Approximately 20 activists held a candlelight vigil in front of the Marshall Center on the USF campus in Tampa Saturday night, speaking out against the death of 17-year-old Jordan Davis, a black teenager who was shot by an older white man in Jacksonville last month in a situation that has echoes of the Trayvon Martin case.
Davis, who was buried Saturday morning in Georgia, was shot and killed by 45-year-old Michael David Dunn on November 23 outside a convenience store parking lot.
The violence occurred after Dunn asked a group of black youths (including Davis) to turn down loud music emanating from their SUV. Dunn has said that he felt threatened when Jordan began trash-talking to him. He then fired eights shot into the SUV after he says that one of the people in the SUV brandished a shotgun. However, police found no weapons on the scene.
"I’m appalled by the deplorable actions of Mr. Dunn the night he gunned down and killed Jordan Davis," Students for a Democratic Society's Dani Leppo said. "Unfortunately, racially motivated crimes like this is not news…I firmly believe Mr. Dunn would not have repeatedly shot at that car if those boys were white. Furthermore, I find some serious doubts about Dunn’s alibi."
This article appears in Nov 29 – Dec 5, 2012.