ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, August 11, 1996 TAG: 9608120073
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-4 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: MANASSAS
SOURCE: Associated Press
Three teen-age boys from a New Jersey high school rowing team were convicted of a racially tinged assault on a black family.
Two teen-agers accused of firing a pellet gun at the family and yelling racial slurs were convicted Thursday of shooting at an occupied vehicle.
A third youth involved in the May 26 incident was convicted of assault and battery. Their names were not made public because of their age.
``I hope they will learn that you can't just go around shooting and hurting people and expect to get away with it,'' said Minnie Peele, 61, one of the family members targeted.
The felony firearm convictions could mean the two boys are sent to a juvenile detention home when a Prince William County juvenile court judge sentences them Oct. 30. The judge has wide latitude to sentence the youth convicted of the misdemeanor assault.
The boys, all 17 and from Atlantic City High School, stayed in a Dumfries motel during a national rowing championship. Police said they bought a carbon-dioxide powered pellet gun earlier in the day and brought it to the Super 8 Motel.
The boys cut a hole in the screen of their motel room and began shooting at the family parked at the gas station next door.
The youths also yelled racial obscenities, police said.
No one was hurt, but the Baltimore family's car was damaged, police said.
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