollis knew his life is over and that he is the one who killed his close, close friend — and with nothing left to lose, he might try to take out the men she argued with before he was caught. But now we realize more and more that this guy is just too stupid. Fresno? That’s as far as he went to hide? Fresno? And then to get jammed up and caught by driving crazy? Should Hollis be put away for murder or for stupidity?
And while Hollis’ mother must love her baby boy, she is wacked when she says people should not assume he’s guility just because he ran. This guy did it. She says he is young and scared, but that’s bullshit. He may only be 19 but he’s already a convicted felon with a lot of resisting arrests violations on his record. Every time he screws up, this guy runs.
Comment by Insider — September 26, 2005 @ 9:54 am
It’s clear to everyone that the whole thing was just due to a little misunderstanding…tempers flared a bit after a long day, and, shucks, the witnesses are pretty a little confused. I suggest the whole matter be dropped and we put it behind us and do our best to learn from the experience. They’re all good kids, who just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Coulda happened to anyone, to any Dartmouth undergrad.
Comment by anonymous — September 26, 2005 @ 11:46 am
I can see why you wanted to remain anonymous with a comment like that.
Comment by thomas — September 26, 2005 @ 12:15 pm
what is it about my comment that bothers you?
Sorry, but I’m tired of reading about ‘good kids’ getting shot on a street corner at 3:00 in the morning. Just happened last weekend, not that you really give a crap. Can you believe it, 3:00 in the a.m. He was 15. ‘Good kid’. The cops always trot that one — he was a good kid — in order to not hurt anyone’s feelings, and everyone looks the other way and pretends not to see. An unfortunate series of events culminating in death by falling asteroid. Just bad luck. Could have happened to anyone. The hard truth is that the jerks who provoked her should have been kicked off campus– honestly they don’t belong at the school if they are indeed enrolled, Price and his buddy are career criminals and Starbuck, a pacifist no less (what a charade, but one that plays well in Berkeley and Hanover) is accessory to her own murder and if she had survived the night, and if someone else had died, she would have belonged in jail too, if the ‘heat’ comment is true. It boggles the mind that anyone could donate to whatever stupid fund they’ve got in her name. And if you don’t see it, you’re stupid too.
Comment by anonymous — September 26, 2005 @ 5:09 pm
I guess I just skimmed your first post and didnt catch the sarcasm, about them being all good kids. I dont have much sympathy for any of them, the guy who killed her especially.
Comment by thomas — September 26, 2005 @ 5:17 pm
Actually, my posting anonymously IS part of the problem. No one can talk honestly about it. No one will touch it. Keep your head down and go back to reading the paper.
Comment by anonymous — September 26, 2005 @ 8:04 pm
if she were white from the OC you can bet they’d be saying she had it coming, living a life of priveldge and not knowing how things really are
they’d also find a way to make themselves victims
Comment by Anonymous — September 27, 2005 @ 1:35 am
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/09/27/BAG4OEU9T71.DTL
Comment by anon — September 27, 2005 @ 8:37 am
Correction on above posting — Hollis is 22. Which makes his mother’s argument that he’s just young and confused even less convincing.
And the confusion between whether he was captured at a traffic stop or at a friend’s apartment is now settled. The story is that he and his 33 year old girlfriend that was harboring him, got pulled over because she ran a stop sign. Neither had id and the police took them to the station and ran the fake names they were using thru the compputers. Nothing came back, but they also fingerprinted Hollis. Because the police computer was backed up with other cases, the fingerprints were not run until later, when they got a match on Hollis who, of course, is in their system since he’s a convicted felon. I’m not sure how they knew where the girlfriend is living — one story says the pair were dropped off at their apartment by the police after being detained — but the bottom line is that Hollis knows he was fingerprinted, knows that it was just a matter of time, and the fool still stayed around. Someone ought to write “IDIOT” in big letters with a magic marker across his forehead. They fingerprinted him but didn’t have the chance to run them, so he just assumes they never will run the prints? He doesn’t remember being convicted and arrested and fingerprinted several times?
And then the capture took place. Big brave protector of women was cowering in a closet behind a baby carriage when the police found him.
The girlfriend is being charged with harboring a fugitive — I hope she gets the full charge and penalty.
And the news on the second shooting victim has now been released by the cops.
Comment by Insider — September 27, 2005 @ 9:59 am
What’s ‘OC’? ‘the OC’?
Comment by anonymous — September 27, 2005 @ 10:10 am
OC is a term used by people who watch too many bad teenaged soap operas and is as laughable as someone saying “Frisco” — it just shows you don’t live there.
Comment by Anon — September 27, 2005 @ 10:22 am