[sonsofliberty2000]

This is sad. I don't understand what makes people snap and decide to hurl bullets at people who hurl tomatoes. Guns are not the problem. People who have a loose screw are the problem.

Patriot Paradox

[Sloth]

According to the sheriff's department, the driver of a Lincoln or Cadillac stopped, got out and threatened to shoot whoever threw the tomatoes Monday night.

At least it seems he gave them plenty of warning.

By the way, since when is a 23-year-old considered a "youngster"?

[wideawake]

I would submit that idiots who throw tomatoes at cars, potentially causing deadly accidents, are also a problem.

If a mother driving with three young children in the car got hit with some of those tomatoes and was shaken up enough to accidentally swerve into the path of an oncoming truck, we probably wouldn't be feeling so sorry for this young prankster.

[wardaddy]

Sad.

[concerned about politics]

"But if people start shooting people for throwing tomatoes, this country's in bad shape," he said.

The Amish are a Christian organization. It's politically correct to shoot them if it makes one feel better about themselves.

[Diddle E. Squat]

What a load of misleading crap this article is. Those kids were not just "throwing tomatoes". Buried in the middle of the story is the most important fact:

and firing paintball guns at passing vehicles.

I'm not defending the murderous overreaction, but I'm sick of apologists always sugar coating and downplaying the actions of stupid punks. Having your car hit by tomatoes is one thing, having it damaged by paintball guns that can require expensive repainting is quite another.

Those brats who were not killed should be charged and prosecuted, even if just for a misdemeanor.

[Diddle E. Squat]

BTW, this is hardly Breaking News. Why did you post it to Breaking News, Front Page News, and Extended News at the same time? One will do.

[lawgirl]

The Amish have paintball guns??

[Atlas Sneezed]

Q: What is this sound:
"Clip-clop, clip-clop, clip-clop, clip-clop, clip-clop, clip-clop, clip-clop, clip-clop, BANG BANG BANG, clip-clop, clip-clop, clip-clop, clip-clop, clip-clop, clip-clop, clip-clop, clip-clop, clip-clop"









A: The sound of an Amish drive-by shooting.

[marshmallow]

Boooooooooo!!!!!!

Did I frighten anyone? Make anyone spill their coffee?? Hell, I hope not! Judging by the posts on this and other threads on this topic, FR might have an anti-prank militia which could be dispatched to rub me out.

It sure is good to know that Freepers believe that tomato throwing deserves the death penalty.

What's the penalty for water balloons? Anyone?

Whackos.

[Thud]

This might merit a Darwin Award - these Amish idiots were using paintball guns as well as tomatoes. Paintball guns can blind people, and the cars attacked sometimes had open windows.

I read a story here on the Freep a while ago about some white teenagers who fire paintball guns at pedestrians from their car in an urban black neighborhood. One of their victims shot back with a real gun and killed of the paintball idiots.

[mtbopfuyn]

Throw the "youngsters" in jail. They could have caused an accident. Paint guns do not follow their staunch belief of non-violence and turning the other cheek and neither does tomatoes.

Obviously law enforcement has turned a blind year for years to this activity so filing charges against unknown persons in a corn field would not have been investigated. I can understand the guy getting angry, I would have been angry too. Chasing them down would have been fruitless (no pun) and if he'd caught one he'd be brought up on charges himself. Granted firing shots into the field was wrong, but no more wrong in throwing objects at a moving car.

[Question_Assumptions]

"The prank has gone on for years and years," said Marty Yoder, who owns Marty's Shoes in this town about 60 miles south of Cleveland. "All over the county it's been happening every year."

Not that I think that throwing tomatos is a capital offense, but I bet that this traditional prank won't be happening any more.

[weegee]

23 years old is not "a youngster" and he wasn't even an Amish man. There was a shooting in the proximity of young people (who were gathered with adults).

There has also been a lethal mob beating (in Chicago?) that included attackers as young as 9 or 10.

This shooting incident got legs a lot quicker than the Erie pizza bomber did (that story occurred on a Thursday but didn't hit the national news cycle until late in the weekend).

Some kids have been known to shoot bb guns at cars. Doesn't mean that the practice should be accepted and shrugged off. Even in this case, they were shooting paint guns at cars but it is the tomato aspect that gets all the press.

[John Beresford Tipton]

"The prank has gone on for years and years,"
Er, I guess motorist missed that memo.

"Residents say the community will be nervous until the shooter is caught."
Er, More likely, Residents will not throw shiite until the shooter is caught

"But if people start shooting people for throwing tomatoes, this country's in bad shape"
Wait for the revenge sequel "The Tomato that Ate Brooklyn, Part II"

[r9etb]

A motorist who had been pelted several times on Labor Day got out of his car and fired three to five rounds into the 7-foot-high corn, killing 23-year-old Steven L. Keim.

Well, at least we know that the killer wasn't Amish -- unless both he and the victim stuck around long enough for the guy to reload his musket two to four times....

[the invisib1e hand]

"But if people start shooting people for throwing tomatoes, this country's in bad shape,"

*sigh*