Teen pulling prank killed by neighbor

The Palm Beach Post ^ | Sunday, October 26 | Sarah Eisenhauer and Cynthia Kopkowski

[FITZ]

That is so sad. Once my dad went back to his car to get some film he had in the glove compartment in a large parking lot filled with cars. He used his key to get into his car, opened up the glove compartment and was going through stuff that puzzled him because he couldn't find the film and the stuff wasn't familiar. Just then someone walked up and questioned him what he was doing in his car ---- it turned out the car was the same year and model --- and the key worked to open it. It sure is better when someone just asks before shooting ---- but in high crime areas maybe they don't.

[Moonman62]

When Levin, a Palm Beach County businessman who lived alone, was awakened from his sleep by a knock at the door early Saturday, he armed himself with a handgun and answered it, deputies said. He told deputies he saw someone he believed was holding a weapon.

You're supposed to run after pulling this prank. Why was the kid standing there?

[Lancey Howard]

If the kids were playing "knock on the door and run" - - then why was this 6'2", 210-pound teenager still standing there after the guy woke up and opened his door?

[fightu4it]

How can you get to be 16 years old and still be so dumb?

[coloradan]

There was a 14 year-old girl who messed up her own house to make it look ransacked, like it had been burglarized, left the front door ajar, and then hid in a closet to wait for her father to come home. (It might have been his birthday, or something like that.) He gets home, sees the door open and the house a mess and pulls/gets his gun. She leapt out of the closet - Surprise! - and was shot dead by her dad. Innocently intended, but honestly, what was she expecting?

[csvset]

then why was this 6'2", 210-pound teenager still standing there after the guy woke up and opened his door?

Nobody said he was fast.

[Held_to_Ransom]

Anyone else find it odd that a high school is named after Pope John Paul II?

That's a clue that it's a Catholic School.....

The answer to your question is hopefully no.

[FITZ]

Home invasion robberies are a bit more common today than 20 or 50 years ago.

I know --- I think that's the real problem. Drug addicts wanting their money for cocaine and crack, violent criminals not spending much time in prison. I think the kid is really a victim of a violent society where people hide in their homes afraid of what might try to come in. Almost everyone I know has iron bars on their windows, high fences --- it seems everyone is living in some kind of high security compound. There still are a few places where people leave windows open at night for fresh air, have no fences and aren't paranoid.

[untwist]

My friend, I have information about this tragedy. The kids involved were schoolmates of my son. They attend Pope John Paul II High School in Boca Raton. About one hour before the tragedy I greeted the 2nd boy (the one who lived) and was talking to his mother outside the locker room after our school's homecoming game. These were good boys, polite and well-mannered, not into drugs or drink and not burglarizing. The physical characterization of the dead boy is misleading. He was tall and medium and not 200 lbs. The truth will come out - these boys were not punks but kids playing a prank on a birthday one week before Halloween. Folks, I don't post here too often but I must tell you that we are all heartbroken here - this kid was killed in cold blood.

[beaversmom]

I was 21 and still a dumba** so I guess I'm biased when it comes to cutting a 16 year old a little slack.

[Mulder]

On the street, I was told to yell, "Please, back off" as loud as possible. The emphasis was on the word "Please" because in a stressful situation, it could be interpreted by others as "Police". Any little edge helps.

I've read that advice also, and don't think it's a good idea for the following reasons:

1) What if bystanders think you said "police", and now you have the cops asking you why you identified yourself as a police officer?

2) Fine motor skills supposedly don't work well in a high-stress situation. Instead of trying to say "please", instead of "police", I'd be yelling simple words, like "stop", and maybe some other 4-letter ones.

3) Perps are more afraid of armed citizens than police. They know that the police have to follow all kinds of rules with respect to the use of force, and that the police have tools (pepper spray, baton, etc...) to deal with escalating force. While the armed citizen typically has only a gun.

[muawiyah]

Do we hear noises as we go off to bed? Last evening we'd gone out to the grocery. Our youngest son stayed home to study and go to bed early.

When we arrived there were over a dozen pieces of major fire department equipment in our neighborhood. A house two doors down from our own had burned.

Once the equipment cleared out we went straight home only to discover that our son hadn't heard a thing.

[Akira]

"If they thought it was a burglar, what kind of burglar knocks?"

Many kinds. My coworker (the kind of guy who tries to help everybody, although not anymore) answered the door to a teenager who sounded in trouble at about 10pm one night. As soon as the door was open, he was inside. My coworker was shot in the stomach, and 3 years and 3 surgeries later is still having complications. I agree, you don't answer the door at night. There's lots of fault to go around here, but it's silly to think the only kinds of burgulars are those that sneak in through a window.

[Lancey Howard]

At 12:30am, if you are protecting yourself or your family you don't take any chances, sorry. That split second of warning instead of acting is all a potential attacker needs to take you (him) out and run inside and rape your (his) wife and children.

I agree with you. I live in a more rural area, but I don't answer my door after dark without a handgun in my waistband. And at 12:30am the gun would be in my hand.

[Mulder]

These were good boys, polite and well-mannered, not into drugs or drink and not burglarizing

Kind of like the "loveable rogue" that Tony Martin killed in Britain, right? As for being into drugs or alcohol, you wouldn't know it if they were.

"Good and polite boys" don't go around knocking on people's doors at o'dark thirty. If it was a prank, he would have ran immediately after knocking on the door, but he didn't.

Something was going on, and there is probably a lot more to this story.

[muawiyah]

Was the kid just standing there at the door?

Other witnesses say the kids were playing "ring and run". The only person saying the kid is standing there is the guy who shot him.

I suspect he's lieing through his teeth.

[StriperSniper]

What say you?

A birthday celebration capped off by an early-morning round of mischievous doorbell ringing

Bad choice of words by the writter.

[fightu4it]

"I was 21 and still a dumba** so I guess I'm biased when it comes to cutting a 16 year old a little slack."

In the area of this Country where I live, if you are pounding on someone's door in the middle of the night you are going to be met with a gun. If you are 6+ foot and over 190lbs. you had better be standing way back from the door with a smile on your face.

[beaversmom]

Now Tony Martin was in the right to do what he did. Unfortunately, he did it in the once Great Britain.

[untwist]

Go to hell jerk. You are totally ignorant here. WAit for the truth and don't believe the "facts" just you read it in a newspaper befor the investigation is complete. My characterization of tthe kids will come out as accurate.