Posted on 03/21/2006 1:38:11 AM PST by beaversmom
BATAVIA, Ohio -- A man who neighbours say was devoted to his meticulously kept lawn is charged with murder in the shooting of a 15-year-old boy who apparently walked across his yard.
Charles Martin, 66, of Union Township, near this city about 30 kilometres east of Cincinnati, shot next-door neighbour Larry Mugrage in the chest with a shotgun about 3:30 p.m. Sunday, police said. The youth was pronounced dead at hospital.
Martin was being held without bond yesterday in Clermont County Jail. Police said he told them he had several disputes about neighbours walking on his lawn. But Union Township police Lieut. Scott Gaviglia said Martin had no criminal history and last called police in 2003.
Martin called 911 on Sunday, saying in a calm voice: "I just killed a kid."
He also tells the dispatcher: "It's been going on for five years ... I've been harassed by him and his parents for five years. Today just blew it up."
STUNS NEIGHBOURHOOD
The deadly shooting stunned those in the neighbourhood and students at Glen Este High School, where Martin was a freshman, and grief counsellors were on hand yesterday.
"I think there's a great deal of shock, for two reasons: because of the age of the victim and just how this occurred, killed over some grass," Gaviglia said.
Neighbours said Martin lived alone quietly, often sitting out in front of his one-storey home with its neat lawn, well-trimmed shrubbery and flag pole with U.S. and navy flags flying.
In his fenced backyard, he had several birdhouses and a shed painted like a small red barn with white trim.
Or a fence, but these cost money, and who know how close to the wire his finances were. He still shouldn't have shot the kid.
Twice.
Links to audio and video here:
http://www.wcpo.com/news/2006/local/03/19/uniontwp_shooting.html
One of my neighbors, back in Maryland, had a problem with kids putting cherry bombs in his mailbox several times one year. He finally put in a mailbox, encased in cement up the neck and a mailbox made out of diamond plate steel, welded to the pole. No one ever tried to blow up his mailbox again. OTOH, I did hear about some guy getting sued because his mailbox was extremely sturdy like that and when some punk wrapped his car around it, while trying to cause mischief, he sued the homeowner because his reasonable expectation was that the mailbox would giveway.
If you thought the post applied to you, no further comment is necessary. It was not intended as a generalized thesis applying to everyone so there's no need to obsess on that and begin launching personalized accusations. There are more severe forms of the disorder and there are people who will defend the shooting. As we can see.
Just for the record, if you have an old guy who is obsessive and territorial living next door to an ADHD/Tourette's delinquent who enjoys lawn vandalism, that's a recipe for disaster.
In retrospect, history is filled with interesting events.
Back when I lived in the rural part of Ga some kids were doing this to a co-worker of mine. He buried a five foot length of railway rail (about 500 lb worth of steel) with about a foot and a half out of the ground to the side of the mailbox the kids were running over. He put a bush in front of it to hide it. sure enough some little sh!ts rammed his mailbox and in the process ripped the rear axle out of their pickup. The sheriff came and collected them, and a flat bed wrecker came and collected their vehicle.
Maybe this would have done the trick.
http://www.pestproducts.com/scarecrow.htm
"2...Legal action, contact the police, or retain the services of a competent attorney.
3...Lever action, on your trusty 30.30.......blow 'em away...looks like this guy got to #3."
ROTFL!!!
From the looks of the driveway and yard he spent the money for option #2. Which naturally leaves #3.
The kids parents should have taught the kid that being nice is not only good but good for ya.
"All that being said, NOBODY'S green lawn is worth the life of ANYBODY. The boy was not a squatter on that lawn, he was a pest and an irritant, and probably could have used some time in the county jail (perhaps along with his parents), for violating the private property rights of the lawn owner.
Right so far however;
If i am inferring a few things from the article correctly.
I feel bad for the older fellow. I feel nothing for the rat or his parents. A 15 year old is not physicially a boy nor can his aggressive acts of disrespect be viewed as a childs. Even this biased story reports this killing as not being a random act of violence. The punk spent years apparently with his parents support taunting the senior, goading him.
We really need to change our laws and make this sort of event a likely outcome when abusing the rights or property of others.
Our community is ever ready to throw some poor Joe or Jane in jail for getting into it with their elderly parents. (Then of course appointing their buddy lawyer to suck dry whatever estate may exist) Only the old guy knew and the punk knew and his parents knew, no one would ever move to defend a Senior over "just his lawn". Now the punk is "Just dead" and absent any other evidence to the contrary I will focus my sympathy on the neglected and abused for years senior.
Change the laws and call it a good shoot. Give Granny and Grampa a nice shiny new revolver and tell them they can have one freebee shoot a year at the punk or punkess of their choosing.
"Respect for the elderly"
would take on a whole new importance wouldn't it?
I will continue to demand my children treat everyone they meet, speak and or interact with respectfully and with caution.
W
I don't think that would be the case though, I have been at the end of a gun held by someone acting crazy, believe me I bet that kid crapped his pants when he saw an angry man carrying a shotgun while trespassing on his property, especially in a city area.
This isn't a kid that grew up in the Hood where gun toting angry people are common, this is a suburban neighborhood with manicured lawns and block party potluck dinners. He probably froze when he saw that gun being pointed at him, not knowing what to do, especially at 15 years old. Maybe the kid aggravated him for years, but I doubt he gave him lip when he saw that gun.
Many conservatives yell that aids can be prevented by ones own activity/behavior, they have responsibility for their actions, thus the resulting aids are by their own behavior. Just like the young NY gal who was drunk in the bar at ??AM claiming to be an FBI Agent and was murdered by the excon claiming to be a Federal Agent, this kids behavior/actions put himself in a position that wrought the results. (unwarranted and 100% unnecessary) I hope they eliminate this guy quickly, because there is no excuse for that response.
"Don't deliberately provoke anyone - They might be having a bad day, be crazy or all of the above. Goading people is always dangerous - something that this kid found out too late unfortunately."
You my fellow American are spot on! The old guy was wrong and to the people who are upset that some of us are not seeing the bleeding heart side need to understand something. The old man did not have the right to kill- but he did have the ability to kill. This is where America is leaving the wonderful world of reality. If this kid's parents really loved him they would have raised him with the ability to respect others and leave other people in peace. Why prey tell? Because some nut can pop a cap in you!
He had shot a trespasser in the stomach and after he went down he shot him in the chest. Then the victim rolled over and he shot him four times in the back.
This was all witnessed by the victims wife. The shooter never denied any of it.
His main argument was that the guy had came at him while he(the shooter) was holding a gun and threatening to use it if the guy didn't leave. This made him afraid for his life and he shot him in self defense.
The prosecutor asked about the rest of the shots. particularly the ones in the back.
The shooter said that he didn't know if the guy had a gun and figured that now that he had been shot he was even more dangerous than before.
He was acquitted!
Well...as long as the grief counselors are on hand.
There was an older woman who lived alone in the neighborhood we grew up in. Her yard backed up to the house of friends of ours where the kids played soccer, softball, touch football, etc. If the ball accidentally went into her yard, she would run outside and grab the ball and take it inside. This was a woman in her 60s. She never gave the balls back and during the period from around 1968 to 1975 she must have acquired quite a collection that could have outfitted a Sporting Goods store. Lawn Freaks: http://www.oddtodd.com/neigh7.html
Wait...personal property destruction? Isn't that defendable? Is somebody comes into my yard and starts banging on my car--I could shoot him right?
Not legally. You would have to claim (as liberal journalist Carl Rowan did when he shot an unarmed teenager in a bathing suit in his back yard) that you thought the teenager was coming at you with a gun, knife, or blunt object that posed you bodily harm.
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