Renegade Rip

Issue date: 4/16/04 Section: Offbeat

Media Credit: Ian Hamilton Nine angels sit in a memorial in front of Wesson´s home.

Media Credit: Ian Hamilton Serafino Wesson looks back at his brother during court proceedings at their father´s arraignment.

Media Credit: Ian Hamilton Marcus Wesson, who has been charged with killing nine of his children, appears in court for his arraignment. The children were killed five days earlier in his Fresno home.

Media Credit: Ian Hamilton Police tape separates the public from the house where the nine children were killed.

Media Credit: Ian Hamilton A line of candles leads to a police car in in front of the Wesson home.

Nine little silver angels sit within a sea of stuffed animals and candles outside the house of Marcus Wesson.

On March 12, Fresno police were notified of what would later be titled the worst mass killings in the city's history. Marcus Wesson was arrested on suspicion of murdering nine members of his family. The victims ranged in age from 1 to 25 years.

"Everyone feels shocked, surprised, amazed, whatever words you want to use," said Allen McDaniel, a Fresno resident who lives a few blocks from the Wesson house. "Everyone says it won't happen in your neighborhood, but it did. One of the kids that was killed was 8 years old. I have an 8-year-old. How do you explain it to them?"

The dark and lifeless home at the corner of North Weber and West Hammond, was surrounded by police tape and tokens of love from neighbors and Fresno residents. Homemade signs that read "You will be missed" and "God bless the children" were mixed in between candles and the cold concrete. The gray house, which used to be an office building, has the look of a cell or prison compared to the bright homes surrounding it in the neighborhood.

For weeks now, hundreds of photographers and reporters have been on call for the Wesson arraignment. After two aborted tries, he finally had his arraignment on March 25 where he offered a plea of not guilty.

The community continues to show its concern as the memorial at the house grows.

"The citizens have been fantastic," said CNN correspondent Miguel Marquez. "It's not the sort of story a community wants to be associated with, but people have been very courteous and very interested in what we are doing. It's been kind of surprising how interested they are."

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