Ohio Amish Community Shaken by Shooting

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[sonsofliberty2000]

Ohio Amish Community Shaken by Shooting Thu Sep 4, 2:55 AM ET

By JOE MILICIA, Associated Press Writer

MOUNT HOPE, Ohio - It's an annual prank in this tranquil Amish community, where men wear straw hats and women bonnets and plain dresses: Youngsters hide in cornfields and hurl tomatoes at passing cars.

This year, the mischief turned deadly.

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.

No arrest has been made.

Residents are reeling from shock, unable to understand why anybody would retaliate so violently. Authorities say the county hadn't seen a firearm-related homicide in about three decades.

"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."

The shooting occurred just north of Mount Hope in Holmes County, where the clip-clop of horses pulling Amish buggies is just as common as the sound of passing automobiles.

Holmes County has what is believed to be the world's largest population of Amish, who do not believe in modern conveniences such as electricity and automobiles.

Keim, 23, an Apple Creek resident of Amish heritage, died of multiple wounds to the chest, Holmes County Coroner Robert Anthony said.

Keim was with about 10 other members of the Amish community, ages 15 to 23. The group told the sheriff's office they had been throwing tomatoes and firing paintball guns at passing vehicles.

The crime scene is marked by trampled corn stalks that interrupt an otherwise uniform stretch roadside corn. About eight rows into the cornfield, well hidden from the road, two buckets of rotting, fly-covered tomatoes still sat.

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.

The vehicle turned around and drove past the cornfield again. The car was struck with tomatoes a second time.

About 25 minutes later the vehicle passed the cornfield two more times. On a third pass, the driver stopped and challenged the group to throw more tomatoes — then fired his shotgun into the cornfield.

The sheriff's department did not have a suspect, only a vague description of a middle-aged male of medium height.

Residents say the community will be nervous until the shooter is caught.

"People won't be resting too good until they know who it is at least," said Ivan Miller, 41. "He should be punished. The guy lost it."

Wayne Miller, an Amish man from nearby Kidron, said the young people "shouldn't have been throwing tomatoes."

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

Keim was born into an Amish family, but his family left the Amish church and became Mennonites, said Yoder.

Mennonites share similar beliefs with the Amish, but drive cars and use more modern conveniences.

"He was a real outgoing person, always willing to help you," Yoder said.

[headsonpikes]

"Granted firing shots into the field was wrong, but no more wrong than throwing..." TOMATOES!

Yup!

All bad things are equally wrong.

[Dick Vomer]

We're cummin to GET YA!!!!!

[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.

[SnarlinCubBear]

Funny!!!! My daughter told me that one...she moved from CA to MI.

I'm fascinated by all things Amish, but actually, it seems like a fairly boring life.

[SnarlinCubBear]

My daughter tells me they use cell phones, serruptitiously.
We laugh!

(I know, I misspelled it!)

[GovernmentShrinker]

Apparently the police have been sitting idly by while this practice continued "for years and years". No wonder the shooter was fed up. And no wonder he didn't see any point in calling police.

wideawake is quite right, pointing out that this sort of "prank" can easily cause fatal accidents. In the long run, this shooter may have saved more lives than he took, if it gets the parents and police in this county a new outlook on the acceptability of this type of "prank".

[GovernmentShrinker]

Review post #13. If water balloons are used in a dangerous way, there should be severe penalties for the throwers. And unfortunately, most people who are immature enough to throw water balloons are poor judges of how dangerous they can be. If it was harmless to drop one on somebody from the 2nd floor of an apartment building, then it'll be harmless to drop one on somebody from the 15th floor too, right? And if it was harmless to drop one from the 2nd floor on a young adult, who fell down, got up, muttered a few curse words and kept walking, then it'll be harmless to drop one from the 2nd floor on a very old woman carrying her groceries home -- but oops, when she fell, she broke her hip, and had to move to a nursing home, and died there a few months later, never having gotten up again.

There are lots of way to have fun with harmless pranks, but no one should ever discount the potential danger of pranks which may not be harmless.

[norraad]

This summer the Amish kids tried water skiing,

almost drowned their best horse!

[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.

[MontanaBeth]

The "pranks" pulled by the Amish young ones here include, huge boulders rolled down onto windy roads, moving large bear proof trash containes into the road, trees, and tagging the letter A in a circle. Too much T.V.? Oh yeah, they don't watch T.V.

[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"

[sonsofliberty2000]

My apologies. I meant just Front Page and Crime but I somehow must have hit all of them.

[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....

[sonsofliberty2000]

I'll be honest that I missed the paint guns. I was in a rush to class and thought this would intrest Freepers. It in no way excuses firing multiple times into the corn field at whoever might be in there. Paint guns in the hands of the Amish. Leads one to wonder if they only use white or black paint since they seem to shun colors.

[Conservative til I die]

Some conservatives enjoy sounding and acting like bad ass tough guys. "Any punk that looks at me wrong's gettin' a 44 magnum shell right between the eyes. Oh yeah, baby!"

[50sDad]

My daughter tells me they use cell phones, serruptitiously.

If you use bottled propane, I imagine this would be OK as well...no wires to the outside. I am told by someone who knows that while they won't use washing machines, they are not above asking you as an outsider to do laundry in them. LOL.

[50sDad]

The Amish Laptop

More Amish humor here.

[Conservative til I die]

Apparently the police have been sitting idly by while this practice continued "for years and years". No wonder the shooter was fed up. And no wonder he didn't see any point in calling police.

Yeah dude, kill 'em all. Kill 'em all!!!!!!!!!Dude was totally justified. /sarcasm

[the invisib1e hand]

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

*sigh*