A disturbing video shows the moments a before a Pittsburgh man fatally stabbed another man in what police have called a random, unprovoked attack.
In a video shared on social media suspect Joden Rocco is heard bragging and laughing into the camera, saying he wanted to see how many times he can say the n-word before being thrown out of bars along the city’s North Shore, CBS Pittsburgh reported.
“We’re playing a game … how many times we can say N-word to the bartender before we get kicked out,” Rocco, 24, says in the 15-second clip, continually using the racial slur.
Rocco was denied entrance into the Little Red Corvette Bar at Tequila Cowboy, according to surveillance video, after which he walked along North Shore and ran into Dulane Cameron Jr., a Black man from Leetsdale, who was with a friend at the time. That’s when authorities say Rocco became “very aggressive” and attacked Cameron, stabbing him in the neck.
Bystanders recalled seeing blood gushing from the young man’s neck. Cameron was pronounced dead at the scene.
“It’s hard to believe that in 2018, that this is still what we’re dealing with,” Desiree Cameron McDougal, the victim’s aunt, told CBS Pittsburgh.
Not long after the stabbing, police say Rocco hid in a bush and flagged down an officer to drive him back home to North Hills. Authorities were already aware of the suspect’s description, however, and took him into custody.
Rocco has since been charged with homicide and possessing the weapon of a crime. He’s currently being held at the Allegheny County Jail as police work to determine a motive. An online petition has been launched, however, pushing for Rocco to be charged with a hate crime, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported.
“They (police) weren’t calling it a hate crime because it is [an] ongoing [investigation],” the victim’s father, Dulane Cameron Sr., told the newspaper. “…They said, ‘We can tell you this: Your son did no wrong, he did nothing to initiate, to escalate, nothing to warrant any form of confrontation. Apparently your son was targeted by this guy and his buddies.’ ”
The elder Cameron said Rocco “has his forgiveness,” despite him having murdered his son.
Since then, Cameron’s relatives launched a GoFundMe page to help the family cover his funeral expenses. So far, the page has collected roughly $1,000 in donations.
Watch more in the video below.