Coaster Photo
Phyllis Ling, the mother of a shooting suspect, is pictured at a press conference this week in Asbury Park.
By JOANNE L. PAPAIANNI
“I’m going to speak out until something is done,” said Phyllis Ling at a press conference this week after learning that her son Samuel, 19, was charged, along with three others, in the Dec. 5 murder of Latyria Nealy in Asbury Park.
Nealy, of Neptune, and the four suspects charged with her murder are members of the Bloods street gang said Monmouth County Prosecutor Luis A. Valentin. The shooting death resulted from a dispute between a “set” within the gang, he said.
Later that day Ling shared the “oath” taken by members of the gang, although she declined to say how it came to be in her possession.
Before reading from the 3-page, handwritten oath, Ling said “The bottom line is this, ‘If I fail, this oath shall and will kill me.’”
The oath contains cryptic comments and slang terminology, but its message is clear members must pledge total allegiance to the gang “till death do us part.” It also makes several references to being buried or burying other gang members.
“I take this oath to ryde (sic) or die for my set and the people and to never commit treason. If I fail this oath shall and will kill me.”
According to several sources older members of the Bloods come into town and prey on existing tensions among youngsters living in the community, dividing them into sectors and appointing leaders.
“They put kids in charge of kids,” Ling said.
Ling said she believes her son may have been involved in the gang for about a year and half and although she had her suspicions, her son always denied any involvement.
“I tried to talk to him but he denied it,” she said. “But a mother knows.”
Ling’s mother was at her house Tuesday and said her grandson had denied any gang involvement as late as this past Sunday.
“He denied it to me on Sunday,” she said.
Ling said she did not see any noticeable difference in her son’s behavior since the shooting.
“He has been going to church with friends…...he ate dinner with the pastor at his house and went bowling with the pastor on Sunday,” she said.
Despite her obvious pain, Ling said the issue cannot be swept away.
“We can’t wait for another death,” she said, although she believes that more violence will follow.
“It’s not over,” she said.
Ling also said that she knows all of the young people involved in the incident and went to school with Nealy’s mother. She apologized to the family at the press conference.
“My heart and my prayers go out to the family, I’ve thought about them every day,” she said.
She said that she has spoken to her son since his arrest and told him, “You think you got caught up in this dangerous game, but God is so much bigger than this situation and your faith will help you get through this.”
Ling also said the prosecutor’s office has been “wonderful” to her and her son.
“They are treating my son well,” she said.
Ling, who is employed by the school district as a parent liaison at the Bangs Avenue School, is well-known throughout the school community and has been actively involved, serving as PTO president and recently representing the district at the Title I conference in Los Angeles.
As a parent liaison she works with many homeless children and their families, providing counseling and services.
She believes that the environment from which many of the gang members come is directly responsible for the success of gang recruiters.
“This is that culture, this is a poverty area,” she said.
After the press conference, when Valentin announced that her son was the “shooter,” Ling said, “No matter how hard you try, they make their own decisions when they walk out that door.”
Ling cried throughout the press conference and was comforted by her goddaughter Nikki Wesley and her husband.
“It’s going to take more than the police department, it’s going to take parents,” said Ling to reporters.
She said after learning that her son was involved in the murder Monday night she was “scared, angry, disappointed.”
“But as long as you keep living, things will happen, you can’t go around it, you have to go through it.”
When asked where her son had been during the past weeks, Ling answered, “He was with his mom and his dad. He has a family.”
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