St. Louis man charged after opening fire on boys setting off fireworks
Another story indicates that the man will be charged with first degree assault for shooting at the three boys. Now, I don't know about the rest of y'all, but it seems to me that he's getting off extremely lightly - I'd sure as hell consider that attempted murder. There is quite simply no way on G-d's Green Earth that he had any right to even draw a weapon, let alone start blasting away at a group of kids.ST. LOUIS – A St. Louis man has been charged after police say he shot at three boys who were setting off fireworks.The boys were riding bikes and setting off fireworks in an ally when they allegedly had an encounter with 56-year-old William Prada about the fireworks, Fox2Now.com reports.
At least he was a crappy shot, that's about the only good part of this story...
That is all.
Another dispatch from...
(image courtesy of Robb Allen)
6 comments:
They were shooting their fireworks "in an ally"!
What do they do to enemies?
Or is this another failure of all those layers of fact checking?
Fireworks carefully set off in a field by adults is usually considered "entertainment".
Fireworks set off in an alley close to flammable buildings and motor vehicles by unsupervised ten and eleven year olds can be considered at best "stupid" and at worse potentially arson. Why did they need to set off the fireworks somewhere else from where they live after traveling there on their bicycles - can't do that near Mom or Dad?
For an alternative look at a "prank", look at this 4th of July Holiday variant of "ding dong ditch":
http://video.tbo.com/v/59046971/fireworks-pranks-went-too-far-officials-say.htm?q=fireworks+porch+fire
If someone has a heart attack, is seriously burned or has major fire damage to their home by the mortar shell aimed upward at the door won't that be hilarious!!! After all, what could go wrong? It's a prank! Such good fun!
This guy just opened fire on kids playing with fireworks.
And George Zimmerman hunted down an honor student just out getting candy for his little brother.
Absent evidence of prior bad (eg violent or crazy) behavior from the shooter, my guess is that the kids were shooting fireworks at his house, and then shot fireworks at HIM.
wizardpc,
While your point about the media and reporting is a good one, the fact that the guy was booked and charged almost immediately makes me think the story went down more or less as reported.
Is it possible they started shooting fireworks at the guy? Absolutely.
Does it mean he was justified in opening fire?
The police certainly don't seem to think so.
Remember, in Zimmerman's case he was only arrested *after* the professional victims started wailing.
I am a little curious about what "setting off fireworks" actually means in this case. If they were shooting something like Roman Candles at his house, this could be construed as attempted arson. In KY, this justifies deadly force. A stretch yes, but a possibility to consider.
In the case I mentioned earlier, two 15 year olds identified themselves to police because of the broadcasting of the video and were arrested and charged with arson.
In a another case in Orlando, Florida, four officers took exception to fireworks set off in their general direction as they felt that their lives were threatened:
http://www.wftv.com/news/news/local/Investigators-man-arrested-tried-to-kill/nPnyP/
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