Davenport is a city of about 100,000 people.  Yet with the large number, most people
are familiar with the Howard family.  The entire family is frequently in trouble, and it
has been going on for generations.  One of the women in the family was "accidently"
shot and killed Saturday night.  A brother or cousin was the target.

Do you have an entire family of "bad apples" in your town?

www.qctimes.com/articles/2006/08/23/news/local/doc44ebe704c325b014652366.txt

(readers can leave comments at the bottom of the newspaper article, some are interesting)

Vincelina Howard was outside with her family that night, joking around and laughing, when the bullets started to fly from the street in front of her grandmother’s house. She fell to the ground with her grandmother and mother nearby. “Vincelina, you can get up now. They’re done shooting,” Shirley Burrage, the grandmother, said she told the 19-year-old Saturday night in the front yard at 130 E. 12th St., Davenport. “When I touched her, she didn’t move. I can’t remember anything after that.” The teenager’s mother, Stephanie Howard, immediately realized something was wrong with the girl family members described as sweet and loving, yet sometimes feisty. And while Vincelina was considered “slow,” she did well in school, her mom said Tuesday. “I seen the blood on her and I just grabbed her and held her head. I just tried to wake her up and I couldn’t wake her up,” Howard added. “They were trying to kill everybody in the yard.” The Howard family, by some members’ own admission, is often synonymous with violence and crime in Davenport. Two of Vincelina’s distant cousins, Dane Howard and Jonathan Johnson, were murder victims. Two of her brothers were wounded in a drive-by shooting last year, her mother said. Her father, Vincent Harris, has spent time in prison. Several family members have police records. But not Vincelina. She had no criminal record. She never smoked or drank, and she corrected people when they uttered a cuss word, family and friends said. She loved playing with children, especially her two nieces. Vincelina graduated from Davenport Central High School in June, one of the first members of the family to do so. She had finished her first week on a job she got through the Handicapped Development Center and was looking forward to her first paycheck. She had just won her first trophy, earned at a bowling competition a few weeks ago. “Whatever she did, she put her heart in it,” said Diann Nicholson, a program supervisor who worked with Vincelina through New Choices Inc., an agency that assists people with disabilities. “She was shy, very reserved. She was coming out of that cocoon. She was always so pleasant, so polite, so warm. She really touched our lives.” Nicholson is helping raise money to pay for Vincelina’s headstone. Born in 1987, Vincelina had a twin brother, Vincent, and four other siblings. She lived with her aunt, Shirley Hawkins, until she was 13 years old. She attended a handful of schools in Davenport while receiving her education. Connie Hoeppner first met Vincelina when she attended kindergarten at Adams Elementary. Hoeppner now works at Davenport Central. “She found friends everywhere she went. The kids all liked her. I’ve had crying young men in my arms the past couple of days because they are just so sad about this. It’s just such a useless tragedy. Her smile could brighten up the room. She was just a true delight, a true, true delight. I just can’t believe this. “In her corner of the world, she had a major, major impact and that is going to be missed. There is definitely a hole in her part of the world,” Hoeppner said. Fellow teacher Bev Schrader described Vincelina as “an awesome young lady” who was blossoming. “I have this wonderful vision of her crossing the stage to get her diploma,” Schrader said through tears. “She was holding her head high.” Vincelina often spent the night at her grandmother Burrage’s house, which she did Friday, the night before her death. “I’m gonna miss her hug,” said her grandmother, who has not returned to the house since the shooting, adding that she needs “justice for my grandbaby.” Police continued to investigate the death Tuesday in a “slow and deliberate process,” Capt. David Struckman said. “We’re covering all angles.” Witnesses told police numerous shots were fired from a vehicle that was eastbound on East 12th Street and immediately fled the scene. A vehicle matching the description of the one involved in the shooting was found abandoned a short time later on West 8th Street. It was impounded and examined by crime scene technicians. No arrests had been made in the case as of Tuesday evening. Tyia Howard, a cousin by marriage, said Vincelina’s death is so tragic because “she was a little girl who didn’t hurt nobody.” Her sister, Yneeka Howard, added, “She didn’t get a chance to live her life.”

We have several families whose names are synonymous with criminal activty.

ohhhh, I so want to say something here, but I just can't
just can't.
1st member of her family to graduate high school?
in 2006?
that's scary.

But let me take one guess, are they caucasian?

Quoted: ohhhh, I so want to say something here, but I just can't just can't. 1st member of her family to graduate high school? in 2006? that's scary. But let me take one guess, are they caucasian?

Ummmm......   I'm not going to violate the COC.  
Race doesn't matter if you are bred into a violent criminal environment.
You will likely grow up to be a violent criminal.

Maybe the girl was on a different path.  
But it is more likely she just hadn't been caught yet.

Around here, the newspaper usually lists where a person worked.
Nothing was noted here.  

I was kinda hoping they were not black! My people have had enough bashing around here of late

and she corrected people when they uttered a cuss word

How, with the proper use of the cuss word which was used,
or by indicating the correct cuss word that should have been used?

I heard a neighbor kid of mine shout
"I'll kick your mother-fucking-ass any mother-fucking-time, any mother-fucking-where".

My wife, who is an English teacher, about had a heart attack at the improper use of
the adjective.  

Race doens't matter.  Live in an area like Houston and you see criminals from all walks of life.  Doesn't matter what color they are, the're still criminals.

Look on the bright side... she was prolly good for what, 7 or 8 more little Howards?

I know, cruel....

ETA: I agree that race is irrelevant - scumbaggery knows no skin color bounds.

My friend is a Davenport LEO.  He said that it was a drive-by in two stages.  First they came through with handguns.  The second attach came through a minute later using an mp5 on full auto.

Apparently she was a good girl, not involved in the shit.  She took two 9mm from the mp5.

Quoted: My friend is a Davenport LEO.  He said that it was a drive-by in two stages.  First they came through with handguns.  The second attach came through a minute later using an mp5 on full auto. Apparently she was a good girl, not involved in the shit.  She took two 9mm from the mp5.

You'd think they might have GONE INSIDE after the first "wave"??!!!

Quoted: I was kinda hoping they were not black! My people have had enough bashing around here of late

"My people" ???   I guess I've never considered whites as "my people".

This thread had better not get into a race bashing competition.

Yes, they are black.  So is a significant percentage of our population.  

My neighbor is black.  Great guy.  He wants to move because our other
neighbors (also black) are getting too much to take.  

I don't want him to move.  We both own '69 Chevelles.  We love to talk about
cars, racing, etc.  I'll say it again, he is a great guy.

I went with him when he was looking at houses.  He made comments about
places he couldn't move to, because the Home Owners Association wouldn't
tolerate a black guy.  It about made me sick.

Race isn't what made the article noteworthy.
It was the fact that EVERYONE in town knows the trouble this family causes,
yet nothing can be done to solve the problem.  

Quoted: Quoted: My friend is a Davenport LEO.  He said that it was a drive-by in two stages.  First they came through with handguns.  The second attach came through a minute later using an mp5 on full auto. Apparently she was a good girl, not involved in the shit.  She took two 9mm from the mp5. You'd think they might have GONE INSIDE after the first "wave"??!!!

No, these people come outside to see why the tornado sirens are blaring.

Quoted: Quoted: My friend is a Davenport LEO.  He said that it was a drive-by in two stages.  First they came through with handguns.  The second attach came through a minute later using an mp5 on full auto. Apparently she was a good girl, not involved in the shit.  She took two 9mm from the mp5. You'd think they might have GONE INSIDE after the first "wave"??!!!

My understanding is that there really wasn't time.

Quoted: The second attach came through a minute later using an mp5 on full auto.

Holy shit.  

That kind of stuff never makes it into the newspaper.

I had no idea the gang bangers around here had that kind of hardware.

Sad the only decent one died.   Looks like the criminals get to pass their genes on.

They have been banging each other on both sides of the river for about 2 weeks now.

Quoted: She took two 9mm from the mp5.

How do the police know it was an MP5?

Forensics doesn't work that fast here.

Nobody has been arrested yet, and no weapons recovered.

Could this be another case of rapid firing being mistaken for full-auto?

THe shooters are obviously not frequent visitors of the site, or they would have got the right target....

http://www.ar15.com/forums/topic.html?b=1&f=5&t=493427

Quoted: Do you have an entire family of "bad apples" in your town?

My city [Providence] was the headquarters for the New England mafia for about 40 years...
so there are a few last names which are forever associated with organized crime, especially since city hall was under the mafia's control for a good 30 years too.

Quoted: Quoted: Do you have an entire family of "bad apples" in your town? My city [Providence] was the headquarters for the New England mafia for about 40 years... so there are a few last names which are forever associated with organized crime, especially since city hall was under the mafia's control for a good 30 years too.

I'll take organized crime over the disorganized shit this family does.

Quoted: Quoted: She took two 9mm from the mp5. How do the police know it was an MP5? Forensics doesn't work that fast here. Nobody has been arrested yet, and no weapons recovered. Could this be another case of rapid firing being mistaken for full-auto?

I think I'd lean a bit more to the Hi-point side of the spectrum.

yep. my neighboors. they are the ONLY family fucking up a good neighboorhood.

selling pot+crank, breaking into cars in OUR neighboorhood, its fun watching the police chase them around their house serving warrents, the time me and my friends went to the bar and they were there too... fuck, the kids mom jumped into the barfight faster than the kids did, great parenting. him and 3 homeboys came over to jump my nephew one day, i beat the fuck out of one of the kids and the other 3 ran off like bitches... they dont have anything to say afterwards, until there was 8 of them, then they got tough again but nothing happened. its the "gang" mentality.

the kid and his cousin / friends are all over 21, none of them have jobs, cars, live at home, etc etc, just all out fucking losers

We got them here also.
One such family had it's third generation killed in street crime.

Quoted: Same here, although there are "serious drug business" families and some "straight up dumbasses" families.The dumbasses are actually more trouble, getting into fights, DWIs, burglaries and so on, the real criminal dealers are mostly lower profile-except for the occaissional murder...

Yep.  You rarely hear anything out of the real serious ones, just the idiots.

Quoted: Quoted: I was kinda hoping they were not black! My people have had enough bashing around here of late I went with him when he was looking at houses.  He made comments about places he couldn't move to, because the Home Owners Association wouldn't tolerate a black guy.  It about made me sick.

In violation of federal housing discrimination laws?

Damn shame this bullshit STILL goes on in this country.

In Hawaii it's the Sua and Perry families.

Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: I was kinda hoping they were not black! My people have had enough bashing around here of late I went with him when he was looking at houses.  He made comments about places he couldn't move to, because the Home Owners Association wouldn't tolerate a black guy.  It about made me sick. In violation of federal housing discrimination laws? Damn shame this bullshit STILL goes on in this country.

When I say "wouldn't tolerate a black guy", I mean they would shun him.
Make him feel unwelcome.  Some of you know how an association can make
a person want to move.  

Heck, a guy I work with said his association would have a fit, and many people would
move away.  No law against that, I guess.  But damn, what retards.
My neighbor works for a living.  No kids.  He has been dating the same woman
for nearly 15 years.  He visits his mom in the nursing home.  He is a better guy
than most people I know.  

We have a family like that here too. The Commadore family, every generation is a gang banger/drug dealer they are always having run ins with the police. Their house is a shit hole, they leave there front door wide open with no storm door or screen almost 24 hrs a day. They live about a 1/4 mile from one of our public parks, they are always terrorizing anyone trying to use the facilties, ofcourse they have pit bulls. They think the public golf course is their back yard/path way to the stores.

My buddies mom gave them a couch about 10 yrs. ago thinking that may help them out. Well a few weeks later I drive by their house one day to see one side of it scorched. The dumbasses decided they didn't want it anymore dosed it in gasoline and lit it up. Two of the boys ended up burnt pretty badly and their shitty house got shitter. Ofcourse 10 yrs later and that side of the houe is still all fucked up with the sidding missing.

Yeah, here in the greater San Diego/Tijuana area the name "Arellano" comes up frequently.

Hate to seem like an unsympathetic bastard, but you lie with the dogs, you're bound to get fleas.

"You can get up, they're done shooting".  Obviously accustomed to taking incoming rounds.  If you really cared about your kids you would do like the Beverly Hillbillies and "move away from there".

I don't know who said it, but it was in reference to the RoP violence in the Middle East, but it applies equally here.  

"This problem will not go away until they start loving their children more than they love killing others."

(And before you race card accusers come out of the woodworks, by "they" I mean gangbangers).

Come to think of it, there are alot of similarities between gang bangers and extreme mulsim terrorists.  

Didn't realize that Davenport was violent like this.  Being from the Twin Cities, I think of the Quad Cities as a pretty rural metropolis.

The Howard family, by some members’ own admission, is often synonymous with violence and crime in Davenport. Two of Vincelina’s distant cousins, Dane Howard and Jonathan Johnson, were murder victims. Two of her brothers were wounded in a drive-by shooting last year, her mother said.

Quoted: Quoted: Same here, although there are "serious drug business" families and some "straight up dumbasses" families.The dumbasses are actually more trouble, getting into fights, DWIs, burglaries and so on, the real criminal dealers are mostly lower profile-except for the occaissional murder... Yep.  You rarely hear anything out of the real serious ones, just the idiots.

Sounds to me like the Howard family is synonymous with getting punked by the REAL bad families.

One look at the picture in the link told me all I nned to know...

There was another shooting yesterday morning that I didn't hear about until last night.

Police suspect it was in retaliation.  One guy injured, two guys arrested.

This will escalate.

Quoted: Quoted: My friend is a Davenport LEO.  He said that it was a drive-by in two stages.  First they came through with handguns.  The second attach came through a minute later using an mp5 on full auto. Apparently she was a good girl, not involved in the shit.  She took two 9mm from the mp5. You'd think they might have GONE INSIDE after the first "wave"??!!!

And while Vincelina was considered “slow,” she did well in school...

She should have majored in track.

Quoted: And while Vincelina was considered “slow,” she did well in school... She should have majored in track.

She was only slow because of the 200 pound ass she was carrying around with her.

Yep their called the Klugies.  They are true white trash.

Yep. We got the Vickers' on the northside of town and the Sharpes' on the south side. None of them worth pissing on.

Quoted: In Hawaii it's the Sua and Perry families.

Isn't Wo Fat still on the loose?



ETA I just noticed the rifle muzzle in that image.  

Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: I was kinda hoping they were not black! My people have had enough bashing around here of late I went with him when he was looking at houses.  He made comments about places he couldn't move to, because the Home Owners Association wouldn't tolerate a black guy.  It about made me sick.  It blows my mind  that people who value liberty would even consider living in an HOA.  *ARFCOM hypocrite* " I hate socialism, but I live in an HOA!"* ARFCOM hypocrite* In violation of federal housing discrimination laws? Damn shame this bullshit STILL goes on in this country. When I say "wouldn't tolerate a black guy", I mean they would shun him. Make him feel unwelcome.  Some of you know how an association can make a person want to move.   Heck, a guy I work with said his association would have a fit, and many people would move away.  No law against that, I guess.  But damn, what retards. My neighbor works for a living.  No kids.  He has been dating the same woman for nearly 15 years.  He visits his mom in the nursing home.  He is a better guy than most people I know.

Wait, you mean to tell me that people actually still live in HOME OWNERS ASSOCIATIONS???!!!


 Get the fuck outta here. I refuse to believe that people are THAT stupid.

I did not know there were so manyARFCOM guys in the quad cities,where are you all shooting at lately?

Hmmm, sounds like they are a large family mainly of welfare leeches, drug dealers, and general scum.

While this young woman sounds like she may have been a bright spot in an otherwise dark void of villany, her mistake was not getting away from the rest of the scum.

Damn, I had an app. there and was riding two weeks ago.  Didn't think it was THAT bad.

Quoted: I did not know there were so manyARFCOM guys in the quad cities,where are you all shooting at lately?

Either the DNR range in Princeton Iowa, or I have a membership to the Oak Hills gun club
near BlueGrass which is a safer but not as much fun.

Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: Do you have an entire family of "bad apples" in your town? My city [Providence] was the headquarters for the New England mafia for about 40 years... so there are a few last names which are forever associated with organized crime, especially since city hall was under the mafia's control for a good 30 years too. I'll take organized crime over the disorganized shit this family does.

Organized crime usually sticks to killing organized criminals.

Saturday, April 15, 2006

Astorga's Brothers Do Time for Murder

By T.J. Wilham
Journal Staff Writer
   If Michael Paul Astorga is convicted on any of his two murder charges, he will have something in common with his two younger brothers.
   All three would be in prison for murder.
   On Friday, Astorga was indicted in connection with the March 22 shooting of Bernalillo County Sheriff Deputy James McGrane Jr.
   Between Astorga, 29, and his two brothers— Matthew Astorga, 28, and Anthony R. Lucero, 25,— they have been convicted or charged with killing four people, which include a law enforcement officer, a soldier and a friend. In at least three of the killings, the victims were shot in the head.
   Theresa Romero, mother of all three men, didn't return phone calls seeking comment Friday.
   The first brother to be convicted was Matthew Astorga in 1997. He and Michael Astorga were charged in connection with killing 27-year-old Jose Maldonado Sigala, who was shot five times with a shotgun outside his Martineztown home in October 1996. The brothers claimed self defense.
   A jury acquitted Michael Astorga and convicted his brother of second-degree murder. Matthew Astorga was sentenced to 16 years in prison and is an inmate at the Lea County Correctional Facility.
   In 2001, Lucero, an Army private, was arrested in connection with killing his estranged wife's boyfriend, Oly Felipe, 22, who was also a soldier. At the time, Lucero and his wife were expected to get a divorce. Both men were on leave from Fort Hood, Texas.
   Lucero, 25, shot Felipe in the head outside a Taylor Ranch home in June 2001, according to court records.
   According to court records, the shooting took place after Lucero went to the home of his in-laws to drop off his daughter. Felipe and Lucero's wife had traveled from Texas to visit her parents.
   Lucero opened his shirt, showed a gun, shot Felipe in the head and laughed after killing him, court records state.
   Before the shooting, Lucero dropped a bullet in his wife's lap. The shooting occurred in front of two young children, including Lucero's.
   It took authorities several months to find Lucero, in part because his family helped him elude capture, prosecutors said. Lucero was arrested in November 2001 during a traffic stop. He was also wanted on a military desertion charge.
   An Army court martial at Fort Hood, Texas, convicted Lucero of murder. He is serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole at Fort Leavenworth military prison in Kansas.
   As with Lucero, family members are accused of helping Michael Astorga after he allegedly killed Candido Martinez, 27, last November in Albuquerque. Police said that Astorga and Martinez were boyhood friends. Police said the shooting stemmed from a dispute over a car.
   Astorga's aunt, Lorraine Martinez, 48, faces charges of helping Astorga elude capture after an arrest warrant was issued last year stemming from Candido Martinez's death. Astorga's wife, Marcella Poolaw Astorga, 24, was arrested following McGrane's death on suspicion of lying to federal investigators regarding her husband's whereabouts.
   District Attorney Kari Brandenburg said Astorga's mother is also under investigation.
   Astorga is now charged in the March 22 killing of McGrane, 38, during an early morning traffic stop in Tijeras. It took hundreds of law enforcement officers 13 days to find Astorga in Mexico.
   Romero told KOAT-TV, Channel 7, that she did not help her son elude police following McGrane's death.
   "But if I could have, I would have," she told the television station.
   At a news conference Friday, Brandenburg announced she personally, along with her chief deputy and another assistant district attorney, would prosecute Astorga.
   She said that Bernalillo County Sheriff Darren White and Gov. Bill Richardson requested she be involved in the case.
   "I decided that the community would like to see me in the trenches fighting on this one," Brandenburg said. "This is an important case ... When a law enforcement officer is killed in the line of duty as Deputy McGrane was killed, it really is a slap in the face to everyone who works in law enforcement. It is a slap in the face to all of us who work in the criminal justice system."
   A grand jury indicted Astorga on Friday on four felonies including first-degree murder, tampering with evidence and possession of a firearm by a felon.
   Prosecutors said that they haven't located the weapon used to kill McGrane but had enough evidence to proceed with an indictment.
   Brandenburg said she plans to take the Candido Martinez case to a grand jury next week.
   
Copyright © 2006 Albuquerque Journal

In my neck of the woods, we have the most arrested family in America. A few years ago Playboy did a small article about them.

Quoted: Race doens't matter.  Live in an area like Houston and you see criminals from all walks of life.  Doesn't matter what color they are, the're still criminals.

I live in Houston and you have a point but I've never been assaulted(well tryed to anyways) or had my house robbed by a white person, the people who tried to do a kick door on my mom the neighbors saw mexicans do it(I had a thread last month int he team forum about it)

They are known throughout the country.

Hatfields and Mccoys.

Quoted: They are known throughout the country. Hatfields and Mccoys.

I thought they "officially" ended their fude a few years ago.

(wasn't Bugs Bunny involved?)