European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - July 4, 1994, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Quot there s no excuse said Linda Lee Hackney whose husband was one of two people police say Ivere killed by a 14-year-old gunman in Oakland Calif. Quot i m sorry he s Only 14,but my sympathy can Only go so  fourteen year old murder had no values no goals by Michelle Locke the associated press is Mother died in 1988 he never knew his father five years later. The big sister who. A looked out for him was kilted crossing the Street. Last december the grandmother who raised him dropped dead of a heart attack. A Quot at age 14, police allege he got hold of a 38-caliber revolver and in seven hours used it to kill two men a. It was a shocking crime a but shocking crimes committed by the very Young Are common now. Generically. We blame poverty drugs gangs. A but every Young killer has his own history. And beyond this 14-year-old s violent spasm lurks the Story of a life shadowed by death. / Quot he was  losing it ail. He had lost it All Quot said the youth s aunt Mary Jones. R police a and Toje widow of a victim a took a less sympathetic View. A Quot there s no excuse said Linda Lee Hackney whose husband Ben. Hackney was the first Man shot in the May 27 killings. Quot i my sorry that he s Only 14, but my sympathy can Only go so. . A Quot the main problem with this fellow is he did t have any guidance Quot said Oakland Calif., police sgt Paul Berlin Quot he had no values no goals  the teen Ager s life had been a Litany of loss. A. Quot he s just about the last surviving member of his family Quot said his lawyer. Kathy Siegel of the Alameda county Public defender s office. _ _ a virtual orphan the youth was crushed by the death of his 17-year-old sister struck by a big Rig As she walked to school in april 1993, Jones said. Within months his Grandfather had also died. Then in december his grandmother was gone. Jones took the teen Ager in. But after so Many disruptions he had trouble adjusting and chafed at her rules and restrictions. The breaking Point came in Early May. When she suspected he had Stolon a gun. A. / Quot he just started lying and lying and a i guess he just Felt As though he had to a run away Quot  a. The youth was arrested three Days after the killings. Police said he told them he had been living in abandoned cars for weeks and was broke hungry and homeless. A a. A Quot Quot he confessed to both shootings and the reason for both shootings was that he was hungry and was asking people for Money and he became angry when they refused to give him Money Quot Berlin said. A a under California Law he must retried As a juvenile. The maximum sentence is a term in a youth prison until age 25. Siege believes incarceration in t the solution. Quot what is probably Best for everybody s interest is to get this Guy some kind of treatment to resolve some of the issues he s had Quot she said. Lee Hackney in t moved by the arguments. A 1 "1 see kids 12 years old acting As police lookouts and some sell crack in this neighbourhood. But there Are an awful lot of other 12-year-Olds and 13-and 14-year-Olds who live next door t6 the crack dealers who Don t have anything to do with them Quot she said. Her 40-year-old husband was shot after being confronted in the parking lot of a Check cashing store where his wife worked. He staggered Back into the building before her horrified eyes. The second victim Derrick Wadibia 41, of Nigeria was shot about six hours later As he sat in his cab a few blocks away. A brother in Southern California was trying to scrape together enough Money to ship the body Home Berlin said. A., the Hackney had been married for 12 years and were just turning the Corner from hard times of their own said Lee Hackne they had found a Nice House to rent and with the Money. From her Job were Quot looking at the Day when we would t be on welfare at  later she was still absorbing. The loss. Quot i still can t believe it Quot she said Quot we had so Many things that we were going to  a John Bobbitt Short subject recalling the Bobbitt one year later by Eric i. Wee and Rajiv Chandrasekhar Anthe Washington Post Lorena Bobbitt is now a Legal Secretary. John Bobbitt is living in Las vegas with his new Girlfriend. And Prince William county va., has returned to normalcy. One year ago thursday in an incident that made the couple perhaps America s most infamous Lorena Bobbitt pulled Back the bedsheets and used a 12-Inch Kitchen knife to slice off her husband s Penis. She then tossed it into a Field where it was found and reattached in nine hours of surgery. The Story became the stuff of table o ids and fodder for comedians on late night television. The trials that followed Drew a Media horde to the Little town of Manassas. Today the characters in the Bobbitt drama a including their neighbors doctors lawyers and others a Are going on with life though things Are forever changed. Lorena who was found not guilty by reason of insanity of malicious wounding is working full time As a Legal Secretary in Fairfax county a. Her parents and siblings have moved Here from Venezuela according to her attorney James Lowe. And the family is renting a condominium in Fairfax county. Lorena who is Stilt under the jurisdiction of the Prince William court has psychological counselling weekly. Under the terms of her release from a psychiatric Hospital last March Lorena is not allowed to leave Virginia. "1 think she s Back to being a Normal person Quot Lowe said Quot she Wasny to a celebrity to Start with so she did no to remain  a a f a. A a a John Bobbitt a doctors say he has recovered Well after the surgery in which his Penis was reattached. Quot he said it works pretty Well Quot said David Berman 37, a plastic and reconstructive surgeon and one Rotthe two doctors who performed the operation. A the seems to be getting Morean Dmore sensations Over time. He s pretty much Back to his Normal  Commonwealth s attorney Paul Ebert who unsuccessfully. Prosecuted both Bobbitt said he is relieved that the Media maelstrom has subsided. Quot the Best thing. About the Case is that its Over Quot said Ebert. One Manassas family has kept a handful of mementos of the cutting. Susan Hansen and her husband Kim who is a maintenance superintendent at the apartment Complex where the Bobbitt lived rescued a Roll of the original blood soaked bedroom carpet from the trash. The hansens even have a Small piece framed in their living room with the title Quot Bobbitt  nearby Are two items of Quot Bobbitt food Quot a a generic can of Chicken Noodle soup and one of olives that were left behind Quot people have come into our apartment just to see our Bobbitt food a said Susan Hansen. A a i we Lorena Bobbitt 26 the stars and stripes monday tuesday july 4/5, 1994