'We're sitting ducks': Concerns of copycat attacks following sex offender's killing
'You don't go out there and take it into your own hands and take the life of somebody else'
www.ketv.com
OMAHA, Neb. —
When "Jay" first heard the motive behind Mattieo Condoluci's death, he immediately feared for the safety of his family.
"We're sitting ducks," he said.
Prosecutors believe James Fairbanks sent KETV Newswatch 7 an anonymous email about killing Condoluci. The sender said he had been looking for an apartment in the area when he discovered Condoluci on the Nebraska Sex Offender Registry. The sender described Condoluci as standing in his driveway pretending to wash his truck while staring at a group of children playing in the street, making him "sick to his stomach." Fairbanks' ex-wife calls Fairbanks a "protector."
Jay is a registered sex offender. He's worried the homicide will encourage vigilante crimes.
"You don't go out there and take it into our own hands and murder and take the life of somebody else because you weren't happy with the judgement that was made," he said.
Jay said he did not know Condoluci and he's not defending him.
"Yes, he did some pretty rotten stuff," Jay said. "It was horrible, horrible stuff. But to say he didn't deserve a second shot and he was trying to prove himself as a godly man, maybe he was a godly man. We don't know that. He doesn't have the opportunity to speak for himself now."
Condoluci's son, Joseph, told KETV Newswatch 7 his dad changed after prison and became a minister.
"I believe he was doing what he could to turn his life around," said Joseph Condoluci. "Who is to say what it takes to turn your life around from that?"
Joseph Condoluci said his father's past is simply that, his past.
"The guy didn't know my dad. He didn't know anything about him. All he knew was stuff that he's seen online," said Joseph Condoluci.
Jay has been calling senators to change Nebraska's sex offender registry to prevent something like this from happening again.
"Nebraska does not need a public-shaming website where people are put on there to be gunned down. Where people are there to be publicly shamed for the rest of their lives without a way of redeeming themselves," he said.
He argues the sex offender registry should be for law enforcement only.
"The safety of which the registry was built on is no longer safe. It's no longer safe for the community, it's no longer safe for the families of those who have registered," Jay said.
