Man Shot Dead After Facebook 'Hit' Exposed

Corey White, 22, was fatally shot Monday night after his ex-girlfriend was arraigned on charges of offering $1,000 for a Facebook 'hit' on him, Philadelphia police say. The gunman who allegedly took the bait was already in jail, so it's not clear who shot White, or why. But it is possible someone else took up the offer, lured in by the thousand dollar fee.
His ex-girlfriend, 20-year-old London Eley, also of Philadelphia, had just been arraigned for felony attempted murder after a judge cleared the way for the unusual charge.
Police don't believe she was really serious when she posted this message on Facebook back in May: "I will pay somebody a stack to kill my baby father." A "stack" is street slang for a thousand dollars.
But it's possible that the person who shot White was serious about collecting. "When you do it on a computer, you are putting it out there for the whole world to see and memorializing it," defense attorney Gerald Stein said. "Unfortunately, it sort of magnifies the anger."
Prosecutors, of course, are not making a distinction and are proceeding as if Ely was dead serious about the Facebook hit to begin with.
This is amazing. It took a while, but it looks like criminals are catching on that social networking is a very effective tool. Flash mobs are robbing 7-11s and now people are arranging for hitmen on Facebook. Craigslist has already taken down portions of its site where some criminals were abusing the anonymity feature.
It's kind of amazing this wasn't caught earlier. Now, maybe, a young man lost his life because of idiotic people who think it's OK to write really stupid things online.

by Tom Rose taken from http://news.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474979939966