From a Harford County Sheriff’s Office news release:
(Joppa, MD – July 14, 2008) Harford County Sheriff’s Office is investigating the shooting of a twenty-two year Edgewood man that attended a private event at the Joppa Magnolia Fire Hall. This is Harford County’s Sheriff’s Office second homicide of 2008.
At approximately 11:45pm, a 911 call was placed that someone had been shot at a party that was taking place in the Joppa/Magnolia Fire Hall located in the 1400 block of Mountain Road. Harford County Sheriff’s deputies responded to find a crowd of people gathered inside and outside of the building. The victim, Tariq S Alston, 22 of Edgewood was located shot inside of the building. Treated on the scene by paramedics from Joppa/ Magnolia Fire Company, he was transported by Fallston Ambulance Corp to Upper Chesapeake Medical Center with life threatening injuries. He was pronounced dead shortly before 12:30am.
Deputies have been conducting interviews on site with the event attendees. Motive is unknown at this time as the investigation continues. Anyone with information regarding the shooting is urged to contact the Harford County Sheriff’s Office Criminal Investigation Division at 410-836-5080.
Additionally Harford County Crime Solvers is offering a reward of up to $1,000 for information leading to the arrest of the person or persons responsible for the shooting. To be eligible for the reward, tipsters must call the 24-hour tip-line at 1-888-540-TIPS. Callers do not have to give their name nor appear in court. All information will be kept strictly confidential.
I understand fire halls are routinely rented out for weddings, banquets, fundraisers and a variety of other events (hell, I used to rent them out myself when I was booking local shows for my band), but these events typically do not occur at 11:45 p.m. on a Sunday.
From what I understand, these rentals are basically a license to print money. The local volunteer fire company owns the building (paid for by taxpayer dollars) and rent out the facility at an hourly rate and with a down payment. A member of the VFC unlocks the door and collects the money at the beginning of the event and might stick around for the duration of the engagement to make sure everything goes OK and there aren’t any problems (aka power outtages, flooded bathrooms, etc.). At the end of the night, there is an inspection to make sure there was no damage done to the place and whether there will be extra fees needed for additional cleanup.
I recall some members of the Susquehanna Hose Company got in trouble a few years back when they started renting out their Havre de Grace facilities for teenage dance parties, or something of the same ilk. There was violence, vandalism, graffiti and allegations of underaged drinking – all on the property of the local volunteer fire company (paid for and built with local taxes) and all because the company wanted some extra cash. If I remember correctly, there might have even been some disagreement about whether the rental proceeds ever even made it back into the VFC or just went home in a members’ wallet.
My point is the VFC doesn’t have to do much except collect the cash, but if the Joppa-Magnolia Volunteer Fire Company is renting the facility out for use late on a Sunday night, perhaps this practice warrants some more scrutiny.
I know for a fact the Joppa-Magnolia VFC rented out its fire hall out to a certain mohawk-headed, guitarist for a local punk rock band about a decade ago. If people weren’t questioning the process then, perhaps they should now.
Wow. This puts it into a little better perspective. Per the Baltimore Sun:
I find this completely inexcusable on several fronts.
First, who the hell signs off on a birthday party that runs until midnight on a Sunday?
Second, there were no Joppa-Magnolia VFC personnel around to see that someone else was collecting money at the door? How many of you have had to pay to get into a birthday party?
Third, you think the ruse might have been exposed when guys started unloading sound systems and turn tables and stage lights and hauling them into the fire hall. I wonder also if there were any noise complaints coming from the area that Sunday night.
Fourth, the Joppa-Magnolia VFC knew enough that a one-day liquor license was needed, but didn’t request to see it at the start of the ‘birthday party?’ I seriously doubt DJ D. Holla and company got the requisite paperwork from the Harford County Liquor Control Board and if they did, shame on the board.
Fifth, has there ever been a time MySpace.com has been cited in any sort of news story for anything other than underaged drinking, drugs, rape and now, apparently, murder? If anyone from the VFC or Liquor Board knew this was to be a MySpace party, they should have known there was going to be trouble.
Some of the VFC’s are very lax in their oversight of their hall rentals. But is it within their scope to verify all necessary permits? For liability reasons, I would, if I owned the hall but since they don’t, I’m not sure.
Also, this isn’t the first MySpace murder even locally. Locally, 2 years ago a girl named Brown was found along I-95 near Baltimore.
I can’t imagine that they were aware that the party “hosts” were collecting gate receipts. They would have contracted to have themselves a piece of that.
To answer another question from Brian, I know that they have had issues there before with the LCB. I am not sure in this instance. It will be an interesting aside.
If a tree falls and no one is there to hear it…..has it made a noise?
Before it disappears from the World Wide Web, I thought it might be relevant to post the link and some information from the MySpace.com page that promoted this ‘birthday party’ that led to a murder in Joppa Sunday night.
Caution, explicit content: http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendID=171675535
Keeping It Live Joppa Magnolia Fire Hall July 13
Male
25 years old
NU JERSEY/ABERDEEN
2004 to Present
Bel Air, MD
Graduated: N/A
Degree: Associate’s Degree
Major: Business Adminstration
1998 to 2002
Aberdeen High
Aberdeen, MD
Graduated: 2002
Student status: Alumni
Degree: High School Diploma
Clubs: Football-Baseball
FAST LANE ENTERTAINMENT Life is a Party!! Come party with Fastlane Entertaiment coming to a city near you. Manage Business with creative, strong minded, loyal, people. Young and up coming promotor in the game Networking, Changing the game, and keeping focus on business. Entertainment -Birthday Bash -Music -Fashion -Promotional Parties
The promotional flyer shows fireworks, women and men in sunglasses, bedazzled with gold jewelry. The advertisement indicates there will be a grand prize give-away (but doesn’t specify the contest or the prize), that a bar is available, but that the party is restricted to those 17 years of age or older.
Rome, the name of the party host, also lists his cell phone number if anyone is interested in asking him how the murder went down…or interested in having him set up your next birthday party.
Brian…wow………..did you go to the RichieC school of being pissed off……i like it….!!!
The message is not lost . This fire dept ether got stumped or they just dont care…I guess thats the question.
Go Dagger
Strange. I checked out the MS page you linked to, and there is indeed no mention of what the “grand prize” was.
An all expense paid trip to the OCME, and exclusive backstage VIP tour? Lucky stiff!
In case anyone was wondering, the deceased, Tariq S. Alston, 22, of Edgewood, was no stranger to the Maryland judicial system.
He was supposed to have a violation of probation hearing coming up on July 28 and from 2004-2007, it looks like he’d been charged or convicted of:
– TRESPASS: PRIVATE PROPERTY
– DRIVING/ATTEMPTING DRIVE MOTOR VEH. ON HWY W/O REQ. LICENSE AND AUTHORIZATION
– DRIVE VEH WO OWNERS CONSENT
– TAKING VEH WO OWNERS CONSENT
– CDS: POSSESS-NOT MARIHUANA
– RESISTING ARREST
– OBSTRUCTING & HINDERING
– MOTOR VEH/UNLAWFUL TAKING
– DRIVING OFF ROADWAY WHILE PASSING
– CDS POSS W/INT TO DIST
– CDS: POSSESSION-MARIHUANA
– CDS PACK MATERL POSS/DISTR
this is what the police have been saying’ for years. we arrest’ the court’s set them free.
I wonder if Mr Alston bought his pot from Robert Chance?
I know that statement hurts….like a slap in the ass when being born…or a needle to stop you from getting polio…so ill say it again.
I WONDER IF MR. ALSTON BOUGHT HIS POT FROM ROBERT CHANCE?
Go Dagger !!!!
You said it richiec. bob chance was a self appointed big foot expert.if he did’nt see it. it did’nt happen.
As second thought. I wonder if the dagger will continue to run bob chance’s web page? it look’s like a conviction is a sure thing.
Hey’ richiec. take a look at Haver de grace in the wilkipedia web page
you just might be right the clout BIG MONEY is moveing in the poor folk’s is packing there rag’s & moveing out.
Bob has a very loyal following. Lets see how his case pans out….lets be fair. I’ll be the first to lead the charge if hes found not guilty…(probably the only one, and ill be crucified for criticizing the prosicuter that did it)…of the Grand Jurys indictment.
I know Ive been denied all process, appeals, and process in any way….but what the hell…who am I. After all…my spelling is terrible.
Go Dagger !!!
Yes Vet Ive seen that…somone is hard at work.
I hope that Chance is removed from the HCPS Hall of Fame if he is convicted. Based on my experience with him, he would have never even come close to being named to it, but that’s another story. This must be bigger than the original story led us to believe if the feds are seizing his property.
Phil…
About environmentilism…I had a site and operation cleaned up in Baltimore City years ago where our glass…and glass from other counties was being deposited. According to EPA law it was a dump (landfill)…the 5 counties were saying it was recycling…and it helped their tonnage numbers. I was called recently a trouble maker for that (of course the story circulated about me was that I stopped a local guy from collecting alluminum cans for no reason). The site was 650,000 cubic yards of crushed glass and growing. Its always the numbers. The site coud have resulted in a superfund liability…new and more draconion regulations would have resulted as a result making recycling more expensive and less competitive. That results to more expensive trash collection fees.
I fought this at my own expense with little support. The only one who appreciated it was Robert Hooper…who gave his support buisness wise where he could.
In the end the MDE issued a clean up order based upon the EPA rules to the operater who was contracting to MES who was accepting it from our county DPW.
The north east solid waste authority (edgewood incinerater) was another vile little pack of rats. Connections to persons selling into sud africa when it was banned ect.
Right is right. Wrong is wrong. Never is right wrong and wrong right.
Would any of you like to talk environment and its politics ?….I think im qualified. If you guys only knew. The pettiness of it and the expense on your nickle. One day a guy is selling trash service…store to store…next thing hes directing a department of a county. The next thing is your tax bill goes up and no one knows why.
Go Dagger ! ! !
I keep hearing over and over again that everyone should have known about this because it was advertised on MySpace. Has anyone here actually looked at MySpace. Would anyone here know how to find an advertisement like that if it hadn’t been so publicly touted?? The officials who rented that hall are supposed to be omniscient and scan MySpace, Facebook and Friendster for underground advertisements? I personally feel that they shouldn’t hold as much of the blame as is being placed on their shoulders. I myself used to be in charge of renting a similar facility and I can guarantee you there were many many reservations booked to the midnight or one o’clock hour. So I can’t understand how that should have thrown a red flag. It’s standard. As far as the comment about someone noticing money being taken at the door, that doesn’t fly with me either. Contrary to popular belief, volunteer fire departments are not all staffed 24/7. So there isn’t always someone there. Now, I will grant you that a representative of the VFD should have been on site, but how much can you expect of volunteers? These people sacrifice so much as it is, do we expect them to spend the time not used up fighting fires and saving lives to make sure the people who sign contracts to rent their building aren’t scraping up the floors with their chairs? And in regards to the comment about lighting and sound systems being carted into the hall…you mean to tell me you’ve never attended a birthday party of that size? I’ve been to three this year alone! I’d hate to see your social calender.
I just think the blame needs to be placed squarely where it belongs…on the shoulders of the one who pull the trigger and the ones who’s deception and trickery gave this particular act of violence room to bloom.
No one is saying the blame shouldn’t fall on whomever pulled the trigger. That much is plain and obvious. What isn’t plain and obvious are the points you tried to clarify, but ended up instead exposing as weaknesses in the current VFC hall rental process.
First, there’s no need to get defensive. A terrible tragedy occured in the Joppa-Magnolia VFC hall. It wasn’t perpetrated, as far as anyone knows, by a member of the company and certainly wasn’t condoned by anyone in the company.
But compare this incident to one of the many recent school shootings in America. In those instances, there was an immediate and intense cry for schools to have better procedures, proper training, and even equipment such as metal detectors and new personnel like security officers hired to keep the school safe.
The schools can’t be blamed for creating the violence, but, just like the Joppa-Magnolia VFC, they can’t be completely absolved either.
No, the VFC shouldn’t have to check MySpace to make sure the birthday party really isn’t an all-night dance party. But, yes, the VFC should have some sort of policy in place to make sure the hosts are who they really say they are. I think there’s a lot of merit to requiring first time hall renters to have to have a member of the VFC sponsor, support or vouch for their event. Isn’t that the kind of community involvement the volunteer fire companies should have anyway?
If you were booking birthday parties at 1 a.m. on a Sunday I’d have to question what facility you were renting and for what clientele? Should our Volunteer Fire Companies really be in the business of renting out their facilities in the middle of the night – especially something like a Sunday night, for a birthday party?
I don’t care if it ‘doesn’t fly with you’ that taking money at the door isn’t something the VFC should be doing. Here’s something to consider – just because it’s a common practice doesn’t make it right. Let’s not lose sight of the fact that these VFCs are funded by Harford County with taxpayer money.
I can already hear you typing out the rebuttal that VFCs are woefully underfunded by the county and have to participate in year-round fundraisers just to make ends meet and afford enough equipment to ensure people like myself have adequate fire protection. Well, if county funding isn’t enough, then maybe it’s finally time to merge the VFC with a paid county fire department – to ensure that there are enough people, who are being paid to protect and serve. And who don’t need to be throwing parties in the middle of the night to do so.
Thank you for understanding that a representative of the VFC should at least be on hand. I mean showing up to take the cash and then bolting to leave a disorderly group of young adults and alcohol with unsupervised access to a county public safety facility is just utterly unfathomable. If it’s too much to ask of a volunteer to show up for the event the VFC is going to make cash hand over fist on, well, then please refer to my previous statement about a paid county fire department.
Sorry my social life doesn’t stack up to yours because I’ve never been to a Sunday night hiphop birthday party that extended until sunrise. But I have been on the other end of the transaction. I used to rent VFC halls out for my band and others to put on concerts in and around Harford County. I used to watch the exasperated looks on the VFC members’ faces as we unloaded amplifiers and drum kits into their facilities. I used to wonder how the hell we were getting away with continually being able to rent the place out. I don’t wonder that anymore. It’s clear this is a monetary issue. VFCs need more of it and rentals probably bring in a larger portion of the fundraising pie than anyone would care to admit in public.
But, you know what, if I were a member of a VFC, I would be highly selective in my rental selection process – focusing on wedding receptions, family reunions and BINGO night. I wouldn’t even rent the hall out to my former, younger self to set up a local concert.
The blame belongs with the shooter and, if ever fingered, I’m sure they will pay the price. But when it came to giving the violence ‘room to bloom,’ how can you overlook the ones who own the room and handed over the keys to the unsupervised facility in the first place?