D.C. police have arrested three 18-year-olds suspects (Sharif Tau Lancaster, Alante Saunders, and an unnamed third) for the mid-April murder and robbery of 42-year-old middle-school principle Brian Betts. According to police, the suspects found Betts through a gay sex hotline, entered his home, shot him, and made off with his wallet and SUV. Police tracked down the teenagers through fingerprints found on Betts’ abandoned SUV and through purchases made with Betts credit card (teenagers are stupid).
The modus operandi of the criminals sounds somewhat similar to the felon who robbed gay victims at gunpoint and the stabbing death of WABC reporter George Weber. Both cases involved criminals who sought out gay victims through sex personals. Perhaps our community needs a PSA campaign about safer and savvier sex cruising.
vitaminE
http://www.ncavp.org/common/document_files/FeatureAlerts/SafeDating.pdf
boring
“teenagers are stupid.”
wow, thanks for generalizing teenagers yet again, queerty.
Joe
As a former colleague and friend of Brian’s – I can tell you – he was “the real deal” when it came to his career and profession – he will be terribly missed with good reason – by the communities in which he lived and worked. I don’t know how Brian managed his life in terms of relationships – but I think the broader angle of the story could be about the consequences of living an imbalanced life (more energy and effort devoted to work and career than to personal relationships) – or maybe the contradiction of being such a successful person yet not feeling comfortable living your entire life in the company of your community. Those contexts seem more genuine to the person that Brian was – rather than suggesting this tragedy was simply reckless “cruising for gay sex”….
ossurworld
sounds like the 42-year-old was fairly stupid too…
James UK
Brian Betts didn’t ask to get robbed or shot. He didn’t deserve it. He didn’t have it coming. He was over 18. Therefore what on earth was wrong with him making use of the internet for sex? It doesn’t need to be explained or contextualised or apologised for.
Three pieces of shit turned up at his door armed with a gun and robbed and shot him dead. Hopefully they’ll serve at least at least 25 years.
AlwaysGay
Gay people in Washington D.C. will sit back believing justice will be served and it won’t, it already hasn’t. The heterosexual police say the motive of the crime was robbery yet the house was left in order. The heterosexual killers might have stolen one or two things that’s it. It doesn’t make sense that someone gets killed in the most brutal way and THEN have a couple things stolen only for the heterosexual police to ignore the motives of the killing in favor of a after the fact robbery motive. The heterosexual police are working to make sure these heterosexual killers get the least amount of punishment. Wake up gay people in DC this is already headed in the wrong direction.
Joe
@James UK: You’re right – it doesn’t NEED to be explained or contextualized – but it will be -for better AND worse. For those of us who knew him – he was neither stupid nor naive – just a great guy – who deserved respect, admiration and love –
Marty
When will gay men wake up to the fact that no 18 year is interested in a 42 year old unless money is involved??
narcissism kills folks.
Jose
@boring:
oh calm down. I’m a teen as well and that part just made me lol.
This isn’t a serious press release, but rather an article on a tongue-in-cheek entertainment website. You don’t have to be uptight and be on the constant lookout for generalizations or discrimination everywhere y’know.
With that said I do feel immature for implying this particular article is for entertainment and doesn’t, in essence, represent a serious matter: online safety and protection from bigots who would specifically target us.
But yeah, that bit about teenagers being stupid is irrelevant to the main point and just a crack at the killers.
scott ny'er
well, now I hope 3 or more dudes go town on each of their individualized asses. Bastards.
I hate hearing these types of stories. I hope he rests in peace.
petrov
Why was an upstanding and respected high school principal trolling for teens in the first place? Even if they were legal, it’s not exactly professional behavior one would expect from an educator.
SSCHIEFRSHA
The Gods! What easy pickings older gays are for wayward teenage murderers. And the older gays always take the bait LOL!
Mark
@petrov:
Why do people go to bars and troll for random sex there? It’s not unprofessional. Millions of straight people and thousands of gays go out to bars every weekend to look for hook ups. Just because it’s on the internet doesn’t make it unprofessional. What he does on his own time has nothing to do with his profession and it’s wrong for anyone to make that link. By your logic people shouldn’t be having sex at all, or masturbating, or farting, or whatever.
ksu499
Note also that two of the three were supposed to have been in the custody of DC Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services the night they killed Betts but had escaped custody sometime prior. DCDYRS has in the past been caught waiting several days before notifying anyone when one of their charges goes missing.
Sed
James UK, you are my hero. I couldn’t have said it better myself.
PLAYS WELL WITH OTHERS
Those 18yr olds may not have had any Gay sex with that particular 42yr old. However upon conviction, I predict lots of Gay sex with older guys for a long,long time………..
nebulon5
In the boys’ locker room of Neelsville Middle School where Betts was a gym teacher for several years, the gym teachers’ office had a full-window view of the locker room changing area..
In school, Betts heavily favored the young black boys…he comprised his male cheerleading squad almost entirely of blacks, and did not reprimand one particular black student who was a member of his squad when he saw the boy expose his pubic hair to a group of female cheerleaders in an attempt to show off. He paid for all of his male cheerleaders to have tuxedos to the school dance one year. It is ironic that he has been killed by a group of black youths, and very sad, especially after all that he has done for young black boys.
Ealan
@Nebulon5:
Hmmm, I feel like there’s a point lurking inside of that completely loaded statement. Did you want to come out and say what’s on your mind??
And unless the thugs arrested were from Betts’ school, what do they have to do with his students? Did you think they’d cut him a break and not rob/kill him on behalf of all the black kids in the district? They probably didn’t much care what he did for any of the kids at his school. They were looking for an easy target to rob.
Bisexual Vampire
The man wasn’t murdered in Washington, D.C. He was killed in Silver Spring, Maryland which is in Montgomery County, one of the richest counties in the USA.
Bart
I am not going to refer to Brian Betts as principal in this post as it clouds the real issues of Gay Lifestyles, Power, Sex and Race. Brian Betts was a gay man in a role of authority. A leader in his community by proxy of his career path. Why was he so interested in internet dating young adults at his home instead of forming a lasting relationship with a peer? The real question here is why did he have to die before anyone knew what was going on? Could it be because no one cared what this gay man was doing…. or perhaps was it not anyone’s business. Both of those thought processes sound like cop outs to me.