| Shooting victims newly wed
Karen Hucks; The News Tribune
"They were trying to study and change their lives for their children," Howard's step-grandmother, Judy Broadhurst, said tearfully Wednesday. "But they never got a chance to before they were killed." Tacoma police said Howard, 21, and Chase, 22, were shot "execution style" - each in the back of the head - about 6:30 p.m. Tuesday as they sat in an idling car near South 17th Street and Grant Avenue. The killer got away despite a police search. Chase had a gang affiliation and an extensive criminal background, police spokesman Jim Mattheis said Wednesday. Howard had only a minor criminal run-in in her past, he said. A friend said the two had been married only about two weeks. Broadhurst said she learned of the marriage, which Howard kept to herself, on Dec. 22 when Chase's mother told other congregation members at the Kingdom Hall. "When I saw them together at the Kingdom Hall they were very cute," Broadhurst said. "He put his arm around her. He was very concerned about her. And she was smiling." Howard's family didn't know Chase well, but knew that his father had died a number of years ago. Chase has two small children. No one from Chase's family could be reached Wednesday. Family members and friends remembered Howard as a beautiful, soft-spoken young woman who loved God and her family. She loved to dance, listen to music and laugh, they said. Howard worked as a secretary at Geiger Elementary School while she raised her two-year-old son, Albert. She had graduated in 2000 from Lincoln High School, where she sang in the choir. Jamease Howard, 14, said she looked up to her sister. "She was a very nice person, and she was energetic," Jamease said. Friend Maria Kramer likewise admired Howard. "She was a single mom, and she did such a good job raising her son," Kramer said. "She was strong." In the fall, Howard spent long days at the hospital comforting her aunt, whose baby was born prematurely and died. "She would go out of her way to help anybody," Broadhurst said. "She was always looking out for the well-being of the family. She wanted to make sure we were all OK." Broadhurst said that in November, she and her husband started to worry about changes they saw in Howard, but they didn't know what was going on in her life. "Despite the things she was going through, she still put family first," Broadhurst said. Karen Hucks: 253-597-8660 [email protected] (Published 12:30AM, January 2nd, 2003) | |||
Shooting victims newly wed
by Matty 11 Replies latest social current
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Matty
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pettygrudger
This is really sad - senseless violence!! It sounds as if this young couple were really trying to put their lives on the right track (even if it was in a cult). My sympathies to their families - this must be so difficult for them. I wonder where "their god" was that day?
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Matty
I wonder where "their god" was that day?
Too true Rhonda. That highlights to me that the "experiences" that we hear at conventions where Witnesses "escape certain death" by praying or "Calling upon the name of Jehovah" in various ways are grossly insulting to anyone who has lost a relative under tragic circumstances.
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Simon
Yes, if he's credited with anything 'good' then surely he should also take the rap for the bad stuff ... and there is a lot of bad stuff.
Anytime any innocent person suffers at the hands of another is a tragedy.
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Xander
And you know how the rumor mill turns.
Dunno why, but....
Well, you know what the first thing the gossips at the hall will be saying.
Gossiper 1: "Obviously, they weren't THAT strong in the truth, or god would have protected them"
Gossiper 2: "You heard he had a gang affiliation? Why would they just be sitting in their car alone?"
Gossiper 1: "Maybe he was going back to his old ways - if they had been at home studying, they would have been protected!"
blahblahblah.
If it's good news, it's god's work.
If it's bad news, they must not have been faithful enough.
It it's bad news, and their surviving family is popular in the congregation, it must be satan's work.
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TheOldHippie
Matty stated that, "That highlights to me that the "experiences" that we hear at conventions where Witnesses "escape certain death" by praying or "Calling upon the name of Jehovah" in various ways are grossly insulting to anyone who has lost a relative under tragic circumstances."
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I so agree, Matty, I so agree. Things are falling into pieces here, but still we are told about strawberries and fish in abundance to ensure people could make it to the conventions - while for my part, we are only experiencing tragedy.
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Matty
((((((TheOldHippie))))))
This was something that always bothered me as everyone in the Assembly hall clapped like performing seals to these ridiculous "experiences"!
I have just spotted a follow-up to this story BTW:
Slain man's sister stresses his faith, positive efforts
Stefano Esposito; The News Tribune
Elizabeth Williams spits out her words in a breathless tirade.
Dealing with her brother's murder is bad enough, but seeing media reports emphasizing his criminal past is too much to stomach, she said.
Williams prefers to remember Paul "P.J." Chase as a young man who, though not perfect, had worked diligently in recent months to develop his talents and become a good, God-centered father.
A prayer vigil to remember Chase and his wife - both shot execution-style last week as they sat in an idling car in Tacoma - is set for 6 p.m. Tuesday at New Direction Church of God by Faith, 1554 S. Grant St., in Tacoma.
Chase had recently returned to the faith of his youth, Williams said. Chase and his wife, Jamaica Howard, worshiped together at the Kingdom Hall of Jehovah's Witnesses in Tacoma.
"We always thought that he would be a preacher some day," Williams recalled Sunday. "He'd put his arm around you and say, 'It's going to be OK. God's going to take care of you.'"
Chase grew up in Tacoma but also lived in California and Colorado, Williams said.
Police have said Chase had a lengthy criminal history, but Williams attributes that to youthful indiscretion.
"If you know anything about a teenager, teenagers can make a mistake," Williams said.
Williams said she didn't know what her brother had been doing to earn a living, but she said he was hoping to develop his talent for stand-up comedy.
"He would be telling a story about something, and you couldn't stop laughing," Williams said.
Chase had performed for friends and family and was perhaps hoping to perform professionally, she said.
Chase had three children, ages 3, 2 and 1, all from the same domestic partner, Williams said.
Stefano Esposito: 253-597-8644
[email protected]
(Published 12:30AM, January 6th, 2003) -
TheOldHippie
Some news stories have been troublesome to me in this respect: 1. When half a Spanish congregation, including children, were burned to death inside of a bus after a trip, and the heat was so intense that observers could not get close to the bus, but had to watch the children screaming and banging at the windows while frying. 1. The Lillelid story, where a family starts an informal witnessing when returning home from a convention, and this results in their being tortured and satanistically butchered. 3. The woman having her child cut out from her womb. 4. The car crashes recently reported.
There is a discrepancy between this and the woman whose strawberries grew so plentiful and big that people came from near and far to observe them, and the amount she got from the sales was enough for them to get to the convention. The French fishing vessel captain who did not go out fishing because he went to the convention, and the crew growing angry, but then in Peter - like - manner they went out after the convention and caught a record - breaking amount of fish.
Why strawberries and fish, but not rescuing children burning to death?
Why are some floating thru life problem - free, while some of us only witness sickness and death and tragedy and abuse?
Where is He? Why intervening in what at times seem to be small cases, but allowing others decades of suffering?
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Scully
Something struck me as very odd about the latest news article:
A prayer vigil to remember Chase and his wife - both shot execution-style last week as they sat in an idling car in Tacoma - is set for 6 p.m. Tuesday at New Direction Church of God by Faith, 1554 S. Grant St., in Tacoma.
The couple were both attending the KH together:
Chase had recently returned to the faith of his youth, Williams said. Chase and his wife, Jamaica Howard, worshiped together at the Kingdom Hall of Jehovah's Witnesses in Tacoma.
but why is the memorial service being held, NOT at the Kingdom Hall where they worshiped together, but at New Direction Church of God by Faith???
I wonder what isn't being said about their status among JWs.
Love, Scully
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TheOldHippie
The prayer vigil is arranged by someone else, not by the witnesses, so there is no problem in the text.