Okay… Now…
Alright… The headline of the WUSA story says, verbatim “Quadruple amputee cornhole player accused of shooting, killing man during argument while driving,” and apparently the suspect, 27 year-old Dayton Webber, has indeed a following in the professional world of the beanbag-tossing game that’s a staple of 21st century backyard barbecues as a safer alternative to horseshoes. The article even links to a guest editorial by Webber dated July 31, 2023 on NBC’s Today Show’s website in which the man introduces himself as having been born healthy but tragically had all of his limbs amputated at 10 months old due to a streptococcus pneumonia blood infection. He’s still able to grip a beanbag with his upper arms and hurl it at the other board with the precision needed to succeed at the game. Thus WUSA made the right call in introducing him as a “cornhole player.” All good.
We’re still left adrift on the shooting. Totally, completely, absolutely lost in the blackest aether as the DC CBS affiliate writes that Webber “was driving near La Plata Road and Radio Station Road [in La Plata, Maryland] shortly before 10:30 pm when he allegedly shot and killed [27 year-old passenger Bradrick Michael] Wells during an argument. After the shooting, Webber allegedly pulled over near Llano Drive and asked other passengers in the car to help pull Wells out of the vehicle.”
“Investigators say the witnesses refused to help Webber and got out of the car. Afterward, Webber reportedly drove off with Wells still in the car. Nearly two hours later, the sheriff’s office says someone reported a body in a yard in the 10000 block of Newport church Road in Charlotte Hall.”
With only a 3% chance to live at ten months old, ACL Pro Dayton Webber has spent his entire life defying the odds and inspiring others. He’s a shining example of our slogan – anyone can play, anyone can win. 🏆 pic.twitter.com/oewEKoKG8p
— American Cornhole League (@iplaycornhole) July 10, 2023
“When officers arrived, they found Wells’ body. Webber was arrested a short time later after deputies found him at a nearby hospital seeking treatment for a medical issue,” the article continued, as though how Wells’s remains were removed from the vehicle – and dumped on a random lawn if the earlier group had refused to help Webber – was the biggest mystery here.
Or even the driving. You could see Webber working a steering wheel with those pedal flaps for the gas and the brakes easily enough given the cornhole footage – but pulling out a weapon, aiming it at a passenger, pulling the trigger while the vehicle is in motion, and instantly killing said passenger?
How? AND HOW THE HELL DOES THIS TV STATION NOT EVEN TRY TO FILL THAT IN?!?!?!?!
Now to be fair, since it was just two or three hours late on a Sunday into Monday that the crime and arrest had occurred, it’s totally possible that there wasn’t even a probable cause affidavit filed and WUSA was just working off a press release for their story. If so however, then a simple sentence such as “Further statements from the witnesses about how the murder unfolded were not available at press time” would have gone a hell of a long way to leveling with the audience’s bewilderment.