Homeless Man burned to death in LA

[Uzybone]

Source: NY Times

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- A homeless man died after being doused with gasoline and set on fire on a street where he had lived for many years and was a familiar face to residents of Koreatown, police and local merchants said Friday.

Police were called to Third Street west of downtown Thursday evening and found the man, who was pronounced dead at a hospital.

A man in his 20s was seen throwing gasoline on the man, chasing him, throwing more on him and running from the scene, said Deputy Chief Sergio Diaz. Scorch marks stained a wall Friday where the man was burned.

The burning horrified even officers who routinely witness violent crimes, Diaz said.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-Homeless-Man-Burned.html

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This is so brutal.

[nini]

1. This makes me sick..

:cry:

What the fuck are wrong with people in the treatment and lack of regard for the homeless?

The bastard that did this needs a bit of the same. I have no sympathy for someone could do that. :grr:

[Waiting For Everyman]

5. It's like the Brown Shirts.

[Caution]

2. WHAT. THE. FUCK.

Seriously, what the fuck is wrong with people?

[flvegan]

3. I hope life is exceedingly cruel to the miscreant that did this.

Took the only thing he had left.

[nam78_two]

4. What an awful story

Man poor, poor guy. What a horrible way to go :(....
Why would someone do something like that? I hope they catch the perpetrator..

[LeftyMom]

6. No words.

Holy shit. :cry:

[Nevernose]

7. Th homeless are less than human. Others.

Not one of us. Worthless, because they are less than us.

How many people do we know -- each and every one of us -- that deep down believe shit like that? And sometimes not so deep down.

[Regret My New Name]

21. I think most people would say the freak who did this isn't the human one...

[PJPhreak]

8. Hummmm

This is gonna sound rude but....This does not surprise me.
I was Homeless for years and am one of those who are a couple of paychecks away from living in my car at any time.This is more common (Abuse of the Homeless) than the public is aware of,Trust and believe.This is probably the main reason most homeless are totally distrusting of "Normal" people.They have been kicked in the groin,if you will,too many times.

[connecticut yankee]

33. Welcome to DU and

I sincerely hope that things get better for you.

[Realityhack]

35. Welcome to DU

Thank you for sharing your experiences. It is indeed very sad that attacks on the homeless are so common. A lot of people would do well to realize how close they are to being homeless. Unfortunately, before this financial crisis is over a lot more will probably find out (I hope not but realistically...).

[stillcool]

9. we really do have

a depraved insane society. This is what we breed.

[entanglement]

10. Horrific. Hope they catch the **@***! who did this and lock him up for life.

[MGB67]

12. As a "civilization" or a "culture" ....

perhaps our day is past.

Even if that were true, I will do everything I can to help Obama rebuild it.

I think that we all will.

[Dem2theMax]

11. I too, have no words.

:cry:

[defendandprotect]

13. When is the Enlightenment coming . . . ????

[ThomCat]

14. How arrogant and shallow can someone be

to think they are justified or entitled to do something like this. What kind of warped mind could think that this is a good thing to do?

:cry:

There had to be witnesses. I'll bet this sick monster is laughing and bragging about it to friends, proud of himself for cleaning up the street or something.

It is almost always assholes who have been given almost everything, and who never experienced any serious trouble without a lot of help who think they are all high and mighty.

Shit like this really pisses me off. I've been homeless. I've been powerless. I'm very vulnerable. And monsters out there think that it's fun to light weak people on fire.

:(

[VP505]

25. I hope he does brag to his friends and anyone that will listen,

it will be that much quicker that he'll get caught.

[xchrom]

15. recommend

[last1standing]

16. Leaving the scene, the young man was heard to say "McCain/Palin 2008".

I really don't mean to be flippant but this is exactly the kind of sick fuck that mcsame and his bloodlusting running mate have been catering to this last week. Once hatred is made acceptable it's extremely hard to turn back.

My condolences to everyone in Koreatown who I'm sure will miss this man.

[Karl_Bonner_1982]

18. Which is why the brown shirts need a fucking good kicking before it's too late. NT.

[scarface2004]

17. leave the poor homeless guy alone please!

a couple of more bad breaks and it could be me or you begging on a street corner....thank your lucky stars its not!

[last1standing]

20. What the fuck are you talking about? No one here has said anything bad about the homeless.

Unless I've completely misread your post, you need to reread this thread and understand that we're all sick about what happened to this poor man.

[dakdirty]

19. A terrible, horrific act.

Here in Broward Cty, FL, we had a somewhat similar case wherein some teenagers beat a homeless man to death. This evokes in me the same feeling I had then; despair over the cruelty we can inflict on each other. The perpetrator should be locked up for life, as killing him would waste an opportunity to examine the factors that would have contributed to such a violent and deranged outburst.

[tularetom]

22. Every time I read shit like this I have to tell myself I oppose the death penalty

because each time I see a story like this it gets harder and harder to say I still oppose it.

I'd gladly flip the switch to fry the asshole that did this.

[JimDandy]

23. Horrifically sad.

[Haole Girl]

24. This is a perfect example of why I truly believe...

..if there were only two human beings left on the face of the planet, one would then kill the other.

:-(

[Cronopio]

26. Not if two intelligent human beings like us were the only ones.

If they were conservative limbots, I wouldn't give them five seconds before they took each other out.

[Haole Girl]

39. I would hope not

Sometimes I just wonder about people.

[Darth Lenore]

27. This happened to my cousin too.

In Columbus, OH. He had some really bad on-again-off-again drug problems and periodically he would drop out of contact with the family. During one of those times, he was sleeping in this little shanty town kind of place where a lot of other homeless people go, and some sociopath went through and set him and a bunch of other homeless people on fire. My cousin died.


The guy was undeniably fucked up, in spite of all of our efforts. But he didn't deserve that. He was a human being, with his own life and his own dreams and he still had a chance to turn things around for the better right up until that moment when that monster stole it all from him for some sick thrill.


My heart goes out to the friends and family of the man in LA.

[shrike]

37. I'm so sorry for your loss.

Hell, if it did exist, wouldn't even have a place to put people like this.

[Darth Lenore]

41. Thank you.

This happened a long time ago, but it never stops sucking.

[zonkers]

28. L.A. has some crazy gangs. That is a dense neighborhood in transition.

[harmonicon]

32. I doubt that gangs did this

I have several friends that live in that neighbourhood, and have spent a lot of time there.... I was never worried about gangs, and I don't see what gangs could have to do with this. It is a neighbourhood in transition, but I don't think it's a place where gang activity or violence on a whole are increasing.

[zonkers]

36. K-Town/ Pico Union/Westlake/Mac Park/EchoPark/Hoover St.-- totally gang infested and the

fact that these areas are in transition and converge on each other puts even more pressure on gangs to assert their presence. Nevertheless, I am not necessarily saying this act was a gang act but I would not be surprised if this perp was a gang member wannabe or has has had some gang experience.

[nini]

40. That's not typical gang activity

They are more concerned with getting each other, drug sales etc..

'Random' acts of violence like that are normally in their agenda.

.

[jrockford]

29. W...T....F???

[jillan]

30. Unbelievably horrific and heartbreaking.

How could one human being do that to another?

[heliarc]

31. I hope they find the sick asshole who did that.

And I hope someone looks him in the eye and shames him till he cries.

Fool. Mark my words. This is the kind of sentiment and hatred against the poor and dispossessed that we are seeing spring up all over this country in response to Obama's successes. It may not be directly about this election, but the fear and hatred of monstrous fascism is just behind the bars and McCain is toying with lock keeping it in.

[Realityhack]

34. LIFE IN PRISON. - I hope they catch the guy who did it. n/t

[KillCapitalism]

38. In Nazi Germany it was the Jews that were treated like this.

In 21st century America it's the homeless. I know many here are not in favor of the death penalty, but the perpetrator in this case should get that. Killing him will prevent him from murdering others again.