Man pardoned by Obama executed by masked men at halfway house

[hexola]

Source: PIX11

SAGINAW, Mich. — A man recently pardoned by former President Barack Obama was shot and killed by two men with assault-style rifles.

It happened at 9:40 p.m. on Jan. 23, at Bannum Place Federal Corrections Halfway House in Saginaw.

Michigan State Police spokesperson Lt. David Kaiser told WNEM the two masked men barged into the building and shot 31-year-old Demarlon Thomas of Saginaw.

He was shot multiple times by one of the gunmen, while the other held roughly two dozen others at the home at gunpoint. Thomas died at the scene.

Read more: http://pix11.com/2017/01/24/man-pardoned-by-obama-shot-and-killed-by-masked-men-at-halfway-house/

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Chilling...

[etherealtruth]

1. Ugh ... this is extremely chilling

[Angry Dragon]

2. trump followers

[physioex]

4. Not what I think...

Possibly a rival gang with a score to settle??

[hexola]

10. Not impossible - but the tactics here

Seem a bit too practiced...

He was due out in March anyway - so somebody was ready for him...

If he did have a "hit" on him - you'd think he would know - and lay low.

[Yupster]

23. My first reaction was a drug gang

He made someone mad that he shouldn't have.

His own gang or a rival gang.

No evidence, just my initial reaction.

[physioex]

24. Very logical...EOM

[LisaL]

27. Well, it sure sound like a revenge for something.

Since he was a gang member, it's a good guess that whoever killed him was in a gang.

[hack89]

32. Drug gangs have plenty of practice in killing people. nt

[jmowreader]

12. Or members of his own gang who were pissed at him?

From the article:

In 2008, he was sentenced to 19 years in prison for the distribution of five grams or more of cocaine. The operation effectively ended the Sunny Side Gang.

Here's an article about the cops rolling up the gangs in Saginaw: http://www.mlive.com/news/saginaw/index.ssf/2013/10/saginaw_gang_violence_timeline_2.html

(From reading this thing, it makes me glad I haven't ever wanted to live in Saginaw!)

If his former friends believed Demarlon Thomas was to blame for the demise of their organization, it makes sense they'd target him for execution.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

15. That was my first thought

But looking at what he was involved in, it could retaliation.

My question is how was this guy pardoned but Don Siegelman is still doing time?

[oberliner]

30. Huh?

What are you talking about?

[BainsBane]

3. Death squad

How awful.

[Glimmer of Hope]

5. Why wasn't he protected? How awful.

[Eleanors38]

8. No LEO can protect you 24-7. May have been better off on the inside.

[LisaL]

26. Who exactly was supposed to protect him?

You think when people are pardoned, protection is assigned to them?

[Eleanors38]

6. Beware what you wish. They were waiting.

[sheshe2]

7. That was an assasination.

[Scalded Nun]

9. I have been worrying about this since Obama stepped up his pardons

Now that this made the news there needs to be protection given to these folks as I fear the crazies are feeling emboldened.

I also believe that Chelsea Manning needs to be extra cautious when her time comes to get out.

There are very sick people out there.

[AtheistCrusader]

14. Manning definitely. But this slaying doesn't appear to have a political dimension.

Looks entirely gang related.

[JudyM]

11. As if any of these witnesses would dare to finger any of the gang, after what they saw.

[adigal]

16. Trump starting to be like Duterte??? nt

[Glitterati]

19. Boy, that's a leap of logic!

Why the heck would Trump want him dead? Just because Obama pardoned him?

Puuuuuuuulease!

[byronius]

22. Actually, not too far a leap -- Trump forced women to pee on each other on Obama's hotel bed.

That seems pretty damned pathological. Obsessed. Insane. Creepy. Freakish.

I don't think it's the case. But the leap was only a few feet too far.

[adigal]

35. Duterte is killing drug dealers and user, thousands of them nt

[Judi Lynn]

25. He's probably always been like Duterte. No one could be more primitive, more vicious.

He is, after all, the right-wing god.

[Useless in FL]

17. Yikes..

It's definitely an assignation....:tinfoil hat: Geez, I wish I could say that this is just another crime....

[ileus]

18. Trumps death squads already out and about...

[StevieM]

20. The woman accusing Trump of raping her when she was 13 dropped her press conference due to

death threats.

[former9thward]

21. I guess they have been active in Chicago for years now ...

[Doug.Goodall]

28. Trump minions performing a dress rehearsal

Practice makes perfect. Soon we will be seeing political assassinations for real.

[Princess Turandot]

29. Perhaps one of his former associates thought the commutation was a quid pro quo for something...

There are a bunch of gang members still incarcerated as a result of the operation (and others at the time) in which he was arrested, including the former leader of his gang (who was sentenced to 30 years). He may have received an unreasonable sentence, but he didn't run with a bunch of choir boys. The gang he belonged to along with a rival gang were responsible for a 200% increase in murders in Saginaw between 1999 and 2002. If the gang members at the time thought that some of their associates turned state's evidence, they may have taken the commutation as proof that he was one of them.

Plus, he was murdered in a federal halfway house. (The security procedures there are still an unknown.) One armed guy kept others at bay while his partner shot Thomas. I don't see a couple of pissed off rightwing idiots pulling that off.

BTW he wasn't pardoned: his sentence was commuted. One news outlet reported incorrectly and others just repeated it.

[Jose Garcia]

33. Or it could have been people from a rival gang

[HAB911]

31. The important thing everyone is missing

At least these guys were able to easily purchase "assault-style rifles", probably for hunting Sand Hill Cranes or other wild beasts

[hughee99]

34. I realize there are a lot of differing opinions here, and while I may not agree with some of them,

I certainly respect people's right to hold them. Having said that, the idea that this is the result of "Trump Death Squads" is so ridiculous that it makes us all look bad.

[Glitterati]

36. Thank you

This place is getting more ridiculous by the day.

I despise Trump as well, but we have really moved to lala land.

[yagotme]

37. Happens a lot.

Rival gang/PO'd member gang. If he actually had a "hit" on him, surprised it took this long. Had a case here in IL where they guy got off the bus after being released, ran for it, didn't even make it home. (Chicago)