UPDATED: Man killed, body dumped in Oak Cliff Church’s Chicken parking lot

Rick Yost says:

Well they won't be driving the car around...the boy died for his rims.

As much as I like to complain about the homeless situation in Dallas, I think we need to focus our law-enforcement on other problems in the city. Things seem to be getting out of hand.

Pavel Lishin says:

Rick, the Dallas PD is lowering its hiring standards. I think I see a solution in the making!

Rawlins Gilliland says:

I have written before; it would mean the world to me if, when we read these stories,.... and we do all the time... can we PLEASE recognize that this was a human, someone real, not a script piece for CSI or otherwise. Many times we are so used to reading these things...and assuming that such tragedies could never happen to us... that we assume the worst, respond in flip and careless ways; humor, even jokes.

Ironically I just re-read a piece I aired on NPR two years ago, about finding a suicide in the woods, a young man. I write how the police, etc. (because this was sadly routine to them), all stood there and spoke of him like he was not real or human. How meanwhile, I was fighting tears for someone I never knew.

A lot of people DID know this young man.

I promise you, these annonymous victims are always someone who deserves to be honored, however in passing we might do so. Just for a second, know that someone died, and many suffer. Thanks cesib for giving him a name.

Rick Yost says:

I mourn this young man's death (whom I did not know) just as much as I mourn those family members and friends I have lost.
Just as much as I do those who've died in Iraq, Katrina, the street, and the emergency room.

However, we discuss daily news items here! People die everyday.
If you can't be a bit flippant about death, then you'll be sobbing all day long. It's depressing, but it's done.

If I walk out in front of a truck, I would hope those that tolerated me in life, would not mourn my death- but remember how I lived!
Oh, and learn from me- don't walk out in front of a truck!

Rawlins Gilliland says:

The choice in life should not be between becoming aloof or being a howling wimp; it is between being self possessed and maintaining a mannered character.

When was the last time someone died in Iraq that any of us would feel free to make cracks about him being dumb enough to have been in that Humvee on that road or that the Army was allowing fools to enlist? No one knee-jerks when they hear about war casualties as if those persons have no loved left behind, children, mothers. Why treat a drive-by shooting victim differently? Recently a woman was found dead in her car (still running) on I-175 Hawn near Bexar. Was I catatonic with pious hand wringing depression? Was I making jokes at the water cooler or posting online? Neither. I was simply sorry it happened and respectful. Cognizant. And oh yes; like with Mr. Villegas, hoping sincerely that the killer is captured.

All of us who read Pegasus are encouraged to comment on news stories. My intended point was to not 1) auto assume that what you've heard was the 'story' was 'the' story, which in this case it clearly was not since they now believe the actual murderer was a friend in the car and that car-jacking is not even in the equation as was reported by one and all media 2) respect that the man behind the counter at that dry cleaners or that kid in that drive by shooting or this 20 yr old father who was eating chicken in a car he was proud of......... actually died. And save our jokes, cracks and premature opinions for the myriad other news stories where there is no violent crime victim being reduced to fodder for our wit...which when posted can be (however unintentionally) unfair, hurtful.

I feel exactly the same way about the re-playing of 911 calls...where we hear in the background the screams as someone is shot. Why is that some tragedy I need to be streaming... the personal nightmare moment of a person dying. Watching the videos of a man whose chute failed to open and seeing him splat... over and over as the footage is replayed. How can this not convert us all into detached observers?

I grew up with Mad Magazine and love the Onion. Trust me, I get dark humor.
I’m just making a point to not become desensitized. And God knows I could be because I have seen a s___load of violence personally. More than most, trust me.

I'm all about being 'flippant about death'. My last commentary was called 'Dying Laughing', all personal funny stories that took place surrounding funerals. There is a difference between after-the-fact dry wit --without malice-- and detoxed indifference. I'm determined to not myself become a second-tier victim of violent times, becoming jaded simply because I am getting older. I'm after alternative coping mechanisms in a Clockwork Orange world. The best revenge today is to not cave in.

Scott Doyle says:

Rick, in sum:

His name...was Roberto Villegas. His name was Roberto Villegas.

Sorry Rawlins, this was the first thing that popped into my head and I couldn't resist.

Rick Yost says:

Well, this has become rather- 'dark'.

I was the first to post on this thread- so I feel a sense of responsibility for the way it has careened down hill.
However, in my post there was no humor implied or intended.

My first line has been made a bit more credible by the update: the car WAS found later partially stripped.
Although it does not say the rims were taken, my thought was still sound- the reason for the young man's death may have been the car itself.
I AM the guy who complains about the homeless the most, and I DO think things are getting out of hand!

I will not attempt to apologize for DC or Pavel ( not my place ) but I do think it's very natural to want to make light of a deadly situation to stave off fear.
I don't think you can read as much of the news, as most of us here surely do, and not feel a little uncomfortable with our own safety from time to time.
It's a jungle out there.
Humor just makes the wars, and disasters, and murders, and injustices a little more palatable.

For my part, no disrespect to the living or dead was intended.

Rawlins- I'm sorry sir, but you are obviously not..."all about being 'flippant about death'." And I too grew up with Alfred E. Newman, but I don't know I'd consider Mad or the Onion that dark.

I'll be very disappointed if when I die, someone on this site doesn't make the remark that: "Yost was a non-believer, so he went to hell, and now he's living the life of a homeless person in downtown Dallas!" My life was fairly heavy, make light of my dying.

Scott Doyle- "You're killin' me!"

Rawlins Gilliland says:

www.KERA.org / NPR online MP3

Commentary: Dying Laughing (2007.09.21)

"Funerals are sad occasions, but commentator Rawlins Gilliland says some have provided unintended moments of humor."

Pavel Lishin says:

Am I an insensitive jerk for mourning a dead family member more than a stranger I've never met?

Scott Doyle says:

Pavel: yes, but that's not why.

Yost: awwwwww, come now. Not a <a href="http://imdb.com/title/tt0137523/">Fight Club</a> fan?

Rick Yost says:

I like the flick- too old for the sport.

Some men triumph, some are defeated. The most dangerous adversary, has been beaten before.

Lisa Lawrence Merritt says:

Intracultural violence?

Years ago in Houston two Hispanics got in a fight over an 8 track tape, a gun was pulled and one died. (Yeah, I said 8 track.)

8 track tape or rims: what does it matter?

Lisa Lawrence Merritt says:

Thugreport.com? LMFAO!

Fule for fodder for James Watson:

http://jezebel.com/gossip/notag/nobel...

Lisa Lawrence Merritt says:

Parden my dyslexia.. should read "fuel".

Susan Thornton says:

I didn't know Robert, but I could walk to that Church's from my house. It's a nice neighborhood! I'm sure many folks who saw this story and the words "Oak Cliff" were quick to dismiss this as yet another crime in a bad neighborhood.

The culture (media), in my opinion, has glamourized the "thug" lifestyle and the acquisition of material goods as the epitome of success. I'm so, so sorry whenever a youngster is killed, and I grieve for this American society that measures material gain over everything else. And machismo and testosterone are a deadly combination.

I'm just saying.