Emergency room records show teen prankster shot in back

AP ^ | 11-03-03

[AAABEST]

BOCA RATON -- A 16-year-old boy killed during a seemingly innocent late-night prank was shot in the back, according to emergency room records.

The medical reports were released Saturday by the attorney for the teen's parents, who said they show he posed no threat to the neighbor who shot him.

Mark Andrew Drewes and a friend had been knocking on neighbors' doors and then running away Oct. 25. He was shot by neighbor Jay Steven Levin, 40, who told police he mistook the 6-foot-2 teen for a burglar.

"It shows he was running away," said the Drewes' attorney, Robert Montgomery. "Nobody was coming at (Levin)."

Montgomery announced Friday that he planed to file a wrongful death suit against Levin on behalf of Mark Drewes' parents, Gregory and Luciana Drewes.

Levin has not been charged in the shooting. His attorney, Bo Hitchcock, did not immediately return a phone message Sunday.

Mike Edmondson, spokesman for Palm Beach County State Attorney Barry Krischer, declined to comment on the hospital report.

Information from: The Palm Beach Post, http://www.pbpost.com

[MineralMan]

"The person who was killed was knocking and running [on doors] at 12:30am. Would you answer the door unarmed?"

I do not answer the door at all at 12:30 AM. I arm my self, then shout, "Who is it?" If an answer is not forthcoming, I call 911 and remain armed in a defensible location. If it's a neighbor, they identify themselves and I come to their assistance. That's the only situation that has ever been the case when someone has knocked on my door late at night. I can think of others, where the Police or Fire department might be knocking late. In all of those cases, my demand for identification would be answered.

I don't go to the door, armed, then open it. That's just stupid.

[Major_Risktaker]

WOW! Levin shot the kid in the back!!

This kid must have seen the gun and ran for his life.

[El Gato]

Myself when I don't know who's on the other side and I'm afraid that it might be someone who would want to hurt my family, I DON'T ANSWER THE DOOR or here's one for you; I ASK WHO IT IS. I never answer the door packing.

That's going to cost you some day. Maybe more than you can bear. There is a vast difference between answering the door with a gun held discretely behind your back, or still in its holster and your hand on the butt, and coming out shooting.

I once opened my door, as I turned on the floodlights, to find a cop in my fenced back yard! Turns out he was responding to a strange noise complaint. The noise was me knocking my garage door back into alingement, but it was pretty late when I got home with the tool for the job. The cop never saw the gun, we exchanged explanations, and that was that.

[El Gato]

In TEXAS, deadly force is allowed to protect property during the nighttime hours.

Not only during the night. It's just that a specific crime, theft, can only be responded to with deadly force during the night. You can also use deadly force to stop someone fleeing with your property, night or day, if a reasonable person would determine that it was the only way to recover your property. Better to let the cops handle recovery in most cases, if only because of civil liability problems, either from you shooting and hitting the thief or shooting and hitting your neighbors' dog.

[El Gato]

Residential burglars work mostly during the day and when a residence is more likely to be unoccupied. Most burglars work alone and tend to probe a neighborhood looking for the right residence and the right opportunity. Alarm signs and decals, bars on windows, strong locks and doors, big dogs, and alert neighbors can sometimes deter burglars. Also, burglars will avoid a confrontation and will usually flee when approached. Most burglaries do not result in violence unless the criminal is cornered and uses force to escape.

The main reason they act this way is that they are afraid of getting shot. Home invasion robbery is much more common where the residents are less likely to be armed. Like DC, New York, or the United Kingdom.

[El Gato]

A few years back, a guy got his hubcaps stolen at his apartment complex. He bought new ones, but put an alarm on his car. Someone set off the alarm and he saw a car racing away(at night) and his hubcaps missing. He gave chase, caught up with the car and Killed everyone in the car. He was no billed! The hubcaps were in the car.

I remember that. They weren't hubcaps, they were some particularly expensive custom wheels. I don't think he chased the kids down, but he did fire into their vehicle, with an SKS. Some of them died, but I don't think it was all of them. He was indeed no billed, by a Dallas grand jury.

[TankerKC]

I'm sure that you think you are real funny. Find another site for funny guys.

You commented on someone's tenure here rather than what they were saying. Is there a point to that? If so, let us know what it is. Otherwise, continue with your Pee Wee Herman debate style. I'll ignore it.

[demlosers]

Do you believe the shooter had the legal right to use deadly force in this case? And if so, was it morally correct?

[Zevonismymuse]

I agree with you 100%. I'm a big 2a guy like you, but this is bad news on many levels including giving responsible gun owners a bad name.

Thank you to you and Centurian2000 for recognizing this is not a good 2a case. I participated in a thread last week where a bunch of psychos were defending this guy, facts be damned.

One nut-bucket was alluding they would come to my house to demonstrate how flawed my philosophy of not answering the door with a loaded gun was.

I am also an anti-gun control person. We have many guns and my husband, children and I enjoy shooting all of them. We took a van load of kids out on Earth day and had a blast, literally.

I also know there are psycho weirdos who give gun ownership a bad name and this guy is obviously one of them. Now all gun owners will be demonized. This creep really set back our right to bear arms.

[Zevonismymuse]

Would you answer the door unarmed?

I don't answer a door unless I think it is safe to do so. If I suspected a danger outside I would leave the deadbolt on and call 911. If I felt I was in danger I might get out a loaded gun while I waited for the police to arrive. I cannot imagine unlocking my door if I thought the situation required being armed.

[HowlinglyMind-BendingAbsurdity]

This gets a Carl Rowan Award for half-cocked suburbanites driven by Dirty Harry fantasies...."Oh... it was only a teenage neighbor..." What fool answers the door late at night if you think it's a criminal at the door? What criminal rings the doorbell? Deadly force is reserved for self-defense. Shooting a kid in the back hardly qualifies.
That said, kids should think twice about trespassing late at night. Especially in that neighborhood, apparently.

[Travis McGee]

The guy won't skate, and from what we know, he shouldn't.

But the punk-a$$ affluent trash that shot his windows with paintballs and BBs share the guilt, morally, for making driving this home owner to his feelings of outrage and anger at "pranksters."

In no way does this mitigate his guilt for a "bad shoot." But the dead kid's "friends" who shot his house and broke windows numerous times do not have clean hands in his death.

And I go back and repeat my guess that this was not the first ring and run of the night, for the homeowner to have gotten to his shooting position while the kid was still in range.

If you want to drive a man to a homicidal rage, I suggest you do the following: shoot his windows out with BBs and paintballs, and then sneer and snicker as he fills out useless police reports. Then sneak up after midnight and "ring and run." Wait for the lights to go back out, and do it again, maybe two more times.

Don't be amazed if the homeowner comes out shooting.

[On the Road to Serfdom]

I cannot imagine unlocking my door if I thought the situation required being armed.

So your are against CCW? A lot of people unlock thier door in order to go to dinner, to a movie, etc. while armed. Are they all crazy? I don't agree that people can only be armed if they lock themselves in thier house.

If someone wants to check out a strange noise on their property and they decide to do it armed rather than unarmed I don't see why that is such a bad thing.

[Eaker]

I'm gonna wait for the "official" medical report that will "prove" facts before I confirm the shooters a sinner or saint.

I am with you on this one.

I guess we will have to wait and see.

[FITZ]

All I can say --- anyone with kids should go over this case with them --- 16 year old kids generally don't tell their parents about pranks they're planning ---- and no one should assume their kids never would pull pranks --- especially if you get several teenage boys together. The kids most likely did choose the guy most likely to be the neighborhood nut --- it's more fun that way obviously. It's like their driving and why they have more accidents.

[Travis McGee]

They kept baiting the bull, and in the end one of them was gored. I hope my 11 year old son can learn from this.

[Cobra Scott]

Amen Travis!

If I am on his jury, he probably walks. Have to be some major evidence of premeditation for me to think otherwise.

[TexasGunLover]

Please state for me a scenario where you have to shoot someone in the back. I've thought about this but the only situation I could think of was if the perp was running off with a family member on his shoulder or something. I'm all ears.

The criminal had turned to run towards a weapon or towards a family member or 3rd party.

[Travis McGee]

If any good at all comes from this, it can be a lesson to teens about the unintended consequences possible from playing "pranks" like this.

But since teens don't listen anyway....

[Thinkin' Gal]

If you want to drive a man to a homicidal rage, I suggest you do the following: shoot his windows out with BBs and paintballs, and then sneer and snicker as he fills out useless police reports. Then sneak up after midnight and "ring and run." Wait for the lights to go back out, and do it again, maybe two more times.

Don't be amazed if the homeowner comes out shooting.

Suicide by doorbell.