superdave1984
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Found this in the local paper. Scary stuff.
Game celebration turns dangerous as UC man robbed on NWTNTODAY.COM
Game celebration turns dangerous as UC man robbed
John Brannon Messenger Staff Reporter
By JOHN BRANNON
Messenger Staff Reporter
Byron Wards voice quivers as you might expect when he tells of being kidnapped and robbed at gunpoint on historic Beale Street after the Tennessee-University of Memphis basketball game late Saturday in Memphis.
I thought they were going to kill me. I begged them not to, the 23-year-old University of Tennessee at Knoxville junior told The Messenger today.
The incident happened about 11:15 p.m. Saturday in downtown Memphis near the FedEx Forum, where the national spotlight game featuring the No. 1 Memphis Tigers against the No. 2 Tennessee Volunteers was played before a boisterous sellout crowd.
Ward, son of Mark and Sheila Ward of Union City, attended the game with several friends. After the game, about 11 p.m., he separated from his friends and was leaving Silky OSullivans near Beale Street to return to his motel. That is when he was accosted.
The crime, he said, was committed even though Beale was heavily jammed by a large crowd.
A guy came up and put his arm around me like he knew me, Ward said. He shuffled me into an alleyway. I shoved him off me and asked him what he wanted. He pulled up his shirt, revealed a gun and told me to keep my (expletive) mouth shut and keep on walking which I did. He was right behind me all the time. Every time I said anything, he told me to keep my mouth shut.
He walked me to a vacant lot behind some houses in a residential neighborhood. There were four others waiting there.
A total of five people participated in the crime. Ward described them as black and in their mid-20s or early 30s.
The guy who originally got me held me at gunpoint while they went through my shirt, shoes and pockets, Ward said. They took $200 cash, my debit and credit cards, my drivers license, my watch, my cell phone and my Nike shoes, which Id paid about $100 for. I asked if I could have my ticket stubs back. They took them, set them on fire and threw them at my feet.
Once they had everything they wanted from me, they took off running. I walked back to Beale and found a cop and told him what happened. He let me sit in his patrol car because I was barefooted. I gave him a general description of where Id been taken. He went there and patroled and found my shoes in the street.
Ward said the Memphis police asked him for a description of the five, but he says he was so scared, he couldnt give a decent description.
I got the police to take me to my motel because I didnt have any money to pay a taxi, he said.
Ward returned home Sunday. One of the first things he did was cancel his debit and credit cards and cell phone accounts. He found his debit card had already been used. There was about $400 charged to my debit card. Im not sure about the credit card, but it had been used, too. About $300 of it was for cab fares, he said. I canceled the debit card and credit card and cell phone.
He said it was the first time hed ever been held up, and the last time hell ever visit Beale Street.
The Tennessee-Memphis game was one of the greatest Ive ever been to, but the after-game experience was no fun, he said. I will never go back there again. I will never put myself in a situation like that again.
Other than the loss of personal property, Ward suffered a cut lip from the encounter.
On the way there, I tried to talk to him and he said if I didnt walk where he wanted me to walk and keep my mouth shut, he would shoot me. Well, I just wanted to be able to tell about it later, so I tried to stay cool. But it was hard to do.
Ward said hes convinced the kidnap-robbery was not an act of impulse but a plan already hatched by the assailants.
I think they had it set up well before it happened, he said. They were looking for someone to rob and I just happened to be chosen.Published in The Messenger 2.25.08
Game celebration turns dangerous as UC man robbed on NWTNTODAY.COM
Game celebration turns dangerous as UC man robbed
John Brannon Messenger Staff Reporter
By JOHN BRANNON
Messenger Staff Reporter
Byron Wards voice quivers as you might expect when he tells of being kidnapped and robbed at gunpoint on historic Beale Street after the Tennessee-University of Memphis basketball game late Saturday in Memphis.
I thought they were going to kill me. I begged them not to, the 23-year-old University of Tennessee at Knoxville junior told The Messenger today.
The incident happened about 11:15 p.m. Saturday in downtown Memphis near the FedEx Forum, where the national spotlight game featuring the No. 1 Memphis Tigers against the No. 2 Tennessee Volunteers was played before a boisterous sellout crowd.
Ward, son of Mark and Sheila Ward of Union City, attended the game with several friends. After the game, about 11 p.m., he separated from his friends and was leaving Silky OSullivans near Beale Street to return to his motel. That is when he was accosted.
The crime, he said, was committed even though Beale was heavily jammed by a large crowd.
A guy came up and put his arm around me like he knew me, Ward said. He shuffled me into an alleyway. I shoved him off me and asked him what he wanted. He pulled up his shirt, revealed a gun and told me to keep my (expletive) mouth shut and keep on walking which I did. He was right behind me all the time. Every time I said anything, he told me to keep my mouth shut.
He walked me to a vacant lot behind some houses in a residential neighborhood. There were four others waiting there.
A total of five people participated in the crime. Ward described them as black and in their mid-20s or early 30s.
The guy who originally got me held me at gunpoint while they went through my shirt, shoes and pockets, Ward said. They took $200 cash, my debit and credit cards, my drivers license, my watch, my cell phone and my Nike shoes, which Id paid about $100 for. I asked if I could have my ticket stubs back. They took them, set them on fire and threw them at my feet.
Once they had everything they wanted from me, they took off running. I walked back to Beale and found a cop and told him what happened. He let me sit in his patrol car because I was barefooted. I gave him a general description of where Id been taken. He went there and patroled and found my shoes in the street.
Ward said the Memphis police asked him for a description of the five, but he says he was so scared, he couldnt give a decent description.
I got the police to take me to my motel because I didnt have any money to pay a taxi, he said.
Ward returned home Sunday. One of the first things he did was cancel his debit and credit cards and cell phone accounts. He found his debit card had already been used. There was about $400 charged to my debit card. Im not sure about the credit card, but it had been used, too. About $300 of it was for cab fares, he said. I canceled the debit card and credit card and cell phone.
He said it was the first time hed ever been held up, and the last time hell ever visit Beale Street.
The Tennessee-Memphis game was one of the greatest Ive ever been to, but the after-game experience was no fun, he said. I will never go back there again. I will never put myself in a situation like that again.
Other than the loss of personal property, Ward suffered a cut lip from the encounter.
On the way there, I tried to talk to him and he said if I didnt walk where he wanted me to walk and keep my mouth shut, he would shoot me. Well, I just wanted to be able to tell about it later, so I tried to stay cool. But it was hard to do.
Ward said hes convinced the kidnap-robbery was not an act of impulse but a plan already hatched by the assailants.
I think they had it set up well before it happened, he said. They were looking for someone to rob and I just happened to be chosen.Published in The Messenger 2.25.08
