Moses "Teish" Cannon
Moses Cannon, (1986 - November 14, 2008) An African American gay man, was shot and killed on November 14, 2008, in Syracuse, New York, while sitting in a parked car. An anonymous caller claimed, and his family believed, that Cannon was killed because of his sexual orientation.
Background
Teish Cannon
Cannon's mother, Roxanne Green, said Cannon, 22, was openly gay, and that his family accepted his sexual orientation. When family members spoke to the press after the shooting, they often used the pronoun “she” in reference to Cannon.1) Pictures of Cannon in women's clothing were displayed in the family home, and the family chose one for publication in the Post-Standard newspaper.2)
At the time of the shooting, Cannon was living as a woman and went by the name Lateisha Green.3) According to family members, Cannon was known to most people as Teish.4) Cannon's lover, Dante Haynes, had “Teish” tattooed on his right forearm.5)
Cannon was unemployed at the time of the murder, but had worked as a supervisor at Motel 6.6)
On May 26, 2008, Cannon was arrested by Syracuse police, and charged with felony assault and misdemeanor possession of a weapon. The case had not made its way through the legal system at the time of the shooting.7)
The Murder
At 8:45 p.m. on November 14, Cannon was siting in a parked car in front of 411 Seymour St., with his brother Mark, 18 — who is also gay — and a third party, when a man with a gun walked up to the car. The gunman fired into the vehicle, hitting both Cannon in the chest area and her brother in the arm.
Mark Cannon then drove the car about 13 blocks to Arthur Street, to the Cannon family's home, where police found them.8)
The Cannons were taken via ambulance to University Hospital, where Teish Cannon was pronounced dead upon arrival and Mark Cannon was treated for his non-life threatening injury.9)
The Motive
Cannon's mother said she received a call at 5:30 a.m. on November 15, from a woman claiming to know the circumstances of the murder. The caller said Cannon was shot because the shooter objected to his sexual orientation.10)
Mark Cannon said he and Teish went to Seymour St. because of a phone call from a young woman they both knew, Alyssa Davis.11) He said the were talking to her when the killer approached.12) Police said people in the home were yelling anti-gay slurs at the Cannons.13)
The Aftermath
On November 18, family and friends attended a vigil for Cannon.14)
On November 24, State Human Rights Commissioner Galen Kirkland came to Syracuse to meet with local transgender groups concerned about Cannon's murder.15))
Arrest
Dwight DeLee, 22, was arrested on November 16, and charged with second-degree murder. At the time, Dwight was on parole for a drug conviction and had about three weeks to go in his halfway house before release.16) On November 17, DeLee entered a plea of not guilty.17) No bail was set for DeLee.
Police said that the Cannons were called to a party at the Seymour Street residence by a friend. When they pulled up, people at the party came out and started yelling anti-gay slurs at the them. DeLee went back into the house, retrieved a 22-calibre rifle, walked to the driver's size and fired a single round, striking Mark Cannon in the arm and Teish Cannon in the chest.
DeLee fled the scene and and police found him at 2:00 a.m. on November 16, in home in Liverpool.18)
Police said DeLee fired at the brothers because they were gay.19) DeLee's family do not believe he killed Cannon or that he would have killed Cannon because of her sexual orientation.20)
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