Gang involvement debated in death of UNC's Carson

'H' emblem in surveillance photo could be gang-related

CHAPEL HILL -- Was the man who used Eve Carson's ATM card a Blood, a Gangster Disciple or just a Houston Astros fan?

Police have called a series of bank security photos their biggest break in the murder of the UNC-Chapel Hill student body president. The photos clearly show a young man wearing a throwback Astros ball cap.

The cap is a known gang symbol, but gang experts disagree on what it represents.

Some say the "H" stands for Larry Hoover, who led the Gangster Disciples while serving a 200-year sentence in Illinois state prison for a gang-related murder in 1973.

Others say the five-point star behind the H represents the Bloods and the People Nation, a larger collection of gangs in Chicago.

"Either one is possible," said Capt. Ray Taylor, who supervises the gang unit for the Durham Police Department. "But it's impossible to know."

The two symbols actually oppose each other. The Gangster Disciples are part of Folk Nation, enemies of the Bloods and People Nation. The driver in the ATM photo could be either or neither, but not both.

Symbol or just a hat?

In fact, the H on top of a five-point star makes one expert wonder whether the hat is a gang symbol at all.

"[It] wouldn't make sense to me," said Lt. Don Ladd, who oversees the gang unit for the Durham County Sheriff's Office. "You'd be hard-pressed to find law enforcement who will say [the homicide is] gang-related."

If the hat is a gang symbol, Ladd leans toward the five-point star as representing the Bloods. Even then, he said, he would also need to examine a suspect's clothing and tattoos.

"[The hat] would be one of multiple criteria I would use to determine whether that person is a gang member," he said. "There is no evidence whatsoever that's being released at this point that's telling me that this was a gang-related crime. Until they do that, I'm going to have to think it's a random act."

Chapel Hill Police Chief Brian Curran could not say whether police think the driver is a gang member.

"That is one of several possible scenarios we are looking at," he said. "Until we get to sit down and talk to somebody or positively identify somebody, that would simply be speculation.

"There are a lot of guys that can wear the clothes, but they're not in the club."