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Post by Blaque on Nov 17, 2006 11:04:52 GMT -5
Iverson Pays Funeral Costs for Shooting Victim By Tracy Stokes, BET.com Staff Writer & Wire Servies
Posted Nov. 16, 2006 –Philadelphia teenager Kevin Johnson, shot three years ago while sporting an Allen Iverson jersey, died Tuesday after being taken off life support. He will now be buried wearing his hero’s colors, and the NBA all star will be paying for the funeral.
In 2003, Johnson, now 22, refused to hand over his basketball jersey to a group of teens who approached him while he was waiting for a trolley.
One of the teens, Robert Ferguson, who is serving a 15- to 30-year prison sentence for the incidence, shot Johnson in the back of the neck. The shooting left Johnson paralyzed, wheelchair bound and led to him being put on a ventilator. Last week, the ventilator malfunctioned, causing Johnson to suffer brain damage due to lack of oxygen.
Johnson, who had forgiven his attackers and even befriended one of them, according his mother, Janice Jackson-Burke, was taken off life support Monday night.
"It was time for Kevin to go home," Jackson-Burke told The Philadelphia Daily News.
When Iverson contacted Jackson-Burke, and she told him how much her son loved him and the Sixers.
"If they were that serious about that jersey, I would have given them 100 jerseys if they wanted it," Iverson said. "It was just tough, just to see somebody die for something senseless like that, over a jersey, over something material."
Johnson's five assailants could face more serious charges. After the medical examiner determines the cause of Johnson's death, prosecutors will decide whether a homicide charge is appropriate.
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sweetpie
B.E. Staff Sergeant
Posts: 2,081
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Post by sweetpie on Nov 19, 2006 6:35:17 GMT -5
Oh that poor boy... Five of them tried to take A Jersey? What can I say that we don't already know?
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Post by Blaque on Nov 19, 2006 20:16:02 GMT -5
I know sweetpie. It's really senseless.
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