Gang Ties To Kroger Blaze Probed
Contributed photo
Kenneth Roger McCoy
BY CLAIRE GALOFARO
BRISTOL HERALD COURIER
BRISTOL, Va. – City police confirmed Monday that the May fire at the Kroger store is believed to have been gang-related.
They’ve charged an 18-year-old Abingdon man, Kenneth Roger McCoy, of Mahogany Drive, with accessory to arson, conspiracy to commit arson and gang recruitment of a juvenile.
Last week, two teenage girls, who police say actually lit the May 21 blaze, were charged. Their names were not released.
While the fire sent dozens of shoppers to the grocery store’s exits, there were no injuries and only minor damage, mostly from the store’s sprinkler system. The store was up and running less than 12 hours later.
One girl, 13, was charged with arson and conspiracy. A 17-year-old believed to be her accomplice was charged with principle in the second degree arson and conspiracy.
McCoy is awaiting a July 23 hearing at the city jail, where he is being held without bond, said Detective DeeDra Branson.
According to the criminal complaint filed by Branson, McCoy is the self-described leader of a local faction of a national gang.
“It certainly seems like the risk to the general public has increased,” Branson said. “This is still an ongoing case, there will definitely be some additional investigating.”
In his statement, McCoy described the arson as a gang initiation. He said he enlisted the two girls and a third juvenile to set fire to the cosmetics aisle of Kroger, the complaint states. Afterward, McCoy told police he presented the 13-year-old with a bandana symbolizing her acceptance into the gang.
Detective Vicki Byrd, who heads the city Police Department’s gang task force, said the fire is the first dangerous offense they’ve seen from McCoy’s gang.
“This particular set has not been around very long,” she said. “This might nip it in the bud.”
Byrd and Branson declined to identify the particular gang affiliation, saying publicity tends to jump-start criminal activity.
McCoy’s crew is one of a number of local gangs that copy-cat a national gang in colors and name, but without official ties or affiliation, they said.
“It’s like you opened a McDonald’s, but didn’t pay franchise fees,” Byrd said.
She said the rise in Bristol’s gang activity is part of a national trend, primarily in small, unsuspecting communities.
“It’s more a gang presence than it is a gang problem,” Bryd said. “Where you’ve got drugs, you’ve got gangs. Where you’ve got gangs, you’ve got drugs. It is so difficult to stamp out because the gang is like a surrogate family. It’s a culture that governs almost everything they do.”
| (276) 645-2531
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Actually, I am not the only one. The thing is, the children/teenagers that are from two family homes that have trouble are alot of times from wealthy homes. These kids are sent away to boarding schools, gotten private counseling and are handled in a very different manner. Even growinp up the wildest kids that I knew were from wealthy two parent homes. They had the money to party and the place to do it. They would get caught and their parents had enough money to get them out of it. The kids you are referring to are just unfortunate enough to be in families that do not have the money to handle the issues in a private manner, therefore; they end up in government agencies.
And no, a child does not need a man figure to become a well rounded mature adult. The only thing a single mother would need a man for in raising her children is to teach the boys how to pee standing up!
evanstar-I respectfully disagree with you. You are the only one that knows of the same amount of children that are in trouble with 2 parent homes as one parent homes.
I am not bashing anyone, especially those single parent homes that one of the spouses thinks that the grass is greener on the other side of the fence, so they take off letting the other spouse hold the bag.
But the fact is in our society that the majority of children are born out of wedlock. And a huge percentage is born to single family homes.
The percentages are overwhelming of men and women that are incarcerated: a higher amount come from single family homes.
Face it. Most boys growing up need a man figure, preferrably their dad to keep them in line. There are exceptions to this fact.
But for the most part a mom and dad that are raising their kids, trying to set the best example for them, limiting them to the junk that they watch on tv, the garbage that is called music and checkout the people that they hang around with, have less trouble than single parent homes.
Again, that is not bashing anyone. That is straight facts.
My daughter is a single mom and is doing a great job with my granddaughter. Of course little bit is not quite 4 yet, but she’s pretty much well behaved. She has her days and throws fits like any pre-schooler will but we handle discipline problems swiftly and surely.
I know just as many troubled children that come from two parent homes as I do from single parent homes, so let’s not bash single parents. A single parent can raise a wonderful, well-rounded, intelligent law abiding adult just as well as two parents can.
I was there when this stupid stunt happened. I was taking my elderly mom shopping when we were walking in the door and the siren went off.
I will volunteer to straighten these kids out.
Give me 50 acres somewheres and I’ll have them in a work camp. Then give me their parents at another location. Sadly most of these kids don’t have two parents in the home-and usually the one that is keeping them should be fixed like a dog so they can’t reproduce.
I used to work with troubled teen boys and in every case they either didn’t have a mom or dad at home and the caregiver either was a grandparent that didn’t have a clue nor the energy to keep them on the straight and narrow.
After I had these misfits for 6 months they would have no more chances for screwup. If they did put them in jail.
Most of them need to be cutoff from having contact with the family due to most of their families being lowlife misfits.
There are rarities. And when that does occur have a board of folks that have some common sense to rule on those matters.
The first thing all of them needs is a good #%^& busting.
Like I said, someone donate me some land and I’ll get to work.
I agree that we really do have a relatively low crime rate compared to alot of other larger cities. Even JC is more dangerous than Bristol. And, although it could have been much worse it wasn’t and you can’t charge someone with what “could” have happened. That would be like charging a dui suspect with vehicular homicide because he “could” have hit and killed someone. This was just some little gang wannabe that thought up something extremely stupid for some younger kids that looked up to him as something he wasn’t. I also ask you..at 13..where were her parents? How was a girl so young able to build such a relationship with someone like this older kid…I know we can’t always blame the parents..but she is 13.
This guy used a 13 year-old girl to commit a crime. How pathetic!!! The girl should get counseling and I am sure without this guys influence she would have never done this. Don’t you know that is why older people seek out young kids to commit crimes. Who else would be stupid enough to buy into this. Thank god no one was hurt.
Are you serious? i went to school with this kid all the way up. He is literally harmless, just has no brains at all, He is def. not a part of any national gang he always tried to act like a rough one in school but nobody ever payed him attention, if anything he is made himself out to be some druglord in his own head but im not suprised that he was responsible for the fire at all, he needs mental institution and counceling big time
No doubt, these are the same idiots you see strutting around town with their pants down to their knees, like they just made a boom-boom. I always give ‘em the bird.
Send ‘em to prison. Don’t drop the soap in the shower—idiot.
ehetsu12,
What if a civilian had tripped and hurt themselves in the rush to get out? What if an elderly person was not as fast to exit and was stuck in the smoke filled store? What if a firefighter was hurt in the process of responding or entering the store? Would you think these kids are so innocent then? Take your thoughts back to DC!
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