Tifton arrest reflect chasm
Police: Attackers 'vicious criminals'
By BILL TORPY
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 10/06/05
TIFTON - The bludgeoning and shooting deaths of six Hispanics were,
officials said, "some of the most vicious the state of Georgia has
witnessed."
In announcing the arrests of three people from his county Wednesday,
Colquitt County Sheriff Al Whittington made an oft-uttered, almost
clich=E9d statement: "We're not accustomed to things like this taking
place in our community; it happens somewhere else." He then added,
"Regretfully, times have changed."
BILLY SMITH II/AJC
(ENLARGE)
Efraim Navarro Gomez (front) talks about his escape from a trailer
where his roommates were attacked, as Filiberto Hernandez (back left)
and Cecil Delapaz listen. Gomez says he fled the trailer when he heard
his roommates' screams.
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Whittington was referring to the savagery of four early-morning home
invasions Friday, in which attackers burst into trailers and started
beating Hispanics with an aluminum bat as they slept.
Stacy Bernard Sims, 19; Jamie Deamtrive Underwood, 27; and Jennifer
Wilson, 26, all of Moultrie, on Wednesday were charged with six counts
of murder each. The two men were arrested Sunday, and Wilson was
arrested Tuesday night.
Times have changed, as the sheriff noted.
Hispanics are arriving in South Georgia just as agricultural and
factory jobs are disappearing. The influx has caused a new wrinkle in
the always difficult issue of race relations in the South.
Savanah Marin, a Hispanic woman born in the United States who lives in
Tifton, said Hispanics have been targeted with both violence and
accusations.
"We hear that we are invading their country; there's a lot of prejudice
in South Georgia," she said.
Much of it, she said, comes from those who themselves have been
victims: African-Americans.
"The Mexicans get bullied by blacks a lot - at work, at school," said
Marin, as her mother, Diane Rodriguez, nodded in agreement. "Hispanics
are afraid of the blacks. The bad crimes are blamed on blacks."
The suspects in the four home invasions are all black, as are the
suspects in dozens more in the past years.
Courtney Gear, 29, is black and lives in the same Tifton mobile home
park where three men were killed. He sometimes hears resentment of
Hispanics.
"Some people are like, 'They are taking these jobs,' that this is bad,"
said Gear, who is unemployed. "But they don't take a job from me."
Mutual resentment
Gear said the killings are having other ramifications. "When we walk
around in the trailer park, they look at us funny, like we had
something to do with this."
Tifton resident Dustin Kelley, who is black, said he doesn't harbor bad
feelings against Hispanics and doesn't hear widespread resentment.
"They're cool with me," he said. "They keep to themselves. If they're
willing to do the job, they can do it. I felt bad about this. They're
people just like we are."
Authorities repeatedly have said they don't believe these are so-called
hate crimes. Instead, these were very violent robberies.
Asked why there was such a level of violence, Georgia Bureau of
Investigation director Vernon Keenan responded: "This is a question law
enforcement officers are asking themselves. We are dealing with vicious
criminals, and they are preying on weak people."
Potential positives
Investigators said that Hispanics often keep large amounts of cash
because they cannot get bank accounts and they are often reluctant to
report the crimes because they either are illegal immigrants or don't
trust police.
Efraim Navarro Gomez, a 25-year-old Nicaraguan in the country for just
a month, said he was asleep in his bedroom in a Tift County trailer
when he heard his roommates' screams. He ran from the trailer but has
been torn up with guilt since. One of his roommates was killed, and
another was hospitalized.
"I felt [their] families would think I'm guilty, because I survived and
they didn't," he said through an interpreter. "I still can't get that
out of my mind."
He said he pounded on neighbors' doors but could not get anyone to
answer.
Filiberto Hernandez, a minister who interpreted for Gomez, said the
crimes may have some benefits. Residents may realize "we are part of
this community. We need understanding."
Hernandez said the Hispanic community is organizing a silent procession
for Saturday night in Tifton but he hopes residents of all races join
in.
Authorities said the investigation is continuing and more arrests for
these and other attacks may happen. They would not give details about
how they came upon the suspects arrested since Friday.
Whittington said: "We started with [composite] sketches from the GBI
and then got leads from the community. You can hide a lot easier in
Atlanta than you can in Norman Park [a tiny town near Moultrie, where
Sims' family lives in a trailer on a sandy road].
"Hopefully this has opened doors within the Hispanic community and
started some trust with them."
Lashondra Gamble, the cousin of suspect Underwood, can't believe he
could have done this crime. She said he is an easygoing man who gets
along with everyone.
Gamble said Underwood was laid off a couple months ago and recently had
worked in the fields alongside Hispanics.
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