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 Killer of Marine deverves the needle.

Delvis Fernandez rode a Marine Humvee's  50 caliber machine gun in the streets of Iraq. Eariler this week, he was killed in a senseless act of violence.

Only he was not gunned down in Iraq. He was gunned down in downtown Sarasota, Florida, his adopted hometown.

He was not gunned down by an Iraqi insurgent, nor was he gunned down by al Qaida-in-Iraq. He was gunned down in a carjacking attempt by a common thug (OK, accused common thug) who, according to police, was aided and abetted in the crime by his mother.

The accused murderer, Deandre Tunstall (photo below), was driven to the crime scene by his mother. Tunstall had a pistol and a black ski mask with him at the time. Police claim Tunstall's mother knew what he was about to do and lied to police about it.

Fernandez was going home after his daily classes to become a police officer. The sheer randomness and the sheer audacity of the crime are shocking, even in this day and age where hardly anything is a shock anymore.  From the Sarasota Herald-Tribune:

SARASOTA - A witness saw Deandre Tunstall, dressed in black from head to toe, pull a black ski mask over his face, put on black gloves and arm himself with a handgun, Sarasota police say.

Deandre Tunstall, already a felon, is charged with murder.

In the afternoon daylight, witnesses saw the man in black confront another man on the north side of the Star Mini-Mart in Newtown, shoot him several times and flee, police say.

Officials say two witnesses picked Tunstall, 18, out of a photo lineup, and detectives arrested the convicted felon and charged him with murder Tuesday night in Manatee County.

A SWAT team and other violent crimes officers surrounded a house, and found a handgun inside when they arrested Tunstall, police said.

Iraq War veteran Delvis Fernandez, 21, died Friday at Sarasota Memorial Hospital. There was apparently no previous connection between Tunstall and Fernandez, police said.

Detectives believe it was a carjacking attempt.

Fernandez stopped at the convenience store, 2950 N. Washington Blvd., on his way home from community college classes Friday about 3 p.m. He was studying to become a Sarasota police officer.

A witness identified Tunstall as the man dressed in all black running east from the convenience store on 30th St., hopping some fences and telling someone on a cell phone to pick him up on Leonard Reid Avenue, police said.

Seven evidence markers showing the locations of bullet casings or bullet fragments were scattered around the passenger side of Fernandez's car, which was towed away Friday afternoon.

Fernandez, a Booker High School graduate, had returned from an eight-month tour in Iraq with the Marine Reserves, where he often manned a .50-caliber gun on the lead car in dangerous supply convoys.

When he got back home, Fernandez also rejoined his minor-league football team, the Sarasota Millionaires, which had final tryouts Saturday just blocks from the shooting.

Millionaires co-owner Bethsaida Williams said Fernandez's teammates were relieved to hear of the arrest Wednesday, as they prepared to go to his wake.

"A lot of thoughts run through your head. Who else does he have it out for?" Williams said.

The funeral is scheduled for this morning.

Fernandez's friends say he gave back to the community, such as reading to elementary school children.

He had been bilingual since his mother brought him here from Cuba, and would have made a good police officer, said those who knew him.

Police also arrested Tunstall's mother, Rose Mary Salem, 41, on a charge of helping her son commit murder and lying to police.

She admitted driving her son to the convenience store just before the shooting, police said.

Tunstall had just been released from jail after pleading guilty to a robbery. He had been arrested in February and was sentenced to time served. Wednesday night, he remained in the Sarasota County jail without bail.

http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20081030/ARTICLE/810300391

This is not the first time an Iraq war veteran has successfully braved the bullets of the enemy, only to come home and be gunned down by an American in a senseless act of violence.  The perp is usually some thug, some piece of crap loser with no future who acts purely out of self-interest with absolutely no regard for the consequences.

We've got some serious issues here.  Note this scumbag was just released for burglary.  It is a step up to murder, but leniency of a judge is inferred by the articles. 

In this case, the perp was black and the victim was Hispanic.  In other cases, the crime is black-on-black.  They can be white-on-white, or any variation under the sun,  Regardless of color, class or motivation, only when all facets of American society decide to deal with finality and with no remorse toward these scumbags will we actually start to regain control of our streets again and move forward together as a people.  No rationalization of the act; no psychobabble about his upbringing or his hopelessness.  Bullshit.  Only the needle or a lifetime of jail without any hope of parole will suffice for him and others like him who prey upon the lawful.