From this story it sounds like they were at the wrong place at the wrong time. Who knows what really happened. It's still a shame.
Tailgate party ends in tragedy
September 6, 2004
BY MONIFA THOMAS Staff Reporter Advertisement
Ever since they met in fourth grade, Brett Johnson Harman and Kevin McCann were as close as brothers.
"They had the same mannerisms, the same kind of humor, and they even looked alike," said McCann's father, Dennis McCann. "They were inseparable."
Above all, the best friends shared a deep love and talent for wrestling, competing on the same Rosemont youth team and later earning national rankings at separate northwest suburban high schools.
Saturday night was supposed to be one of the last chances for the 23-year-old buddies to hang out before Harman, a U.S. Marine second lieutenant stationed at North Carolina's Camp Lejeune, went off to fight in Iraq in January. McCann, of Chicago, had traveled to Raleigh to visit.
Instead, both were shot dead while tailgating in the parking lot of North Carolina State's football stadium. A witness said the shootings happened after the men confronted a man who drove erratically through a crowded parking lot. McCann's father disputed that account.
Brothers arrested
Two brothers -- ages 20 and 22 -- were charged Sunday in their slayings, police said.
"This is all wrong," said Harman's girlfriend, Zora Popovic. "It's not at all how things were supposed to go for these two guys."
Witnesses say Harman, of Park Ridge, and McCann were tossing a football before the kickoff of N.C. State's season opener against Richmond. A car sped through the lot, and witness Brian Smith, 31, said McCann and Harman pulled the driver from the car and beat him.
McCann's father, who traveled to Raleigh on Sunday, said police told him, however, that a crowd of others in the lot had beaten the driver, and his son and Harman had come to the driver's aid.
"They're not the type of kids who would start anything," Dennis McCann said. "They were doing the right thing. Kevin and Brett were trying to help out."
The driver, who appeared to be drunk, cursed and vowed revenge, Smith said. He later returned with a gun, asked Smith where the two men who beat him were, and then confronted McCann and Harman, Smith said.
Witness Jason Seaton, 32, said he saw a puff of smoke and heard what he thought were bottle rockets.
Seaton said he found the two victims on the ground and used two of his shirts to try to stop the bleeding. But it was too late for one of them.
''I saw him gasp three times, and he was dead,'' Seaton said.
Tony Harrell Johnson, 20, and Timothy Wayne Johnson, 22, both of Raleigh, were charged with first-degree murder Sunday, said Wake County sheriff's spokeswoman Phyllis Stephens, who declined to discuss the details of the shootings.
Both nationally ranked
McCann and Harman wrestled for the same youth team but went on to different high schools -- Harman to Maine South in Park Ridge, McCann to Notre Dame High in Niles. By the time they graduated in 1999, both were nationally ranked and had competed in several state and international wrestling competitions.
Friends described Harman as a radiant, gregarious man who charmed everyone he met.
"I expected him to be the next John McCain," said Harman's stepfather, Terry Tighe. "Everybody liked this guy."
Popovic said her boyfriend, who went to the U.S. Naval Academy on a full scholarship, was also highly motivated and reliable, one of the reasons he was chosen to lead a platoon in Iraq. "This is such a loss for the world," she said. "He was an exceptional human being."
Many of the same words were used to describe McCann, an account representative at a Chicago financial firm who graduated from the University of Wisconsin with a business degree in 2003.
"He was the kind of player everyone wanted on their team," said his former football coach at Notre Dame, Mike Hennessey. "He wasn't the biggest guy on the field, but he played with the most heart. That's why he did so well."
McCann was also an honor student who often did community service outside of school, he said.
Notre Dame wrestling coach Augie Genovesi said it was inevitable that McCann and Harman became such close friends, considering their older brothers, Rob Harman and Terry McCann, are also best friends.
"It's like a nightmare," Genovesi said. "I haven't cried this much in my life."
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