A GoFundMe created by the ‘working class’ friends of murdered Brooklyn activist Ryan Carson has been branded an ‘abhorrent’ effort to profit from his death.
The fundraising effort, established initially with his girlfriend named as the beneficiary, is on behalf of a ‘collective’ of Carson’s friends.
They have shot past a $20,000 target, raising more than $70,000 so that they can ‘offset the costs of working class people taking time off of work to properly mourn.’
Critics have savaged what they believe is an opportunistic attempt to make money and are even paying the $5 minimum donation to leave a comment on the page.
One such opponent said whoever had set up the page were ‘depraved ghouls profiting off this man’s death.’ The comment – which has since been deleted – said it was nothing more than ‘wretched theft’ and that GoFundMe should be investigating the legitimacy of the fundraiser.
The fundraising effort, established initially with his girlfriend named as the beneficiary, is on behalf of a ‘collective’ of Carson’s friends
As critics began to speak out against it, the organizer, Tammie David Smith, removed negative comments questioning the effort from the page.
She has now deleted her social media accounts. David Smith did not respond to a request for comment from DailyMail.com.
Among complaints is that nowhere in the page is there a mention of Carson’s family in Massachusetts. His parents are yet to comment publicly on their grief.
Carson and his girlfriend were waiting for a bus at 3.50am on Monday in Bedford Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, when he was attacked.
Eighteen-year-old Brian Dowling has been arrested on first degree murder charges.
Police are yet to reveal a motive for the attack, but neighbors say they believe Dowling may have been influenced by drugs.
He cried as he was led out of the 81st Precinct yesterday, and said nothing today as he appeared before a judge.
Carson was an avid social justice activist who fought for openly supervised drug injection sites across New York City.
Backlash: Critics questioned the fundraising effort on the GoFundMe page, but their remarks were deleted
Carson with his girlfriend, Claudia Morales, who was named as the beneficiary of the fundraising page
Dowling, 18, was in court Thursday evening after he was charged with first-degree murder
His girlfriend, according to now deleted social media accounts, was a BLM protester.
The teen’s defense attorney Kenneth Montgomery told the court that it was the first time his client had been arrested.
‘This is a difficult case for several reasons beyond the tragedy of the loss of life,’ Montgomery told Judge Joshua Glick. ‘You have an 18-year-old man — young man who has no criminal history.’
He asked the court to impose a ‘serious bail’ because there was no risk of the teen fleeing, saying: ‘His parents are here and I assure you that there’s no risk of flight, he was arrested at his home.’
The attorney’s pleas for leniency failed to convince the court, however, as Judge Glick remanded Dowling ‘given the nature of the charges and the narrative given by the people.’
When police issued a search warrant on his home, a sweatshirt was also seized along with the suspected murder weapon that matched the kind worn by the suspect in the video of Carson’s killing.
Dowling’s home is a five-minute walk from where Carson, 32, was stabbed to death.
Source: | This article originally belongs to Dailymail.co.uk
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