Brian Deneke
The inspiration for Bomb City Foundation
On December 12, 1997, 19-year-old American punk musician Brian Deneke (March 9, 1978 – December 12, 1997) was killed in a deliberate hit-and-run attack in Amarillo, Texas, by 17-year-old Dustin Camp.
Camp was later found guilty of voluntary vehicular manslaughter and sentenced to ten years probation and a $10,000 fine, which was later dropped. In 2001, he was sentenced to eight years imprisonment for a variety of parole violations. He was paroled under supervision on July 31, 2006.
The homicide and the outcome of the trial against Camp galvanized the punk community and raised accusations about the social tolerance of the Texan city.
The International House of Pancakes across the street from the Western Plaza Shopping Center was a popular hangout for youths in Amarillo, Texas. On Saturday, December 6, 1997, a confrontation occurred at the IHOP involving Dustin Camp, a student and football player for Tascosa High School in Amarillo, and John King, a member of the punk rock community. One witness, Kendra Petitt, claims that Camp hopped the median in his Cadillac as he tried to run the punks down in the parking lot, and that Camp missed and instead had his car window smashed by John King's police baton. Camp and friends denied this event happened. Tension and resentment from this confrontation lingered among the respective groups for the following week.
After a night of heavy drinking on Friday, December 12, 1997, Dustin Camp and his companions returned to the Western Plaza Shopping Center at 11:00 p.m., anticipating a fight with members of the punk community. Violence soon broke out between jocks and punks outside of the IHOP restaurant. During the fight Dustin Camp retreated into his Cadillac; at first Camp appeared to drive away but then he sharply turned back, targeting Deneke by running him over. Camp's attorney would later argue that Camp returned to defend a fellow jock; however, this claim was denied by Deneke's companions.
During Camp's murder trial, a passenger eyewitness testified that Camp exclaimed "I'm a Ninja in my Caddy!" as he targeted Deneke and then "I bet he liked that one!" after he ran over Deneke as he sped away from the scene.
Dustin Camp was charged with first-degree murder; during his trial, his defense claimed that he had acted in defense of a friend whom Deneke was attacking. Camp's defense attorney, Warren L. Clark, defended by trying to shift the blame on Deneke and the punk community. Clark portrayed the punks as violent thugs and went as far as calling them "armed goons". Defense attorney Clark used incidents from Deneke's past that made him look violent and claimed that he was the aggressor on the night of his death. The defense also claimed that witnesses for the prosecution were punks who lied under oath. In contrast to the punks, the defense characterized the alleged murderer as a wholesome and clean-cut youth. The defense emphasized Camp's normalcy, claiming Camp was a good Christian, a good Texan, and a football player.
The punks who testified consistently saw Deneke as the victim. One of Camp's companions, who was a passenger in his car, also incriminated him. She did not see him acting in defense of a third person and testified on the "Ninja in the Caddy" exclamations.
Although Camp had been charged with murder, the jury only found him guilty of voluntary manslaughter and sentenced him to ten years' probation and a $10,000 fine. Both Camp's attorney and the district attorney found this sentence to be uncommonly mild. The jury refused to comment after the trial, citing the welfare of the families. Alternate juror Wade Colvin said he was "completely surprised" that the jury did not convict Camp of murder and opted for a manslaughter conviction instead. "What stuck with me more than anything—I felt like Brian was running away and Dustin had a chance [to stop his car]," Colvin said. He believed the jury gave Camp a second chance because of his youth. "I had those thoughts, too, about him being so young," Colvin said, "but he did wrong."
Deneke's funeral service was held at St. Mary's Catholic Church on December 16, 1997, in Amarillo.
His death shook Amarillo and horrified the punk subculture. Punks in Amarillo reported that they had often been targets of abuse and harassment by jocks because of their differences, even before the incident; after the trial, there was a general feeling that Camp walked free because he was seen as a "good kid", unlike the punks. The lenient sentence for Camp caused a public outcry in Amarillo and incited a debate on whether the city was a tolerant place. The mayor of Amarillo, Kel Seliger, attempted to distance the town from the verdict. "It was not a community verdict," he said, "it was 12 people." Nonetheless, the murder trial prompted the mayor to emphasize tolerance for differences and mutual respect. Deneke's father was unsurprised by the lenient verdict: "Quite honestly," Deneke's father said, "we had been prepared for that. If you pay attention to what happens in the criminal justice system, it's not unusual".
National television and radio paid attention to the case in 1999 and 2000 being featured on; Leeza, Dateline NBC, 20/20, NPR, and in an MTV documentary, Criminal "Punks vs Preps".
The widely syndicated City Confidential episode "Amarillo, TX: High School Hit & Run" in 2005 reinforced interest in the case. In 2000, musician Marilyn Manson discussed the Deneke case at the Disinformation Conference while addressing the issue of the causes of youth violence.
The conflict between jocks and punks in Amarillo has been compared to the widespread social divisions in Columbine High School which have been said to contribute to the Columbine High School massacre. The Deneke case has also been referred to briefly in an academic article arguing the case for expanding the definitions of bias crime beyond the usual boundaries of religious, sexual, and racial groups, to other social groupings.