JOPPATOWNE, Md. — What the Joppa-Magnolia Fire Hall thought was going to be a birthday party turned into a crime scene when 22-year-old Tariq Alston was gunned down in 2008.
The victim’s mother, Daphne Alston, says he didn’t want to be there in the first place.
“He didn’t want to go to the party,” said Alston, “His exact words he told his friends, he said, ‘Man, I’m ain’t going in with those young kids at that party. They’re crazy.’”
Police later learned the so-called birthday party was really a coming out party for a new DJ, which had come off of the rails before Tariq ever got there.
“It was a beef before Tariq and them got to the party, because the DJ said he stopped the party, because it was a rap-like, ‘Your mother so…’, you know, one of those; type things and it was the ****** ****** or whatever against the *******, and they were up there rapping and it got out of control and they threw some chairs and stuff so the deejay stopped the party,” recounted Alston.
In the 16 years since the murder, detectives have also developed a new lead suggesting the party may have just provided someone with an opportunity to settle an old score.
“We have learned through the course of the investigation, interviewing different people, that the victim in this case was involved in a dispute with a member of the community in the weeks leading up to this,” said Capt. Andrew Lane of the Harford County Sheriff’s Office.
Her son’s death led Daphne Alston to co-found a victims’ support group called ‘MOMS’, which aids the mothers of murdered children, and while she seeks justice for her own son’s murder, she has come to realize that her loss will stay with her for the rest of her life.
“It doesn’t go away, but you learn to live with it."
“I think the holidays are the worst, like I did attempt to go do some shopping Saturday evening, and I said, ‘I’m going to stop at the cemetery first’, which was a bad idea, because when I left there I couldn’t even go in the store. I’m not buying anything for him,” said Alston.
HOW YOU CAN HELP:
If you have any information, which could help police in this case, you’re asked to call them at 443-409-3555.
