Fox News reports on this incredible story which we posted when it happened.
Baldr's comment in January summed up my feelings perfectly.An Arkansas teen pleaded guilty Wednesday to murdering his sleeping sister and was sentenced to 45 years in prison for a crime he still hasn't fully explained.Colton Harvey, 15, grabbed his father's .22-caliber rifle one January morning while his parents were out grocery shopping. He walked into his 16-year-old sister Candace's room, pointed it at her forehead and fired. She awoke with a scream, so he shot her in the head twice more.He threw some clothes and ammunition in his father's pickup truck and took off, driving first into the hills but then to the sheriff's office, where he chickened out in the parking lot. He drove to a friend's for some chewing tobacco — a vice that led to his parents grounding him days earlier — and then back to the sheriff's, where this time he found the courage to go in and confess."I don't know why I did it. It just happened," Harvey told state police investigator Corey Mendenhall hours later, according to a transcript of the interview in which he described in detail what happened that morning. The Associated Press obtained the transcript under a Freedom of Information Act request.
NOTE to the gun guys: Here is an excellent case why it is NOT okay to allow a 15 year old to have his own gun collection, even if he is a hunter and has had safety classes. Children are impulsive, and having a loaded gun handy only adds to the danger.
What's your opinion? Please leave a comment.
Sad. This boy clearly acted on some dark impulse, murdering his sister with no more emotion than when he shot a deer a few days before, but had not planned it ahead of time. Yet clearly he mourns her now and regrets what he did. Would the story have been different if hadn't had unfettered access to guns and ammo? Notice his parents aren't being held accountable in any way.
ReplyDeleteThe posting on this at Kid Shootings:
ReplyDeletehttp://kidshootings.blogspot.com/2012/01/15-year-old-arkansas-boy-shoots-16-year.html
So we're to say that all children are like this boy? Perhaps all people from Oregon and all Italian-Americans are like the authors here? What I say is that parents need to be parents, not friends, to their children and need to know their children.
ReplyDeleteNot all, Greg, but some - too many.
DeleteDo we agree the parents bear some responsibility?
I don't know the facts about the lives of this family. I'd imagine that there had to be some indication that this child was a problem. I can say that mental health services are such that many parents have no options available to them when they have a troubled child. If that was your main subject of interest, you and I would agree on a lot.
DeleteThis kind of young man obviously behaved upon several darkish behavioral instinct, murdering their cousin without a lot more feeling compared to any time he or she photo any cervid a couple of days just before, however hadn't prepared that beforehand. But obviously this individual mourns the girl right now as well as remorse exactly what he or she would. Would certainly the storyline happen to be various in the event that we had not acquired unshackled use of firearms and also ammunition? Discover their mom and dad are not becoming kept liable at all.
ReplyDelete