Connecticut Gun Owner Kills His Own Son

ABC News reports

A Connecticut teacher shot a masked and knife-wielding person during a late-night confronation outside his sister's home when she believed she was being robbed. But Jeffrey Giuliano, 44, didn't realize that he had gunned down and killed his teenage son until the boy was identified by authorities. 

Police responding to a possible burglary attempt pulled up to a house in New Fairfield at 1 a.m. Thursday to find the local 5th grade teacher, dressed in a T-shirt and shorts, sitting on the lawn outside his sister's home (the two lived next door). Dead in the driveway was his 15-year-old son, Tyler. 

Lieutenant J. Paul Vance said that Tyler was found with obvious gunshot wounds and was holding a weapon. Police later specified that the "weapon in possession of the deceased at the time of this incident was determined by troopers to be a knife." 

"We received a call reporting possible burglary and shots fired," Vance told ABC News. "He was shot multiple times, but we still don't know the number of times or the location."

On the great blog TTAG, they strongly advise people who shoot others to STFU. But if you're going to say something, the key word is always "lunged" if a knife is involved. This, they think, justifies shooting someone several times in the chest.

The nightmare irony in this case is the vigilante gun owner killed his own son. Sad, pathetic, sick and predictable.  The chances of a homeowner in a low-crime area like this one ever needing to use the gun to save the day is lower by far than the chance that someday the gun will be misused.

This is an extreme example of that.

What's your opinion?  Please leave a comment.

More on the Vigilante Squatter Shooter

We talked about this one the other day. Still no charges.

Video link

Summer Moody Shot for Practically No Reason

al.com reports

Two men staying at a camp on the back side of the island heard a door being broken. One of the men, according to Mack, was a caretaker of the property, knew of several recent break-ins and went to investigate. 

The men discovered intruders and fired once each, Mack said. 

Apparently, he said, Moody was hit by one of those shots. He said that a bullet from a small-caliber rifle struck her "toward the back of the head." 

Mack said investigators believe that Moody was outside some feet away from one of the camp houses, although her exact location and exactly what she was doing had not been determined.

What's your opinion? They're comparing this to the Trayvon Martin case, but I don't really see the similarity. In this case there was no hint of aggression on the part of the teenager, in fact, I can see no reason at all for shots to have been fired.

What do you think? Please leave a comment.

Houston Man Killed While Chasing Burglar

The Houston Chrinicle reports

A 20-year-old man was shot to death after he and his friends tried to stop two men from burglarizing his girlfriend’s car at an apartment complex in north Harris County.

You see, the reporting of this story is immediatley slanted in favor of the "victim." Here's what really happened.

Officials said deputies who were dispatched to the scene found the man shot death along the road. They said the victim was shot after chasing two men who had been breaking into his girlfriend’s car.

The victim’s brother told investigators that he, the victim and several of their friends were at the victim’s apartment when they saw two men breaking into the car. They went outside and confronted the would-be burglars, who ran away in separate directions. The men chased the would-be thieves and at some point the victim was separated from his friends and brother. Later the Good Samaritans said they heard several gunshots and found the man dead.

Now, that's a little different than getting killed trying to STOP a burglary.

What's your opinion?  Is it right to chase criminals once they've stopped doing whatever they were doing?

Please leave a comment.

More on the Trayvon Martin Killing

George Zimmerman

via Ladd Everitt at CSGV

Trayvon Martin's family is outraged that Zimmerman has been allowed to avoid arrest for this cold-blooded act of murder. Please help them find justice by signing this petition initiated by Trayvon's mother that calls for the prosecution of George Zimmerman. 

Florida Neighborhood Watch Captain Kills Unarmed Teen

Raw Story reports

The parents of Florida teen are demanding that a neighborhood watch captain be arrested after their 17-year-old son was gunned down in February, possibly because his bag of Skittles was mistaken for a weapon.

The Retreat at Twin Lakes neighborhood watch leader George Zimmerman had called police to report Trayvon Martin as a suspicious person, but by the time the police arrived the young man was already dead.

Neighborhood watch guys, like many concealed carry guys, are inadequately trained and unfit to manage their guns responsibly. When that's combined with the vigilante mentality, people get hurt or dead.

What's your opinion? Please leave a comment.

Bernhard Goetz' Victim Commits Suicide

US News reports

James Ramseur, one of four then-teenagers wounded in the notorious 1984 incident, was discovered dead in a Bronx motel room on Thursday, with two empty prescription pill bottles next to the bed.

His death is being investigated as an apparent overdose and as a possible suicide, sources told The Daily News. They said Ramseur, 45, checked into the motel Tuesday and was scheduled to check out Thursday morning.

His body was found by the motel manager who went into his room after he didn't return the keys Thursday. No note was left.

Ramseur was freed from prison last year after serving 25 years for a rape, according to NBCNewYork.com. He was one of four black teens shot by Goetz on a train on Dec. 22, 1984, in a shooting that earned Goetz the nickname of "subway vigilante" by city newspapers.

Obviously this boy would have had a chance at a good life if Goetz hadn't blasted holes in him back in '84. In fact, Goetz is probably partly to blame for the rape committed two years later. (ha-ha, gotcha, only kidding)

The thing is Goetz earned his handle honestly. The New York vigilante was exactly that, a vigilante. Every day people are accosted by threatening-looking youths without deciding they need to be shot. What Goetz did was a perfect example of a false DGU.

The irony is he was acquitted of the wrongful shooting. This highly publicized case may have done more harm to the country than we can count. It set the tone for these kinds of actions, justifying taking the law into one's own hands.

Wikipedia: "The incident has been cited as a contributing factor to the groundswell movement against urban crime and disorder, and successful National Rifle Association campaigns to loosen restrictions on the concealed carrying of firearms."

Untold damage.

What's your opinion? Please leave a comment.

Vigilante Croff Stays Free on Bond

The Detroit News reports on the latest developments in the vigilante murder that took place a couple weeks ago.

A Wayne County prosecutor failed today in an effort to revoke bond for a former security guard charged with murder for the alleged vigilante shooting of a man he chased from his backyard.

Although 36th District Judge Donna Robinson Milhouse added restrictions to the conditions of 31-year-old Tigh Croff's release from custody, he will remain free pending trial for the slaying of Herbert Silas, 53.

Croff has been free on bond since New Year's Day, one day after being charged with shooting Silas in the chest after allegedly chasing the Detroit man a block from Croff's recently burglarized east side home. The incident has drawn public support for Croff from residents who are fed up with lawlessness in the city, and outrage from authorities who see his actions as more lawlessness.

I find it truly amazing that this man is not in jail. Notwithstanding the exasperation of the residents of these crime-ridden neighborhoods of Detroit, what Croff did was over the top. Is it the fact that he has a clean record or that he had been a security guard, or is it simply that everybody is so fed up with the criminals that this modern-day Bernhard Goetz is getting special treatment.

I say it's a bad message to all the others who are fed up. Taking the law into their own hands will lead to many more incidents like this. The very definition of DGU will change.

What's your opinion? Would you consider this one a legitimate DGU?

Please leave a comment.