Hendry’s Beach Victim Identified

This is not a typical gang victim.

I would agree, this was not a typical gang victim. I would also speculate that most people would feel it is typical gang like behavior and reflects a gang like mentality. Random acts of extreme violence seem to go with the culture of being in a gang. Just as with the boy who was knifed outside of Saks Fifth avenue 2 years ago, there is this horrible sense of chaos, just impulse driven behavior taken to extremes. The victim, Mr. Simpson, had nothing to do with gangs, I know that for a fact. As for his murderer, I would be very surprised if he and his accomplices are not related to some gang somewhere. And there is one thing for certain, they are truly a gang of cowards.

So you believe the perp. was a gang member, but that this wasn't a gang related crime?

Drove off with two women....if that is confirmed, then it looks like a premeditated attack.

Or there was an argument between the two and the women were trying to break it up by getting the car then this guy attacks unexpectedly. Would you refuse a murderer a ride, especially if you just witnessed the crime and he jumped in your car? By now they should be calling the police and a lawyer to turn themselves in and get things straightened out.

Why would you bring two women to a premeditated attack?

There is a lot more to this story. Isn't there always? I was there yesterday and it was a "creepy" day...I began to write my blog yesterday and then the attack happened..and it all was too surreal...there was a lot of "strange" at Hendrey's Beach yesterday...I only hope we can regain our peaceful family beach...I took a photo of the "sidewalk memorial" for this man...so sad. I do not understand this kind of violence...but I will step out of my comfort zone and make a guess...there was alcohol and some other substances...there was a fight...and some one lost control and now a man has died...a woman is a widow...were there any children? Parents have lost a child...friends have lost a companion...and for what? Why? Like the young girl I saw today on the beahc... drenched and wrapped in mexican blanket who was reaching to the sky and saying..."Why? Why? Why?"..a little drunk...very Sad very Strange.
I hope the folks close to this man find some peace. I hope the person that did this comes to justice and maybe...just maybe...some one person will see all of this damage...and change their minds...their behavior. Peace.
http://www.independent.com/weblogs/so...

"Why would you bring two women to a premeditated attack?"

They might have been in on it.

From all of the articles I have read, heard, or seen regarding Bobby's murder, what the hell does any past military/combat experience have to do with his murder? If you don't have any info, then don't put any info in your article, or spend a little bit of your time, do some research , and put something useful in your article. Matt Kettmann, what were you thinking? A friend of ours just died and you ad lib to make yourself look good to your editor? "Bobby i" was a great man, a pacifist, that did anything and everything for the complete stranger. If you had done your research, you would have found out that Bobby died trying to diffuse a situation happening with complete strangers. There was nothing that should suggest "Combat Experience" or anything that would explain why Bobby died. Shame on you, Matt Kettmann, for trying to explain his death with "Ex military experience".

Bobby, you were doing the right thing, and I commend you on that.

arthappens:

I am sorry for the loss of your friend. It seems futile to discuss and conjecture at this point and it must be offensive to those near to the victim. There is much confusion and cross witness reports. We should wait for the authorities to sort this one out.

Well that puts things in perspective.

I'd think if it was a premeditated attack, they'd find a better place to do it than a crowded public beach in the afternoon.

It is started to seem like the victim put himself in a bad situation and got what was coming to somebody else. Just by looking at his picture he looks like a good guy, something about the eyes. I could be wrong.

Rob was a good man in a bad place. I believe when all is said and done we will find that Rob was trying to protect someone; someone who probably instigated the fight in the first place. Please say a prayer for one of the good guys, one we have lost due to a senseless act of violence
Remember; He had a family and friends that loved him.

Welcome to the new reality where nothing makes sense anymore. There are sociopaths everywhere. According to the American Psychiatric Association 1 in 10 is a sociopath. That means there are 30 million people without a conscious here in the US. They can run in packs too so none of the old rules apply. The next time someone starts going off around you just walk away because you never know. The news is full of this stuff.

The police have arrested 2 women and are putting big pressure on them by charging them with accessory to murder.

Art - this horrible, sad loss of life will never be explained adequately, but ripping the writer won't fix it either.
Kettman was doing his job trying to explain to some degree who your friend was in life, including his background. Nothing in the story implies he was where he was because of his military background.
Sad, sad, sad - and those responsible need to be out of society for the rest of their lives.

I truly hope the person that did this will come forward, or be found. With so many witnesses, I doubt people are afraid to come forward, even if the murderer is in a gang.

If it was a gang member who did it, it adds such a layer of complexity. Gang violence is so tragic and in a way, driven by economics and societal breakdown. I am reading Enrique's Journey right now, a Santa Barbara Reads book, and it touches upon how gangs come into existence--a long broken chain of dysfunction, poverty, lack of opportunity and abuse, combined with a sense of belonging and safety that gangs provide. I'm sure there are many more details to it.

The hardest thing to understand is the sociopath, if that is the right term for people who have no conscience, or ability to determine right from wrong, or those void of feelings about the value of human life. Are people actually born like this, or is it a result of wearing down of feelings and values for others over a lifetime of tragic situations?

Now that more and more gang activity is spilling over the boarder, we rely on our police and laws to protect us, but how do we get at the root of the problem? And who is the "we" in this case?

I am so sorry for this loss of a human being and my heart goes out to his family and friends.

Truly sad... this guy was around the pit quite often. He was very quiet, yet friendly when engaged, and was generally a very mellow character. Occasionally he would paddle out for a surf and snag a few waves peacefully, never hassling anyone. Other times he could be seen walking his dog and enjoying the morning cup of coffee at what has always been a quiet, local, family beach. I cannot say I really knew him, but as someone who frequents this beach, i cannot recall this guy being confrontational in any way. I can only hope that karma catches up with the coward who attacked him and took his life.

What needs to be of serious concern to SB residents going forward here is the issue of alcohol consumption at Hendry's. There has been a noticeable and visible rise of alcohol consumption at the beach park area, of groups gathering and drinking, and a considerable amount of verbal hassling and general jack-ass behavior that stem from this. Interesting to me is the fact that there are people drinking at the beach by 7:30 am almost every morning of the week, and the fact that local law enforcement choose to drive through the parking lot and completely ignore this element(witnessed many times). It has gotten to the point where people just don't want to walk near certain areas of the park because groups of derilicts and drunks congregate and make it unpleasant, if not a hassle. The age old pattern seems to be that the more alcohol consumed directly relates to the amount of verbal hassling and general belligerence that will follow. It is just plain ridiculous that this is the only beach in town where this is allowed to happen on a daily basis. City and County officials need to pull their heads out of the sand, and seriously consider a ban on alcohol at Hendry's. If folks want to drink... they can go to the Boathouse, sit down, and pay for one. Better yet...ban alcohol altogether at the beach, the park, and the Boathouse. We would get rid of the derilicts, improve the overall safety and cleanliness of the beach, create less trash and waste, and oh by the way... also help prevent people from DRINKING AT THE BEACH/BOATHOUSE, GETTING IN THEIR CARS, AND DRIVING AWAY!!!
Essentially we could create a safer, cleaner beach experience...while simultaneously reducing the number of drunk drivers leaving the Hendry's beach area...hmmm
HELLO!!!???!!! Common sense please!?!?!

cloud9: "It is just plain ridiculous that this is the only beach in town where this is allowed to happen on a daily basis."

I agree.

cloud9: "City and County officials need to pull their heads out of the sand, and seriously consider a ban on alcohol at Hendry's."

Siiighhhhh......this town is full of fascism...

Why not make it legal to drink at all beaches so that you don't have large gatherings of people at one particular beach drinking? If you make it OK for people to drink at a particular beach, but none of the other beaches, then of course everybody is going to go to that beach to drink.

There is no reason why there should be a law against drinking at the beach. If you do that, then the kids will go drink somewhere besides the beach and you will still have these problems because people will find a place to congregate where they can drink. If you make drinking illegal in every square inch of public area, then you have a bunch of cops focusing on whether that guy is drinking a bud light or a ginger ale instead of focusing on a group of rowdy kids who look like they might be about to get into a fight.

I couldn't agree more with cloud9 in that there is a problem at Hendry's with a certain group of folks that choose to drink. Sadly we all suffer when a few choose to get out of hand, and in this case it appears things went way to far. I have contemplated calling the police on several occasions while at the Hendry's and witnessing what I consider behavior that crosses the line: loud profanity and hollering as well as trash being left by this crowd. This creates a hostile environment for those of us who use the beach and are alone and often overwhelmed by a group like this.

While I am not excited about the prospect of banning alcohol in general at beaches either I fear that this will be inevitable unless people can reign in what is offensive to those of us who choose to respect that there are others who use the beach too.

What is the matter with you people? I see the same names and the same thoughts for almost everything that happens. Let us just see what happens before spouting off about alcohol at beaches and gangs and all that.
Some of you are just standing on your special soapbox spouting all your opinions about something that hasn't been totally figured out yet, and you should just wait and comment on the topic at hand, like the man who died and his family who will miss him.

Here we go: the actions of the few ruin it for all. Having just recently enjoyed a "happy hour" at the beach (picnic table, wine, cheese) with some friends, I can tell you WE were not the problem. But there IS a problem. Patrols and removal of the characters causing the problems is far better than rotely suggesting a ban on alcohol (and I'm 100% behind the Boathouse being able to serve alcohol--how the heck do you people think restaurants stay in business during these hard times.)

Don't let the actions of the few ruin it for all. CITIZENS call the police when you see S--- happening. Get these nasty characters off our beaches. DEMAND protective services, vote out representatives who WASTE your money on BS instead of protecting you and yours. Too much "tolerance" leads to a ban on everyone's privileges--can someone tell me how that makes sense???

yendopostal said: "I have contemplated calling the police on several occasions while at the Hendry's and witnessing what I consider behavior that crosses the line: loud profanity and hollering as well as trash being left by this crowd."

One of the great things about the cheap technology most of us have means that we can take pictures or video tape these people leaving their trash on the beach or yelling at people, video tape them getting into their car to leave, get the license plate and turn it into the police.

Littering is one law that I certainly agree with that should be enforced.

Another would be causing injury to an innocent person. I really hope there is someone out there who thought to pull out their phone and snap off a quick picture or a video of the perpetrators.

And to susie... as Rahm Emmanual once said, never let a good crisis go to waste. Incidents like these are ripe for creating laws and legislation that violate our individual freedom and I am one who promotes protecting those rights. I believe that one of the reasons this man was murdered was because the problems associated with drinking alcohol on the beach become magnified and focused when there are bans at other public beaches, causing "drinking havens". Banning alcohol at the beach altogether is not a solution I believe in either.

Ioonpt, I agree with not letting a good crisis go to waste, good point. And maybe the victim's family and loved one's would see it that way, because a senseless death is all it will be if we don't take action on many levels. On the issue of gangs, we just need ZERO tolerance. And yes, we need to help people find better ways to make their lives more fulfilled, to help them overcome whatever drives them toward wanting to be part of gang culture which serves no purpose of any value that I can figure out.
I have to also say it's understandable to want to just come down hard on contributing factors, like drinking at the beach, and saying that it should be banned. But I agree with one of the posters above who suggested what if we help rein in the situation, by reporting people who are drunk in public, littering, being a public nuisance, just nail those who are truly breaking the law. Then those who can enjoy a beer or two can have that privilege, just don't abuse other people's rights. Yeah, I know, we don't want to have to narc on everybody but truly, if something has become a problem we all should be willing to help stop it.

It seems contradictory to talk in terms of our local officials banning alcohol when at the same time these people and their predecessors have encouraged the alcohol culture with their allowing bar after bar after bar to be licensed so the tourists and the college students can have places to go to get drunk.

Boozing is aggressively marketed and encouraged at all levels locally, and maybe the day will come when it will no longer be hip to get drunk and stupid.

Hmmm, alleged murderer Latino, victim white, will this be prosecuted as a "hate crime."? If not why not? How would local media coverage be different if the races were reversed? This story might have made gone national on CNN I bet with Rick Sanchez and Soledad O'Brien in full umbrage.

Loonpt,

I'm sure you were just using the term above to be inflammatory but some of the principles behind fascism could indeed help to solve the gang and alcohol problems in America. Do you know the true definition of fascism? I think you'll be surprised if you do a little research.