Not only did I run Track in high school, I had been involved with a youth track club since fifth grade. For this reason, I had a lot of old friends and acquaintances from other schools. It was good to see them at Invitational meets. Yes, sometimes I did venture over to the tent of a different school to chat with them for a few minutes and wish them luck. Nobody seemed to be bothered by my presence but if I was asked to leave, I would have done so without incident. There is NO reason for a petty situation like that to escalate to the point in which a life was taken. Hell, I don't even remember any teammates getting into a fist fight at a meet.
I do have several questions that need to be answered before I make a judgement:
What was the perp doing there in the first place? Let's say that the meet was delayed by a storm. His team pitched their tent was on the other side of the stadium, so he took cover under the nearest tent. That doesn't make a whole lot of sense especially if there was cover under the stands. Nevertheless, if he was just sitting there minding his own business, I would leave him alone. If he was having a friendly conversation with another team member, I would definitely leave him alone but still keep an eye on him. I once had a warmup top stolen at an Invitational. There was a guy on my team known to steal gear from other schools then wear it to class the next day.
If he went to the tent of a rival school to talk smack and stir up trouble, yes I would ask him to leave. Did the two schools know each other well? I regularly crossed paths with kids from rival or neighboring schools at the shopping mall, the local pool and other popular teen hangouts. If the perp attended a rival school rather than one across town, it's a good bet that they've crossed paths before. Both were football players as well. As a college junior when eating lunch at the cafeteria, a freshman approached me and asked if I used to run cross-country. He recognized me even though it had been 3 years since we competed against one another. I thought that was pretty cool.
One person brought up a point in which I do agree. Just because the victim was an A student and a star football player does NOT mean that he was a nice kid. True. As I've said, I found many AP students to be arrogant and there were a couple who were bullies as well. I got along better with average students. Still, did he really deserve to DIE? I don't think it's very classy to denigrate the character of someone who just got killed.
The fact that the perp actually brought a knife in his bag suggests that he was looking for trouble. I heard that he posted pictures of himself with guns and knives on IG. Not cool. My school had a zero tolerance weapons policy. Any student caught in possession of a deadly weapon faced a minimum 10 day suspension and probable expulsion depending on the nature of the weapon. The fact that he stabbed the victim in the chest tells me that he did intend to kill.
I don't care what was said or done to him, there is no reason to be mad enough to use deadly force. I simply can't even imagine being so angry to look another person in the eye and take their life. For what? Being told to leave an area that you didn't belong in first place. I've heard reports that he was pushed and his cell phone was broken. Again, the latter definitely should not have happened but that certainly doesn't justify deadly force. Settle it with a fist fight if worse comes to worst or better yet, walk away! Self defense? It seems highly unlikely that the perp had a reason to fear for his life. If scores of people were all set to jump him and beat him senseless, he does have a case but that's not likely. I'd lean towards a 2nd degree murder charge that could be plead down to manslaughter depending on the facts to come to light.
Incredibly, I've heard of people actually defending the killer and there is a Facebook page with 7500 member in support of letting him go free. Predictably, because the perp is black and the victim was white, some people think that he was fighting white supremacy. Again, even if the victim was a racist, he didn't deserve to DIE! When negative interactions occur between people of different races, I'd wager that in the vast majority of cases, it's a personality clash between people who don't like each other and skin color is not a factor.
EDIT:
I just thought about the George Zimmerman vs Trayvon Martin case. I favored a manslaughter charge for Zimmerman because he was already involved in an altercation and had visible lacerations on his head. Prosecutors went for the murder charge and lost. In this case, the victim did initiate the physical contact but did not cause injury. Supposedly, he merely shoved him away. I'd feel differently if he was being punched in the face and was defenseless in a fight.
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