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Robert Keegan, 47, has been charged with murder after police say he shot and killed a Black teenager in the parking lot of an Ashland hotel on Monday. The shooting has drawn condemnation from Southern Oregon’s Black community, which raised concerns about the area’s culture and history of white supremacy.
The teen, whose name has not been publicly confirmed by police, has been widely identified on social media and in news reports as Aidan Ellison, 19.
The probable cause affidavit in the case is sealed. A press release from Ashland Police Department says both Ellison and Keegan were staying at the Stratford Inn in Ashland, and that the two did not know each other. Ashland Police Chief Tighe O’Meara said in a statement on Facebook that the two got into an argument over Ellison playing loud music in the parking lot. Keegan then took a gun out of his coat and fired a single shot into Ellison’s chest, police reports say. Ellison died at the scene.
Precious Edmonds, a spokesperson for the Southern Oregon Black Leaders, Activists and Community Coalition (SOBLACC) said the killing itself, as well as the way it was framed by police and local media, is an example of the area’s culture of white supremacy.
“The incident where Aidan was shot after an argument listening to his music was really about him not submitting to that man’s perceived authority,” she said.
She added that the organization was frustrated with many people, including police and local news organizations, for their attempts to absolve Keegan while vilifying Ellison.
“He was listening to his music too loudly — that’s irrelevant,” Edmonds said. “It doesn’t change a thing, how good the man who shot him was. All of those things are not relevant to what occurred. But that’s the narrative, that’s the frame of white supremacy.”
The man, Robert Keegan, faces four criminal counts.
www.oregonlive.com
Ashland Oregon Police Department on Thursday
I need to offer a clarification in reference to the horrendous murder that occurred on Monday morning. It has been reported in some local media sources that I said this murder was "because of" something. The only thing that caused this murder was suspect's actions, 100% . It is completely immaterial what led up to it. I cannot control how the local media sources represent the words I give them. Yes, there was an argument over music, no, this did not happen because of loud music, it happened because the suspect chose to bring a gun with him and chose to use it, 100% on him, not the poor young man that was murdered. I would like to thank the community members who reached out to me to express their concern over how the situation was reported. Tighe.
Robert Paul Keegan, 47, is charged with second-degree murder and other charges in the Monday, Nov. 23, 2020, shooting death of Aidan Ellison, 19, in the parking lot of the hotel where both men were staying.
Isn't it enough the shooter is clearly an angry pussy hiding behind his proxycawk?
The kid is still dead.
Were there reliable witnesses to the killing where racial motivation was clear?
Not everything is about race.
A lot of things happen because of angry, short tempered, impotent cowards with weapons handy.
Having said that...execute the bastard.
You just summed up my opinion nicely, Sugar Cookie. Evidently, being considerate of others is now considered "submitting to the man" or being coerced by white men with delusions of power. Respect has to be mutual.
Wow, congratulations dipshit!
Now your son has to deal with losing his dad on top of everything else he's lost!
All because you couldn't just let it slide and call the front desk to complain...
Pathetic...
i don't really know how to say this, so I'm just gonna say it.
Clearly the shooter was self entitled and the life of a young black man means absolutely nothing to him. That's why he shot him. Do you think if this was a white man, the guy would have gone down there with a gun to shoot? I don't think so.
And lets just say he took the gun down there because he didn't feel safe. Why wouldn't he feel safe? Because the guy is black.
Ya'll probably don't mean no harm, but this IS America. And we DO have a race problem. No, everything isnt about race, but a hell of a lot of things ARE. Too many things, in fact. And being willfully ignorant about it isn't gonna solve the problem.
He should have let the hotel or police handle it. He's worse than those people who attack others for not wearing a mask or for being asked to wear one. Mfkas be doing too much.
Now we'll never know what kind of light he extinguished. Fuck the fact that his music was loud. It wasn't worth his life and that's just PERIOD
You just summed up my opinion nicely, Sugar Cookie. Evidently, being considerate of others is now considered "submitting to the man" or being coerced by white men with delusions of power. Respect has to be mutual.
I think you took that lady's words out of context. No one said being considerate is submitting to the man. She said the shooter had the PERCEPTION of authority. If he didn't think he had more authority than he actually did, he would have let the PROPER authorities handle it. Now HE will have to "submit to the man". How fitting
And how considerate of him to shoot that young man? Because now you REALLY got a lot of noise and shit. Ambulance and police sirens, crime scenes, etc. Now EVERYBODY is being disturbed. Kudos to him for causing more noise than he complained about
I don't think the shooter was right in any way. As to the victim, "discretion is the better part of valour", a quote from Shakespeare's Henry IV. I doubt it made any difference to Aidan who wanted the music turned down; no one was going to tell him what to do, dammit. He obviously wasn't too concerned about the possibility of getting shot or he would've just driven off.
The victim DID put himself in danger when he decided to blast music at 4 in the morning and then got into an argument with a man (of unknown temperament) who complained about it. This type of shit happens regardless of race or racism and will continue to happen when one of the parties refuses to back down and the other party ain't having it.
The Black population in Oregon is 2.9%. 5.8% in the City of Portland, but averages 2.9% overall. Some hick in Ashland didn't react to the color of the kid's skin, he reacted to the kid's sense of entitlement and utter rudeness. Not justified in anyway. But ALWAYS making it a "black vs. white" thing is getting over played. Rude kid killed for being rude by even ruder old dude is all it is. Why intentionally start a firestorm by adding race into the mix? Why mention skin color of either player at all?
Keegan will serve 120 months for manslaughter, one year for unlawful possession of a firearm and one year for reckless endangerment of another person. These will be served consecutively, meaning that Keegan will serve 12 years. However, he will be credited for the two and a half years he has already served in prison, meaning that he will have nine and a half left after this.
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www.oregonlive.com
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www.kiro7.com
Respect has to be mutual.
