MOM, FRIENDS ALSO DENY CLAIM THAT VICTIM WAS PART OF TAGGING CREW
By
June 07, 2010
STOCKTON - To his friends, his family and the children in his neighborhood, Daniel Ausborne was a protector.
"If he heard someone was getting picked on, he'd go take care of it," said Phil Campos, Ausborne's friend and first employer.
Ausborne, 18, had been bullied for years, targeted for his learning disability, said his mother, Lars Kitcher. That treatment followed him through two high schools, and his death in May, after a shooting at American Legion Park, was just that, not a dispute between taggers, his friends and family said, but the final blow of a bully.
"He was being harassed," said Monica, whose family befriended Ausborne's when he first moved to their Country Club neighborhood. She asked that her last name be withheld, as her family has been threatened with violence over their association with Ausborne. "These gangs find a target and they think it's fun to torment a kid."
Ausborne's mother said it started on his first day at Franklin High School. Ausborne was big, but had a speech-related learning disability. He was attacked frequently and called "retarded." When he transferred to Stagg High School, the attacks continued, Kitcher said. A video once on YouTube, since removed, captured him fighting off three students.
In April, Kitcher said, there was a credible rumor that someone was coming to Stagg's campus to stab Ausborne. She said school officials were not responsive, and often punished her son alongside those who harassed and attacked him.
"They call it mutual combat," she said. "But it's not mutual if somebody doesn't want to fight."
Ausborne and some friends of his were walking at American Legion Park's eastern edge around 7:45 p.m. on May 22 when someone shot at them from a white and gray Toyota RAV4 passing north on Baker Street. Monica said Ausborne had seen the Toyota earlier, recognized it and tried to get to safety. One of the last things Ausborne did with his life, she said, was protect those of others: When the shots started, he moved to shield his friends. He was shot in the neck. Four days later he was taken off life support.
The Police Department has said that Ausborne was a casualty of an escalating dispute between two groups of taggers. His mother and the adults who befriended him reject that. Ausborne, "Mookie" to his family, was no gangster, no thug, they said.
Monica's fiance, Jeff, said Ausborne was the first teenager to ever call him 'sir,' and he encouraged his classmates to finish school, as he managed to do, on time, despite his disability.
"You can't do anything in this world without a diploma," Ausborne told a classmate.
But there are those spray-painted memorials to Ausborne, or "Ozzy," around the city. There was one on Country Club Boulevard not far from Philliez Auto Detail, where for three days his friends washed cars to raise money for his family. That one had been crossed out in red paint.
Kitcher said her son wasn't a graffiti writer, but he knew people who were. And it doesn't explain what happened at Legion Park.
"A lot of these kids they're not gangsters; they're just writers," Campos said. "They've got spray cans in their hands, not guns."
The one with the gun was driving the RAV4. A woman who declined to give her name, citing the continuing danger to her family, said the man responsible had stabbed her son, threatened her husband with a gun and shot at her house. Police have said the same person who shot at Ausborne at Legion Park is believed to have shot at him the day before. A shooting a few hours after, at a home in the 1300 block of Flora Street, is believed to be related. Investigators have not named any suspects.
Kitcher said she only knew her son was being bullied. He didn't talk about it much. He didn't want to be labeled a snitch, she said. She's hoping those who know who killed her son don't hesitate to come forward. Some of the money raised last week will be offered as a reward.
"It's not snitching," she said. "It's called concern."
Contact reporter Christian Burkin at (209) 546-8279 or cburkin@recordnet.com. Visit his blog at recordnet.com/burkinblog.
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