Thread: 1st game for L.A. High since star was killed

1st game for L.A. High since star was killed
From wire reports
Article Launched: 09/12/2008 06:56:59 AM PDT

WILMINGTON - Los Angeles High School's football team will play Banning High in Wilmington tonight, marking the L.A.'s first game since losing star running back Jamiel Shaw in a gang attack.

Shaw, a model student who had drawn recruiting interest from Stanford and Rutgers, was fatally shot March 2, three doors from his Arlington Heights home. An illegal immigrant fresh out of jail pulled the trigger, according to prosecutors.

Yesterday, Shaw's teammates marched from school to the place where he was shot, chanting his nickname "JShaw, JShaw, JShaw."

His slaying prompted a drive to place an initiative on the March 2009 ballot that would enable Los Angeles police to arrest gang members who are in the country illegally, even if they have not committed other crimes.

Shaw's parents also were in Washington, D.C., recently in an attempt to get federal authorities to take charge of the illegal immigration problem in the Southwest.

Since 1979, the LAPD has operated under Special Order 40, which bars officers from stopping people for the sole purpose of determining their immigration status.

Suspect Pedro Espinoza is a member of the 18th Street Gang and was in the country illegally, authorities said. He is scheduled to be arraigned Nov. 19.

The shooting occurred just one day after Espinoza had been released from county jail, where he had been serving time for assault with a deadly weapon, Detective Mark Holguin said.

Shaw rushed for 1,052 yards and 10 touchdowns in 2007, and was named as the Southern League's most valuable player.

"Jamiel was everything to us," Romans coach Hardy Williams told the Los Angeles Times this week. "We can't replace him."

A moment of silence in Shaw's memory is expected before the game.

On Thursday, the Los Angeles High team marched approximately the mile- and-a-half from its campus to the shooting scene.

"It was a matter of respect," Williams told The Times. "I wanted them to show respect for the memory of Jamiel, but also for the team family that he would want them to become."

The 17-year-old Shaw's funeral drew hundreds of mourners, including Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa.

"Jamiel Shaw represented the hope and opportunity of so many young people in our city," Villaraigosa said. "He was not only a star athlete, he was a star human being as well. He was a model for his peers. He worked hard, according to his coach. He played by the rules and set himself on a course toward college and a limitless future.

"He was gunned down by someone who was close in age but who took a different path."
http://www.dailybreeze.com/ci_10446274

So Sad on this family and community.

The 17-year-old Shaw's funeral drew hundreds of mourners, including Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa.

"Jamiel Shaw represented the hope and opportunity of so many young people in our city," Villaraigosa said. "He was not only a star athlete, he was a star human being as well. He was a model for his peers. He worked hard, according to his coach. He played by the rules and set himself on a course toward college and a limitless future.

Jamiel Shaw rest in peace child; we Americans are fighting for you and others.

Have they reached 74K signatures on their petition?