Bobby Tillman: Police Seek More Suspects in Murder

Filed under: News, Profiles, Race and Civil Rights

The sad story of Bobby Tillman's murder is getting sadder with police searching for additional suspects accused of stomping Tillman to death in an unprovoked attack at a suburban Atlanta party.

The four men now being held in the attack say they are innocent of punching, kicking and stomping Tillman to death as dozens of bystanders watched.

As twisted as most black-on-black youth crimes are, Tillman's murder sets a new standard in depravity.

The four accused killers had gotten in to a fight earlier in the evening with a group of other party-goers in Douglasville, Ga. A girl from the unidentified group hit one of the accused men, who then said that while he wouldn't hit another girl, he would attack the next male he saw arrive at the party.

That next guest was Tillman, who was beaten so badly in the unprovoked attack that his heart was ruptured.

Emmanuel Benjamin Boykins, 18; Horace Damon Coleman, 19; Quantez Devonta Mallory, 18; and Tracen Lamar Franklin, 19, have been charged in the attack and have offered conflicting reports of who delivered the killing blows.

The killing has hit a nerve in the black community, which is usually numb to most cases of black-on-black crime.

Memorials to Tillman have sprung up on social-networking sites like Facebook. One Facebook group is even dedicated to Tillman's accused killers.

Police said they are monitoring the social-networking sites in search of additional information that may lead to more arrests.

The odds are slim, but I hope Tillman's murder makes us confront black-on-black youth crime.

Something perverse is going on in our communities in regards to how easily black youth kill and maim other black youth. We have to start asking why and find real solutions.

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