Please read the following news report, and my comments below:
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http://www.myfoxdetroit.com/dpp/news/local/police-man-dead-after-answering-craigslist-ad-for-atv-20100729-wpms
Police: Man Dead after Answering Craigslist Ad for ATV
Updated: Friday, 30 Jul 2010, 8:18 AM EDT
Published : Thursday, 29 Jul 2010, 6:24 PM EDT
By ROBIN MURDOCH
myFOXDetroit.com
SHELBY TOWNSHIP, Mich. - A warning about the dangers involving Craigslist.org . It comes after two men thought they were answering an ad for an ATV. Now, one of those men is dead.
A lot of people turn to Craigslist for a good deal on anything from apartments to appliances, but Wednesday that decision turned deadly for a Shelby Township man.
Police say around 6:30 p.m., two men from Shelby Township went to a house on the 17000 block of Sunderland in Detroit to check out an ATV. They apparently saw a listing for that ATV on the popular website Craigslist.
Police say the men spoke to the supposed seller of that ATV, who said he needed a ride to go get the keys. In the car, investigators say that seller shot and killed one of the Shelby Township men. They say he then tried to shoot the other man, but he was able to get away. The seller then ditched the car near Greenview and Curtis in Detroit. Police found it with the victim still inside.
We're told police are still searching for the suspect in this bizarre shooting. Meanwhile, family and friends of the victim are working to raise money to pay for funeral expenses.
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I knew the man who was murdered. He was a truck driver. The family was barely getting by when he was alive (and I think that statement is being generous), and now that he's dead they've now lost everything. He left behind a wife and four children. The irony is that he went along with his friend in hopes that something like this wouldn't happen.
To be frank, I'm asking for your help.
A trust fund for the family has been set up for the children and (I think) to pay for funeral expenses. I could post it here, but I think that SteveR and CBID might take issue with that. Secondly, the killer has not been caught, and is currently on the loose, which is why the name of the person was not mentioned in the news story above. So, I'm taking some preliminary precautions here given that this is a wide-open public forum.
If you would like to donate to the trust fund, please send me an e-mail. I'll send the trust-fund address (which is being handled by a respectable financial institution here in Michigan) in a reply. I'm fairly familiar with the CBID regulars, the MMMH, and I know where most of them live and other contact information (boy, that sounds ominous), and I know who is generally safe.
If you choose to donate, and I don't know who you are, don't get upset if I don't respond to you right away. The delay will probably be because I'll be looking around to see if someone here can vouch for you.
Whatever you may think of me or what I post here, I ask you to please set that aside. This family was just barely hanging on by their fingernails before all of this happened. Their future, as of now, is uncertain to say the least. And yes, I've already donated money.
I know these are lean times, but even the smallest donation will help.
My e-mail address is:
jpfordguy*at*yahoo*dot*com.
Please include your CBID user id in the e-mail somewhere.
Thanks in advance. Any prayers you can send to the Alimighty will be appreciated.
