Students, former students and a faculty member from Montbello High School testified today that the school has been plagued by gangs and “thugs” for years and that was the type of violence that occurred on Jan. 4, 2005, when Contrell Townsend was stabbed to death in the school cafeteria.
Although Townsend’s classmate, Marcus Richardson, is accused of second-degree murder in Townsend’s death, most of the witnesses said Townsend, 17, was the aggressor.
They said he continually had the upper hand in a lunchroom fight in which Richardson was repeatedly body-slammed to the floor and table tops and punched by Townsend.
One witness, Veronica Davis, said the fight ended when Townsend backed up and said he had just gotten stabbed.
She said that in her opinion, Richardson, then 16, had little choice but to defend himself.
“I know Marcus didn’t want to stab him because he ran after him (Townsend) to see if he was all right,” she said.
Another witness, student Danielle Johnson, said that Townsend walked up to Richardson and said, “Are you tripping?”
She said that set off a fight. She said Townsend grabbed Richardson and slammed him to the floor. When Richardson struggled to his feet, she said that Townsend was waiting and picked him up again and slammed him onto a table.
During the time, she said that Townsend was punching Richardson as hard as he could.
She said that dozens of students in the lunchroom ran to the scene and were egging the two students on.
Lynda Rawlins, a frequent substitute teacher at the school, testified that there was constant fighting and violence at the school.
Rawlins was in the teacher’s lounge, adjacent to the school cafeteria, when the violence erupted.
Rawlins, a former military policewoman, said Townsend stumbled toward her in shock and collapsed.
She said she immediately asked for towels to compress the wounds.
When it became apparent just how critical Townsend was, she prayed.
“I knelt beside him (Townsend) and said the Lord’s Prayer. I grabbed another lady and asked her to pray with me and we saw him pass,” Rawlins said.
Staff writer Howard Pankratz can be reached at 303-820-1939 or hpankratz@denverpost.com.
