Melody Ross Murder: Students Shocked by Witness Intimidation Charges Against Classmates
LONG BEACH, Calif. (CBS/AP) While school administrators have been quiet about the recent arrests of two girls accused of witness intimidation in the Melody Ross shooting death, police, students and teachers have proclaimed hatred will not be tolerated in their school.
The Los Angeles Times reported that Wilson High students and faculty are grieving over the loss of Ross and are shocked that two students at the school have been arrested for
intimidating witnesses.
The two teenage girls were arrested Friday at school for making "verbal and nonverbal" threats to witnesses in the death of Ross, an honor student. The threats were allegedly made inside and outside of court. Ross was killed after a homecoming football came last October, when she was shot during a confrontation between two gangs. Police say she was an innocent bystander.
The two girls arrested, ages 16 and 17, went to a Long Beach courtroom and allegedly flashed gang sings during the pretrial hearing for two teenage boys charged in Ross's death. They were thrown out of the courtroom, said Long Beach Police Cmdr. Laura Farinella of the gangs and violent crimes division.
Charges have not yet been filed, but when they are the teens will go to juvenile court.
Principal Sandy Blazer said since the death of Ross, "Our school has become such a tight-knit group since that tragedy by standing up against violence and hate," reported the Times. Students in the high school hung signs in the windows saying, "Hate is not welcome at our School."
Ross was 16-years-old at the time of her death.
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Melody Ross: A Tragic Death
MORE ON CRIMESIDERApril 26, 2010 - Melody Ross Murder: Girls Arrested for Alleged Witness Intimidation in Honor Student Shooting Death