Police: East End shooter said ‘another piece of trash off the street’ R.I.P James Means

[hand2handking]

[h1]Police: East End shooter said ‘another piece of trash off the street'[/h1]
The 62-year-old man accused of shooting and killing an unarmed teenager on Charleston’s East End Monday night was not allowed to have a gun, because of a previous domestic violence conviction.

William Ronald Pulliam allegedly shot 15-year-old James Harvey Means twice in the abdomen with a .380 caliber revolver.

Police said Pulliam showed no remorse after his arrest. He admitted shooting Means and said, “The way I look at it, that’s another piece of trash off the street,” according to a criminal complaint filed in Kanawha County Magistrate Court.

After the shooting, Pulliam went to dinner and then to a female friend’s home, according to the complaint, written by Charleston Police Detective C.C. Lioi. Police found the gun allegedly used to kill James Means at the friend’s home.

Charleston police asked federal authorities to determine if the killing meets the definition of a hate crime. Pulliam is white and Means was black.

The teenager was shot after a confrontation with Pulliam outside the Dollar General store at the corner of Washington and Nancy streets around 8:45 p.m. Monday.

Witnesses saw and heard Pulliam and Means exchange words after the two physically bumped into each other on the sidewalk near Dollar General, according to the complaint.

After the argument, Pulliam entered the store, while Means joined friends on the porch at the nearby home of a companion’s grandmother.

After Pulliam emerged from the store and walked past the porch where Means and his friends had gathered, the two argued again, and after Means crossed Washington Street East to approach the man, Pulliam shot Means twice, according to the complaint. The teen died shortly after arrival at Charleston Area Medical Center General Hospital.

One of the witnesses to the shooting was 13-year-old James Cooper, who told the Gazette-Mail on Tuesday morning that he saw Pulliam kill his friend. He said he, James

Means and another friend were sitting together just before the shooting. After the shooting, James Cooper said, he hopped a chain-link fence next to the house where the three were sitting.

On Tuesday morning, he showed another friend, Teonno White, 14, where the shooting happened, in front of a few brick houses on Washington Street East just before the intersection with Nancy Street.

White said he’s had run-ins with Pulliam in the past, when Pulliam would “pick on” his younger brother.

“One time I went over there to talk to him about it, I said, ‘You’ve got to quit picking on my little brother, that doesn’t look right,’” White said.

“He said, ‘Get the [expletive] off my property.’ He said I need to go on with my nappy Latino self. He’s just a real bad guy.”

White said he’s called the police about Pulliam before, and was told to avoid the man.  Caleb Burgess was working at the Dollar General when officers responded Monday night. He saw at least six police cars pull into the store’s parking lot.

“Someone told [the police] the guy came in here after the shooting, but he actually came in here before,” Burgess said.

He said police initially forced Burgess and another employee to the ground, guns pointed, until they confirmed the store was empty.

“After that, we pretty much were helping the cops with our camera systems for an hour or so,” Burgess said.

Lt. Steve Cooper, chief of detectives for the Charleston Police Department, said Pulliam was arrested near the scene of the shooting at about 10 p.m. Monday, slightly more than one hour after the event.

Pulliam was arraigned on the murder charge Tuesday morning via video from South Central Regional Jail before Kanawha County Magistrate Ward Harshbarger.

He appeared stoic as he acknowledged that he could face life in prison if convicted, and that he could have a lawyer appointed by the court represent him.

But he seemed startled by the idea that he would have to remain in jail for now, after Harshbarger told him that any possibility of him being released on bond wouldn’t come before his preliminary hearing on Dec. 1.

“Don’t I get to say anything?” Pulliam asked. The magistrate advised him against doing so before speaking with an attorney.

“I’ll lose my job and everything unless I can get out of here,” Pulliam said.

“I’m going to have to go on a hunger strike,” he muttered, as he was escorted out of the video conference room by a correctional officer.

Pulliam pleaded no contest in 2013 to a charge of domestic battery, which bars him from legally possessing a gun.

According to another criminal complaint in Kanawha Magistrate Court, Pulliam struck his pregnant daughter in the face several times with a closed fist and kicked her in the stomach. He also shoved his wife to the ground during that incident, according to the complaint.

Pulliam’s daughter had visible bruising to her left eye and was bleeding from her lip, Charleston Police Cpl. P.S. Kapeluck wrote in the January 2013 complaint, and Pulliam’s wife was bleeding from her elbow.

Prosecutors dropped one count of domestic battery, and Pulliam pleaded no contest to the other. He was sentenced to 36 days in jail, but Kanawha Family Judge Mike Kelly, who retired in 2014, suspended that sentence. The judge placed Pulliam on a year’s probation and gave him credit for six days he had already spent in jail.

According to Charleston police, the FBI is looking into the shooting, apparently to determine whether its meets the criteria for investigation as a hate crime.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Steve Ruby confirmed Tuesday afternoon that federal authorities have been asked to review whether the shooting falls within the federal hate crimes statute.

“That review is in its early stages, and the fact that a review is being conducted should not be taken as any indication of what the review’s outcome will be,” Ruby said. The hate crimes statute “establishes a maximum sentence of life imprisonment for willfully using a firearm to kill another person because of the victim’s actual or perceived race, color, religion or national origin.”

- See more at: http://www.wvgazettemail.com/news-c...-of-trash-off-the-street#sthash.Ra7Q8sSl.dpuf

thoughts? 

 

 

[combo gd]

RIP to the boy. So sad. 

I am on edge. 

I know my white neighbors hate me for no reason. 

I feel it. 

Stay safe out there my brothers and sisters. 

 

[jaysrcrak]

It's sad. Sad that people cant accidentally bump into each other on the street without it being a big thing.
Everybody wanna be hard. A simple excuse me from BOTH parties and both of them could've went their separate ways and lived life.
Pulliam was a POS who thought he was ending Means's life and ended his own in the process which is what usually happens.

Why is hate so popular and easy to turn to?
Why is it SO hard to LOVE one another?

I'm talking regular situations like bumping into someone. Who hasn't done that or had it done to them before? It happens.
Is it worth your life or your freedom? I don't understand.

Another one is when someone thinks you're looking them and their response to that is "TF you looking at" and proceeds to get hostile about it.
When in actuality that person might've been looking past that person at something behind him.
But at that point it's a pride issue and neither backs down, and you end up with some nonsense like we see here.
Is it really worth it? I don't understand.

 

[tripda6]

Dude also beat his pregnant daughter, kicked her in the stomach, and hit his wife...

Let that piece of **** rot in prison.

 

[jjs07]

Capital Punishment. Skip the trial.

 

[nyc game]

I'm not defending that piece of trash but.... Why go across the street to approach him?
This is the issue I have with these kids in this country, they are so quick to fight somebody over any little thing. When you walk the path of a tough guy this usually happens.

 

[superblytrife]

Taxpayers shouldn't have to foot the bill for this scumbag's inevitable life sentence.  He's clearly beyond redemption, as evidenced by his arrogant and remorseless attitude.  

Take him out back and put one in his head.  

 

[jjs07]

I'm not defending that piece of trash but.... Why go across the street to approach him?
This is the issue I have with these kids in this country, they are so quick to fight somebody over any little thing. When you walk the path of a tough guy this usually happens.

Probably still heated and felt disrespected. Also probably thought he could get in a few on a 60+ year old man.

Obviously, it would have been in his best interest to let it go...but it's hard to say that to a teen.

 

[nyc game]

Probably still heated and felt disrespected. Also probably thought he could get in a few on a 60+ year old man.

Obviously, it would have been in his best interest to let it go...but it's hard to say that to a teen.

I guess different people have different mentalities. I can't remember many times where I actively went out looking for fights.

 

[va757va]

Cowardly grown man shooting at kids...such a coward man I swear...smh..

Grown man shooting a kid...just wow..smh

 

[titanium tea]

Sad

 

[T Lo Sweater]

Inb4 ppl say he was defending himself from a thug and he did no wrong

 

[getback]

Inb4 ppl say he was defending himself from a thug and he did no wrong

Who would say that on NT?

 

[lamekilla]

I'm not defending that piece of trash but.... Why go across the street to approach him?
This is the issue I have with these kids in this country, they are so quick to fight somebody over any little thing. When you walk the path of a tough guy this usually happens.

THIS. White people gonna white people. I know the kid was smarter than that though. His friends probably clowned/gassed him for the whole bumping incident. And then you approach the man again, all so your mom can cry over your casket

We need to be smarter.

 

[jaysrcrak]

THIS. White people gonna white people. I know the kid was smarter than that though. His friends probably clowned/gassed him for the whole bumping incident. And then you approach the man again, all so your mom can cry over your casket

We need to be smarter.

Agreed. We have to change our mentality and get away from that street ****.
Because in the end, what can really gain from street life realistically over the long run?

 

[starboy]

sure...let's talk about what the victim should have done and dismiss the shooter who wasn't legally allowed to own a gun as "white people being white people".

 

[lamekilla]

sure...let's talk about what the victim should have done and dismiss the shooter who wasn't legally allowed to own a gun as "white people being white people".

White people have waged a war on minorities and have a justice system that was created by them and enforced by mostly them to protect that piece of **** William Pulliam and whites like him who commit injustices like this. They've got their guy covered pretty much. We need to educate and protect our own instead of looking for justice in a system that wasn't made for us to benefit from and acting shock when justice doesn't prevail on our side. I watched this story on the news before entering this thread on NT and not one time did the media mention that Pulliam wasn't allowed to have a gun. Stay woke.

 

[jaysrcrak]

White people have waged a war on minorities and have a justice system that was created by them and enforced by mostly them to protect that piece of **** William Pulliam and whites like him who commit injustices like this. They've got their guy covered pretty much. We need to educate and protect our own instead of looking for justice in a system that wasn't made for us to benefit from and acting shock when justice doesn't prevail on our side. I watched this story on the news before entering this thread on NT and not one time did the media mention that Pulliam wasn't allowed to have a gun. Stay woke.

I am still amazed at how many people still look to the United States to correct it's systemic racism and even the playing field for us.
That is a classic example of insanity. People are legit insane thinking this system made to oppress us will suddenly change for the better because we want it to.
They are happy with the way things are evidenced by the fact that we still are not given equal justice.

So I am 100% with you. We have to focus on thinge WE can change.
Because waiting on the establishment to do it for us is stupid. It will NEVER happen.

I look at this election as a perfect example. people didnt vote and Trump won and AFTER the fact people wanna protest in the streets.
That is stupid. Be proactive NOT reactive.
Dont protest the days AFTER the election is over, do something BEFORE Trump gets elected.
And when you dont vote, don't say **** because your voice doesnt matter by your own choice.

 

[lamekilla]

I am still amazed at how many people still look to the United States to correct it's systemic racism and even the playing field for us.
That is a classic example of insanity. People are legit insane thinking this system made to oppress us will suddenly change for the better because we want it to.
They are happy with the way things are evidenced by the fact that we still are not given equal justice.

So I am 100% with you. We have to focus on thinge WE can change.
Because waiting on the establishment to do it for us is stupid. It will NEVER happen.

I look at this election as a perfect example. people didnt vote and Trump won and AFTER the fact people wanna protest in the streets.
That is stupid. Be proactive NOT reactive.
Dont protest the days AFTER the election is over, do something BEFORE Trump gets elected.
And when you dont vote, don't say **** because your voice doesnt matter by your own choice.

Preach it my dude, PREACH IT!!

 

[85wasagreatyear]

old a** grown man murdered a 15 year old boy. put him in the chair

 

[hand2handking]

Man who allegedly shot teenager in East End set to go to trial Jan. 29

William Ronald Pulliam, who is charged with first-degree murder in the death of 15-year-old James Means in November 2016, appears in court on Monday.
CRAIG HUDSON | Gazette-Mail

https://www.wvgazettemail.com/news/...cle_19f5767a-689e-51fe-92dd-af1219eae34e.html

A man accused of murdering a teenager in Charleston last year was in court Monday morning for a hearing about witness testimony in his case.

William Ronald Pulliam, 63, of Charleston appeared in court with his attorney, Richard Holicker, before Kanawha Circuit Judge Charles King.

King ruled Holicker would not have to get protective orders for the teenage witnesses in the case in order for them to testify or for their statements to be entered into evidence in Pulliam’s trial in the shooting death of James Means, 15.

Holicker filed the motion to get the protective orders, citing state code. However, Kanawha chief assistant prosecuting attorney Don Morris said that part of state code only makes such protective orders necessary in cases when the minors who are testifying are victims of sexual assault.

King agreed with Morris, and ruled the protective orders weren’t necessary.

Pulliam’s trial is set to begin Jan. 29, 2018. He is incarcerated at Southwestern Regional Jail in Holden, according to booking records on the West Virginia Regional Jail Authority website.

Means was a freshman at Capital High School on Nov. 21, 2016 when he was fatally shot near the intersection of Washington and Nancy streets in Charleston’s East End.

Pulliam was charged with first-degree murder in relation to Means’ death.

Pulliam allegedly shot Means twice after two verbal altercations along Washington Street on Nov. 21, according to the criminal complaint filed in Kanawha County Magistrate Court.

During a police interview after his arrest, a Charleston Police detective reported Pulliam showed no remorse for Means’ death.

The detective wrote in the criminal complaint that Pulliam said, “The way I look at it, that’s another piece of trash off the street,” during the interview.

Means was black and Pulliam is white.

 

[hand2handking]

UPDATE: Man Charged in Teen Death Not Competent Enough to Stand Trial
A man accused of fatally shooting a teenager on Charleston's East End isn't competent enough to stand trial.

http://www.wsaz.com/content/news/One-injured-in-shooting-on-Charlestons-East-End-402360776.html

A man accused of fatally shooting a teenager on Charleston's East End isn't competent enough to stand trial.

On Monday, Kanawha County's Judge King ruled that William Pulliam would be sent to the Sharpe Hospital in Weston.

Pulliam previously failed a psych evaluation.

He'll spend up to three months at the hospital to see if he would be able to later stand trial. If not, there will be another hearing.

Pulliam is accused of shooting and killing James Means, 15, back in November 2016. It happened outside the Dollar General at the intersection of Nancy Street and Washington Street East.

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (WSAZ) -- A man accused of fatally shooting a teenager on Charleston's East End won't stand trial until December.

William Pulliam appeared in a Kanawha County courtroom on Thursday.

He is accused of shooting and killing James Means, 15, back in November 2016. It happened outside the Dollar General at the intersection of Nancy Street and Washington Street East.

During an April court appearance, Pulliam wanted to plead guilty to being in possession of a firearm when he wasn't supposed to have one but the judge declined the plea.

Pulliam said then that he acted in self-defense when he shot Means.

Prosecutors say Means was shot more than once.

Pulliam's trial was expected to start Monday but has now been moved to December 11. The defense had asked for additional time.

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (WSAZ) -- A man charged in connection with the shooting death of a 15-year-old boy is scheduled to go on trial Aug. 21.

William Pulliam, 62, was arraigned Monday in Kanawha County Circuit Court.

During his arraignment, Pulliam wanted to plead guilty to being a person prohibited from using a firearm and plead not guilty to first-degree murder and felony use of a firearm.

Kanawha County Circuit Judge Charles King would not allow a guilty plea on Monday, but said he would schedule a hearing for later in the week.

Pulliam is accused of shooting and killing James Means on Charleston's East End last November.

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (WSAZ) -- A man who told police "another piece of trash is off the street" after allegedly shooting a teenager was indicted by a grand jury in Kanawha County.

William Pulliam is accused of shooting and killing James Means in November. He is charged with first-degree murder.

Pulliam and the 15-year-old got into an argument outside a store on Charleston's East End.

Pulliam's lawyer say he acted in self defense, while prosecutors argue Means was shot and tried to run but fell and was shot again.

In February, Pulliam was indicted at the federal level for lying about a domestic violence charge on his application to buy a gun.

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (WSAZ) -- A man charged with shooting and killing a teenager on Charleston's East End in November was indicted at the federal level Tuesday.

According to the indictment, William Pulliam was indicted by a grand jury for lying about a domestic violence charge on his application to buy a gun.

The indictment says Pulliam lied about a domestic violence conviction from 2013 when buying a 380 revolver in June 2016.

That's the same model gun police say he used in the fatal shooting of James Means in November 2016.