Posted on 08/15/2005 10:03:21 AM PDT by Drew68
Daniel B. Cotnoir, a decorated Marine and military mortician, cracked under post-war stress early Saturday, responding with shotgun fire when someone threw a bottle through a window in his Lawrence home, his attorney said yesterday.
Alerts Cotnoir had already complained to police about a crowd of almost 30 people in the street outside a nearby nightclub and restaurant about 2:45 a.m. Saturday. When someone threw a bottle that shattered his bedroom window, Cotnoir fired ''a warning shot" that hit a 15-year-old girl and a 20-year-old man, said his lawyer, Robert F. Kelley.
''He shot into what he thought was a safe area, but there was some ricochet effects that Mr. Cotnoir never intended," Kelley said. ''It was a military-type response to a threatening situation that was civilian in nature."
(snip)
About 30 people had gathered in the street and parking lot listening to music from their cars, many having just left the nightclub Punto Final, Cumba said.
Some people in the crowd were playfully joshing Cotnoir as he watched from a window above his family's funeral home, Cumba said.
''People were saying hi to him, 'hey, how are you?' Somebody threw something at him," she said.
(snip)
The other alleged victim, identified by the Lawrence Eagle-Tribune as Kelvin Castro of Lowell, could not be reached for comment.
(snip)
Cotnoir was awarded the 2005 Marine of the Year by the Marine Corps Times for his work retrieving remains and belongings of fallen soldiers, more than half of whom were killed in explosions.
(snip)
But Cumba said Cotnoir's past means little.
''I don't think he deserves any of those awards," she said yesterday, reached at home by telephone after her release from the hospital. ''I think he deserves to get locked up. I could have been dead right now."
(Excerpt) Read more at boston.com ...
Funny. I often felt like doing the same thing when the Dominicans on my block in Brooklyn would blast their infernal music out of their cars at 2:45 AM. I usually called the cops, and the club was eventually closed down. Things got quieter for a while.
That's exactly how I perceived the story after reading it.
"That's just it, how could a Marine fire a "warning shot?" Warning shots are for TV cowboys. If it's time to fire a gun it's time to kill someone."
The difference is easy. A warning shot will go into a wall, roadway, or engine block. A non-warning shot will go into your body.
Note to self:
Do not throw bottles at Marines who have recently returned from combat or at their bedroom windows at 3AM...especially after you have been harrasing them for a couple of hours..
And they own shotguns...
They tend to react as though they have been attacked...
Also do not poke PitBulls with sharp pointy sticks...
You will not like either's reaction....to you messin' with them..
Exactly. He is wrong for firing, no matter which way you slice it.
For the CCW holders out there, I have a phrase I use for my students in regards to drawing and using their weapons.
Gun to Owner:
"Never draw me in Anger.
Never holster me in Shame."
"That's just it, how could a Marine fire a "warning shot?" Warning shots are for TV cowboys. If it's time to fire a gun it's time to kill someone."
That's right. Around here, people are not allowed to discharge firearms during New Year, so people don't get shot from falling bullets. Can you imagine that!!!
What the hell is a 15-year-old girl doing coming out a club at 2:45AM?
It's not post-war stress. Otherwise there are about 200 million people in this country who have never been in war who would have reacted the same way.
Perhaps it's because I failed to get military training early in life but I don't know anything about 'warning shots.' Or shots intended to injure. All shots are center mass and intended to kill. Two of my closest and most long term friends are Marines and veterans of combat and I don't think they have any idea what a 'warning shot' is either. A 'warning shout' maybe but that's a little iffy too.
What is a 15 year old doing in front of a night club at 2:45 AM?
Looking for a Senator?
Probably hanging out with her 29 year old mom trying to pick up men.
Seriously. I think this is the type of crown in which kids older than ten are pretty much on their own. I'm fairly certain we're not talking Harvard grad students here.
Of course not, but the media is salivating over the prospect of young men returning home from "Bush's illegal war for oil" psychologically damaged and prone to violent outbursts. It makes for great print.
People may have been saying, 'hey, how are you?' but I suspect that it probably sounded more like, 'what the f*** you lookin' at white boy?"
Just a hunch.
Exactly, it's more like Post Traumatic Salsa Syndrome...a common affliction in Lawrence, MA and elsewhere I suspect (didn't the ex-mayor get mugged there recently?).
Come on now...you gotta do better than CO...my whole family's in CO (Golden, Castle Rock, Aurora)...y'all ain't all that and a baga chips.
Firing a scatter-gun at a group of people is not the manner in which to deal with some roudy kids...even if one of 'em threw a bottle through your window. Maybe a nicely placed rifle-shot....
If you're really brave you could try the bottle-through-the-window trick in west Texas. ~8^P
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