Slayings of Girl, Cosby Again Joined in Time

Loretta Thomas-Davis is a big admirer of entertainer Bill Cosby, but, unlike millions of others, she cannot bring herself to follow the murder trial of a man accused of killing Cosby’s only son in a robbery attempt.

“It just hits too close to home,” the school maintenance supervisor said Friday.

Cosby would understand.

On Jan. 16, 1997, the same day that his 27-year-old son was shot while fixing a flat tire, her 17-year-old daughter, Corie Williams, was trapped in a gang shooting while riding home from her Compton high school on an MTA bus. Cosby was among the first on the phone to offer Davis his condolences.

“He knew exactly what I was going through, and I knew what he was going through,” she said. “I was really moved by his call.”

Linked by that call, the two slayings touched a national nerve. Their circumstances created a poignant connection between the famous and the obscure while telling a frightening story about urban violence and how it crosses social strata and strikes in situations familiar to all.

Now, more than a year later, the cases again come together in time.

While the press camps in the seaside quaintness of Santa Monica for the Cosby trial, few will flock to another courthouse deep in the sprawl of Los Angeles County where Corie’s case will be called for a crucial hearing. On July 2, Deputy Dist. Atty. Robert Grace will go to court to fight a motion to suppress a confession from a member of 118th Street East Coast Crips, one of three people charged with killing Corie while attacking someone they thought was a member of the Bounty Hunter Bloods.

Although any violent death is senseless and tragic, especially when it takes the young and innocent, Corie’s death seems particularly so.

“A game between the Crips and the Bloods turned deadly,” one of the gang members told police.

The game was over turf.

*

The Eleven-8 Crips found out that the Bloods from Centennial High School in Compton were riding the Route 53 MTA bus home from school every day through their territory in South-Central.

Bloods were on board, but so were dozens of other Centennial students in the standing-room-only bus, including Corie, a bright, popular and well-respected youth bound for college and hoping later to go to law school.

The Crips probably didn’t know or care about Corie. They couldn’t let Blood “slobs” cross their turf, court papers said.

On Wednesday, Jan. 15, a group of Crips met to figure out what to do. They decided to ambush the bus and attack the Bloods.

Wilbert Eric Pugh and Robert Johnson attended the meeting, police said.

With a 5-foot-7 frame carrying 110 pounds, Pugh, 20, earned the street name Li’l Evil. Police say he instigated the ambush.

Johnson, who at 4-foot-6 and weighing 80 pounds goes by the name Li’l Bob, was 16 at the time. The son of a man convicted of killing a security guard and a mother who is a convicted burglar, Johnson had been in trouble since he was 11, his family members have said.

On Jan. 16 the Crips met again, and Pugh led them to the corner of Imperial Highway and Avalon Boulevard, not far from the interchange of the Harbor and Century freeways, to wait for the bus, according to court papers.

As the bus approached the intersection, Corie was sitting near the rear loading door. In one of her pockets were the order forms for her high school graduation clothes. Her friend, 18-year-old Tammi Freeman, sat next to her.

Behind them sat Tyrone Lewis, 16, and a friend, according to court papers. Lewis was wearing a red Tommy Hilfiger shirt, which apparently resembled the colors of the Bloods, police said.

Court records said that when the bus pulled up at its stop, the Crips, including Pugh, Johnson and Randall Amado, 16, gathered around.

Amado was a regular attendee at school and was living with his parents, his lawyer said in court papers. He had had only one minor encounter with police before.

But police say Amado joined Pugh in boarding the bus.

Lewis watched the action unfold when the first Crip boarded.

“Slob on the bus!” one Crip yelled, pointing directly at Lewis, according to court records. “Slob on the bus!”

The records said another Crip followed and began shooting:

“This is Eleven-8 East Coast Crips! You all got a problem with us, f--- slob! This is BK (Blood Killer) all day!”

Meanwhile, Johnson stood outside behind the bus, pulled out a semiautomatic pistol and began firing into the rear of the bus, police said.

“Do it, Bob. Do it!” his companions yelled.

Inside the bus, pandemonium erupted.

Passengers pushed to the front and Lewis dove for the floor. Blood spattered his shirt.

Lewis rushed to the driver, shouting, “Go, go keep driving in case they try to get back on the bus,” he later told police.

*

When the shooting ended, Lewis looked around. He was unhurt. His friend was OK too.

But Corie had been hit. A bullet had severed an airway and blood poured from her broken neck. Lewis said he saw a girl holding her hands around Corie’s neck.

Tammi was hit in the shoulder, but recovered.

Meanwhile, the Crips fled.

Amado was later heard to brag: “Hunters got shot that go to Tin,” which, translated, means Bounty Hunters Blood gang members who go to Centennial High School got shot, according to court papers.

Grace, the prosecutor, said Amado, Pugh and Johnson are charged with murdering Corie and attempting to murder Lewis, crimes that could send them to prison for life. All three have pleaded not guilty.

Police say they have a confession from Amado explaining his role and saying Johnson did the shooting. Amado’s lawyer is trying to suppress the confession, saying police obtained it under duress and after they refused his request to have relatives advise him.

The case probably would not have attracted attention outside Los Angeles if it had not happened the same day Ennis Cosby was killed. Yet, judging from the massive and quick response of the police immediately after the shooting, there was little evidence that police gave it more attention because of Cosby’s influence.

The circumstances of the case prompted the massive response, police say.

*

Although bystanders often become victims of gang shootings in Los Angeles County, Corie’s death stood out because it happened on a bus and because of a petty gang dispute.

“This was out of the ordinary even for L.A.,” Grace said.

But Cosby’s attention gave it the national focus.

Corie’s mother has appeared on the “Oprah Winfrey” and “Today” shows, and she recently gave an interview to People magazine.

In Los Angeles, Corie’s name has become a cause celebre for educating poor youth and against violence.

And her mother has started a scholarship fund in her daughter’s name to help financially strapped children go to college. Thomas-Davis is trying to persuade the schools to allow employees to authorize payroll deductions to the fund, which already has awarded more than a dozen scholarships.

Last year, her portrait covered a billboard in an anti-violence campaign called “Stop the Violence / Start the Peace.”

“Maybe it will grab a couple of people and make them stop a few minutes to think,” she said.

Thomas-Davis said she wants people to think about talking to their children, spending time with them and teaching them that life is precious.

She calls that good parenting, which is her turf.