“Gardner said they called themselves
Crips, the name of a real nationwide gang started in Los Angeles. It had
“initiation rituals and renunciation rituals,” Gardner said.”

”
‘Renunciation rituals’ are what gang members go through to leave the gang,
Gardner said.”

“He said his client’s initiation rite required him to

spray-paint  ‘Crips’ on a Discovery bathroom wall. Police confirmed Tuesday
that a bathroom at the school was sprayed with gang graffiti at some point, but
did not say specifically when.”

“After being sent to alternative school
as punishment, Gardner said the boy, who was taking medication for

depression, received counseling that
persuaded him to leave the gang.”

“My client had made known his
intention to leave the gang,” Gardner said. ‘When you renounce, you must submit
to a physical beating. It’s called ‘suiciding out.’
”

http://blog.al.com/breaking/2010/02/madison_police_say_both_suspec.html

Speaking inside the school in front of a large poster with
Todd Brown’s picture and memorials written by students, authorities gave their
fullest picture so far of the investigation.

Brown, 14, died Friday after
being shot during a class change at the 1,001-student school. The suspect, also

14, has been charged with murder and is being held in a juvenile
facility.

Police have identified fewer than 10 middle school boys,
including the suspect and victim, “who wanted to possibly align themselves with
some sort of national gang,” Police Chief Larry Muncey said.

They didn’t
know how to join a real gang, Muncey said, so they “went online and learned how
to walk and how to talk and how to dress.”

“I’m not saying some weren’t
serious,” Muncey said.

Brown’s family told WHNT-TV Channel 19 in a brief
statement Tuesday that they had never known Brown to be involved in gang
activity.

The shooting followed the suspect’s decision to get out of the
gang, said Huntsville attorney Bruce Gardner, who is representing the young
suspect in early legal proceedings.

Gardner said they called themselves
Crips, the name of a real nationwide gang started in Los Angeles. It had
“initiation rituals and renunciation rituals,” Gardner
said.

“Renunciation rituals” are what gang members go through to leave
the gang, Gardner said.

He said his client’s initiation rite required him

to spray-paint “Crips” on a Discovery bathroom wall. Police confirmed Tuesday
that a bathroom at the school was sprayed with gang graffiti at some point, but
did not say specifically when.

After being sent to alternative school as
punishment, Gardner said the boy, who was taking medication for depression,
received counseling that persuaded him to leave the gang.

“My client had
made known his intention to leave the gang,” Gardner said. “When you renounce,
you must submit to a physical beating. It’s called ‘suiciding out.’
”

Gardner said the boy was told he wouldn’t be beaten, but he did
voluntarily “burn his bandana” in a sort of symbolic resignation. Gardner was
referring to the blue bandana Crips wear to show affiliation.

“I am not
suggesting for a minute that this kid deserved to be shot,” Gardner said of the
victim, but there is evidence of cyberbullying and threats against his client
after he wanted out.

Gardner said his client’s parents are “devoutly
religious people” who are “mortified” by the slaying.

Gardner also
confirmed that Brown was shot with a .22-caliber pistol but said he did not know
where the gun came from.

Addressing rumors circulating about the case,
Muncey and Madison City Schools Superintendent Dee Fowler also said:

•
Their investigation did not find gang activity at any other Madison

school.

“They thought it was cool,” Muncey said of the Discovery gang,
“but when their parents came in, I don’t think they thought it was cool
anymore.”

“No parent admitted knowing” anything about the gang, Muncey
said.

• The suspect was a student at Discovery all year, Fowler said,
although he no longer is. His education is now being handled by the juvenile
detention center.

Gardner said the boy did transfer from Liberty to
Discovery during the summer after problems – none of them major – at
Liberty.

• Video cameras were installed when the 9th-grade wing at
Discovery was built. Muncey would not confirm the shooting was caught on camera,
but said he “would be surprised if it was not.”