Man warned about dangers of stealing before his death

By Janine Anderson

Tuesday, April 5, 2005 2:16 AM CDT

RACINE - On Saturday night Elizabeth Lockridge-Lewis told her grandchildren about the dangers of stealing.

"I talked to all of them that night about how people do to people that steal something," she said. "They kill you."

Less than 12 hours later, that was exactly what had happened.

Her oldest grandson, Kendell L. Moss, 20, was dead and four of her teenage grandsons were in custody in Milwaukee.

The five took her van early Sunday morning, sometime after 2 a.m., she said. Moss had asked to take it earlier, but she refused. She lets him use the car to look for a job during the week, she said, but not for weekend "joyriding." And definitely not on a Sunday when she takes her large family to church.

She still has her keys and thinks they may have peeled the steering column, a repair she says she cannot afford.

According to Milwaukee Police Department spokeswoman Anne E. Schwartz, the cousins drove the van into Milwaukee, to a northside gas station, where they attempted to steal a second car.

Schwartz said Moss and his cousins went up to a 64-year-old man from Yorktown, Ark., at the Shell Food Mart, 2245 N. Teutonia Ave., about 6 a.m. Sunday. One of them had a gun and they demanded the man turn over his van and money.

The man refused, Schwartz said, and Moss and his cousins began punching him. The boys then took the man's walking cane and beat him with that, Schwartz said.

At that point the man took out a gun and shot Moss dead, Schwartz said.

Lockridge-Lewis said she wants to be mad at the man who shot her grandson, but she can't.

"My grandson knows what he did was wrong," she said. "I do not up and hold with no wrongdoing. I try to raise my kids up to do nobody no harm. I try to be mad at that man, but I can't. I raised (Moss) all his life and I feel about this big."

She held up her hand, index finger and thumb about two inches apart.

"I taught him better than that dumb stuff he did," she said. "I talked to them all about stealing."

Lockridge-Lewis and Moss' father, Darron Moss, said the incident was out of character for the young man.

As the oldest of her 27 grandchildren, Lockridge-Lewis said Moss often helped out with the younger kids. He had just gotten his drivers license back, she said, and as a birthday present she had rented him an apartment of his own. He would have turned 21 on April 13.

While Lockridge-Lewis finds it hard to hold the Arkansas man at fault for her grandson's death, the man's father feels

differently.

"I feel that the guy had options," Darron Moss said. "When I went to the funeral home today the guy said that the way Kendell was shot the guy had to walk up on him. He could have shot in the air or screamed and scared them. You can replace things stolen, but not a life."

Police still had the four teenagers in custody, Moss' family said Monday afternoon. Because they are juveniles police would not release their names.

It is legal to carry concealed weapons with a license in Arkansas, where the man is from. A proposal to allow Wisconsin residents to carry concealed weapons passed the state Legislature in 2003 but was vetoed by Gov. Jim Doyle.

Schwartz said carrying firearms "certainly seems to be an indication people are getting fed up with being victims of crimes. It's not how we encourage people to deal with it."

Schwartz said the five involved, including the 13-year-old boy, had criminal records with the Racine Police Department. Racine police would not confirm whether the four juveniles had criminal records.

According to the Wisconsin Circuit Court records, Moss has received several traffic citations and has been charged with receiving stolen property, obstructing a police officer and disorderly conduct over the last few years, according to state court records.

The Arkansas man was arrested after the incident; no charges had been issued by the end of the day Monday. The Milwaukee County District Attorney's Office is reviewing the case. Schwartz said it is unlikely the man will be charged with homicide because he was acting in self defense.

Police are not releasing the man's name until after charges are issued.

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