Today the Juggalo Family mourns a great loss.
Rest in Peace to our beloved Cannibal (aka Thomas Cottington), Juggalo brother, problem child, fly emcee, untamed force, warrior spirit, and, in his last musical performance, winner of the 2015 Juggalo Psypher at this year’s Gathering, where his standout flow and stage presence is now forever immortalized.
The art of emceeing was a way of life for a man like Cannibal. East Coast Juggalos recall with fondness his freestyles and endless battles spit with fury outside Philly venues, a staple of the late 90s and early 2000s. His Juggalo story goes back to the days when we would happily cut class just to stand out alongside the Electric Factory at 6 a.m. and spit freestyle flows, rain, sleet, snow, or hail. (Call us postal.) It was a different time then. And we were just kids. But that was a long time ago…
No stranger to life on the streets, Cannibal fell off from the scene when he served a long bid for assault. The rowdy problem child did his time, humbled, and emerged again to seek the fellowship of the Juggalo Family, a changed man but yet still untamed. This was a man they called the Cannibal. The wild one. The fierce warrior.
And in one final tragic twist of fate, Cannibal’s story became one of ultimate sacrifice and redemption.
Late at night on September 14, 2015, he was in Rodney Square in Wilmington, Delaware, when he witnessed a mother with her small child being mugged at knife point at a bus stop. According to witnesses, he immediately intervened to protect the mother and her child–both strangers. He was fatally stabbed in the chest by the assailant in the scuffle. His murderer was apprehended within minutes. The mother and child escaped the episode physically unscathed.
Some say live by the sword and die by the sword. And it is truly my belief that Cannibal, fierce warrior and protector, found his way home to Shangri-La when he gave his precious life to save a stranger. He will be sorely missed and deeply mourned.
Rest in Peace, Cannibal, fierce warrior and protector of the innocent. Thank you. For everything you are and for being more than a friend–our brother. A protective force.
Take a moment to witness Cannibal’s final public performance:
Gone but never forgotten, until we meet again.
Faygoluvers Comments
djscrubb
Comment posted on Tuesday, September 15th, 2015 10:38 am GMT -5 at 10:38 am
wow…..RIP in peace homie.
scruffy
Comment posted on Tuesday, September 15th, 2015 11:00 am GMT -5 at 11:00 am
damn.
Sean Law
Comment posted on Tuesday, September 15th, 2015 11:14 am GMT -5 at 11:14 am
damn. a juggalo losing his life to save anothers…. the news wont report that one… and wasent he on the Gathering Psypher?? I think he was. I just saw it today. damn. RIP
DrFreshness
Comment posted on Tuesday, September 15th, 2015 01:18 pm GMT -5 at 1:18 pm
Shit, that’s awful. I thought he was great on the Juggalo Psypher, mighta had a future. He went out a hero no doubt, here’s the news story:
WILMINGTON Thomas Cottingham, 27, was stabbed to death protecting a young mother and her baby from a knife-wielding attacker Monday night at Rodney Square, city police said Tuesday.
Cottingham, of Wilmington, was stabbed repeatedly near a bus stop at 10th and North King streets, where witnesses called 911 at 9:36 p.m., police said.
Caught several blocks away after he ran off a DART bus when police saw him, Calvin Hooker III, 25, of Wilmington, is being held without bail on charges including first-degree murder, Sgt. Andrea Janvier said.
Investigators determined Hooker confronted the 21-year-old woman as she pushed her infant daughter in a stroller near 10th and North Walnut streets, Janvier said.
“The unprovoked attacked was determined to be random in nature and no relationship could be established between any of the involved persons,” Janvier said in a statement. “Thomas Cottingham unselfishly placed himself in harm’s way, protecting a young woman and her child from imminent danger.”
As Hooker confronted the woman, he made reference to a stolen phone, but she kept walking west on 10th Street as he followed her, Janvier said.
When the woman got to the 1000 block of N. King St., she said, Hooker pulled a large knife, unprovoked, and tried to attack the woman.
He chased her around the bus shelter along 10th Street, as she tried to get into the shelter to get away from him, Janvier said.
That was when Cottingham intervened, Janvier said.
He tried to stop the attack as the woman kept trying to get into the bus shelter with the stroller and baby, she said.
Hooker stabbed Cottingham in the back and he tried to get away, he said. Hooker followed him, repeatedly stabbing him in the upper torso, she added.
Cottingham finally collapsed about 30 feet from the shelter, she said.
Hooker ran, but bystanders helped responding police locate Hooker, pointing them toward Ninth and North Market streets, Janvier said.
Police found Hooker inside a DART bus that was sitting idle at a bus stop there, she said.
As officers began to enter, she said, Hooker ran out of the bus.
The officers saw he had a large knife and repeatedly ordered him to drop it, Janvier added.
He ran south to the 800 block of N. Market St., into an alley that leads to the 800 block of N. King St., she said.
There, additional officers who responded to the area deployed an “electronic control device” that struck Hooker, caused him to drop the knife and fall to the ground, Janvier said.
He was taken into custody immediately and without further incident, she said.
In addition to first-degree murder, Hooker was charged with deadly weapon possession during commission of a felony, carrying a concealed deadly weapon, aggravated menacing, endangering the welfare of a child and resisting an arrest with force.
He is being held without bail, pending commitment to Young Correctional Institution in Wilmington, Janvier said.
The slain man was well-known in Rodney Square for his near-constant skateboarding, rap music and distinctive Goth look, his friend Durond Davis said.
But Davis – who was with him at the square until shortly before the stabbing – said he wasn’t surprised that his friend, known by the street name of Cannibal, died trying to help someone else.
“He was the kind of person that put the needs of others before his own,” Davis said, sitting Tuesday morning in the bus shelter near where his friend was stabbed. “If you needed a dollar or two, he’d give you the last he had.”
Christina Reynolds of Wilmington, who also knew the victim, said she wished he hadn’t intervened.
Sitting in the shelter Tuesday morning, she said, “If he had minded his own business, he’d be alive.”
As tears welled in her eyes, she repeated, “he should’ve minded his own business.”
Jimena Bradley of Wilmington sat quietly in a Rodney Square bus shelter Tuesday morning as others there spoke of their friend’s stabbing death there the night before.
In her lap squirmed her 2-year-old, Ja’irus. Bradley did not know the victim.
“But I would be thanking him,” she said, “if that was me and my child he was saving.”
About 10 p.m. Monday, Davis said he got a text saying his friend was stabbed at Rodney Square.
He and friends ran many blocks to the city square. “But it was too late,” he said.
Police tape was up and an officer confirmed his friend was dead, Davis said.
His death is a big loss, he said. “He was talented and artistic,” he said.
He also wrote rap music and was a tattoo artist, having inked his own arms, neck and wrists.
Although the two were homeless and met at the Sunday Breakfast Mission, Davis called his friend “a total artist who just needed to get a lucky break” to achieve success.
The victim died at Christiana Hospital after being stabbed repeatedly in the upper torso, police Chief Bobby Cummings said Monday night in a statement.
His autopsy was conducted Tuesday morning, Janvier said.
Mayor Dennis P. Williams will be releasing a statement about the stabbing shortly, spokeswoman Alexandra Coppadge told The News Journal shortly before 10 a.m. Tuesday.
bayAreaShaman
Comment posted on Tuesday, September 15th, 2015 01:51 pm GMT -5 at 1:51 pm
This is horrible. This ninja left am impression on me throughout the gathering. Its might sound cliche but hed had like a presence. I dunno. Im happy i got to meet him and talk to him hes a fucken hero.
Skitzofreak
Comment posted on Tuesday, September 15th, 2015 02:37 pm GMT -5 at 2:37 pm
The word Juggalo found nowhere in the news report.
Novocaine, The Blue Collar King
Comment posted on Tuesday, September 15th, 2015 07:41 pm GMT -5 at 7:41 pm
damn.
that shit sucks.
much love to his family in this shitti time.
TravisKing
Comment posted on Tuesday, September 15th, 2015 08:12 pm GMT -5 at 8:12 pm
see you in Shangri-La Juggalo
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