Joden Rocco, a 24-year old white man, tried to see how many times he could say the N-word before getting kicked out of a bar in Pittsburgh. Rocco’s game resulted in him killing a Black man, Dulane Cameron Jr., also age 24.
He posted a video making light of his racism.
“We’re playing a game how many times [can we] say N-word to the bartender before we get kicked out,” he said in the 15-second video, obtained by WPXI.
Rocco was successful getting kicked out of several bars along the North Shore in Pittsburgh on Sunday. The game was cut short when he was denied entrance into the Tequila Cowboy. Outside, on a sidewalk, Rocco started a confrontation with Cameron.
According to police, Rocco began punching him before he fatally stabbed him in the neck. After the murder, he hid in the bushes, and thought it was a good idea to wave down the police for a ride home.
Rocco is being charged with homicide after first being identified as a witness. He is awaiting his Aug. 31 preliminary hearing in the Allegheny County Jail.
The family describes Cameron as a “good kid” who was in the “wrong place, wrong time.” More than 900 people signed a petition demanding Rocco be charged with a hate crime.
The boy’s first word was “Dada,” Cameron’s father stated to the police who woke him to inform him that his son was dead.
He told police that his son was “working part-time jobs and attending college classes, as a boy he’d excelled in sports and school,” according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. He was described as a pleasant child to raise and love.
On the night of the murder Cameron was out with his friends. Recalling the group from his son’s childhood, Mr. Cameron said, “They weren’t raised to pick fights or to bully. They didn’t have that in their hearts. It wasn’t a part of their spirit. These were beautiful men, beautiful young men of color.”
