Posted on 10/26/2003 4:41:29 AM PST by lifacs
I think most burglaries are during the daytime when nobody is at home. That being said, I think the kid got what he deserved. It is the parents fault.
"If the kid was ringing and running, and the homeowner with the gun saw him face to face that would mean he was waiting for him to show up. It is possible that as soon as the bell was rung the homeowner threw open the door and shot the kid as he was turning to run away."
Many on here are taking the homeowner's word that he was asleep when he heard a knock, got out of bed, got his gun and then went to the door, and the kid was still there during all that time. I don't believe it. Why would they all of a sudden decide to not run at that house? They weren't wearing masks (or it would have been mentioned/found out) so what's the point of staying there to be witnessed? Ask the survivor: How many seconds after the knock was the door opened?
I do believe the homeowner was just inside the door with his gun ready when your friend got there. The homeowner could be plain mean and/or in a bad mood, so that when he noticed kids going around the neighborhood he could have decided to put an end to their fun. Drugs or alcohol could have played a part and impaired his judgement, made him paranoid, angry, etc. Notice how it mentions his eyes being red:
A shirtless and red-eyed Levin answered the door to his neatly landscaped home Saturday morning, but said only, "I can't talk to you," in response to a reporter's questions.
By being a giant pain?
By annoying, bothering and yes, frightening people who he didn't know?
Your idea of "innocent fun" is quite warped.
What were you going to do for an encore? Hide in the bushes and jump out at people?
You and your friends are fools. And stupid in the bargain. People who are fools and stupid often come to an untimely end.
Allow me to explain a fact of life that you will find quite useful should you survive to grow up.
If you try to annoy, provoke, anger and frighten people... THEY WILL GET ANNOYED, PROVOKED, ANGRY AND FRIGHTENED!!!
When people are annoyed, provoked, angry and/or frightened sooner or later they will lash out. And someone is going to get hurt. That someone will likely be YOU.
When that happens expect me to shed no sad tears for you. You went looking for trouble. You found it.
Why you thought that this was a good idea I have no idea but I will venture to guess that you have been protected from any consequences of your actions for far to long.
Welcome to adulthood child. You are late arriving.
The problem I have with Ayoob is that he tends to "major in the minors". I read one of his articles recently and he was talking about why you should carry a DA pistol, or DA/SA, load the same ammo as the police use, etc....
Basically, the point of doing all this was to prevent a jury from convicting you of a crime if you use a weapon in SD. He cited some case examples where that info came out in court, but in none of the cases was it the deciding factor. By focusing on such small details, he overlooks the "big picture", IMHO, such as carrying the gun that is best for *you*, use of deadly force requirements, etc....
I think he still has some good ideas, he just gets carried away sometimes.
There was a Beavis and Butthead episode along those lines.
But even they weren't dumb enough to try it at night.
Yep. Life is hard. It's harder if you're stupid.
Looks like that punk learned the hard way.
Too bad his parents and the schools didn't instill in him a fundamental respect for the lives and property of others.
I still contend that there is a lot more to this story than "ding-dong-ditch" gone bad.
No. Unless it's not a Catholic school. Now that would be odd.
Oh. I didn't see in the story where this homeowner carried a loaded firearm to the door for every visitor. I missed that part.
He was up to no good. It's called "malicious mischief".
Mark never intended to harm or damage the man who shot him in any way.
Unfortunately, it doesn't matter what Mark intended. What matters is whether or not the homeowner reasonably perceived him as a threat.
...Also, for you information the game they were playing is called ding-dong-ditch. Its a popular game among teens where someone goes up to the door and knocks or rings the doorbell and when the door is opening runs away.
Yes, we're all familiar with the game, although in my day it was popular only among pre-teens and only during daylight hours. Strangely, I only remember it being fun when someone got really upset and started screaming and yelling like a lunatic. Is that what Mark was after?
The man who shot Mark was completely in the wrong and should be prosecuted to the fullest.
If the man is telling the truth then he's done nothing wrong and will probably not be prosecuted at all. People are supporting him here because they believe his story, not because the kid deserved to die.
I just want everyone out there to know that at Pope everyone who knew Mark liked and loved him and will miss him dearly, and if you really believe he did something wrong and it was his fault he's dead I hope you see some of the footage of our homecoming dance where kids were hysterical to the brink of nearly passing out. I was Mark's friend and I hope that for his sake, his poor mother and father, his extended family, and friends that this man who killed him in cold blood is put away for many years.
I'm sorry that your friend is dead, but he's dead because of a horrible accident that was at least partly his own fault.
Your eyes are not red after being woken up after a couple hours of sleep? Drugs are not the only thing that make your eyes red.......
Heck, he may have even been crying.
This guy is obviously unhinged and should be in a straight jacket before he does it again.
How do you know he goes to bed at 10:30 p.m. on Friday nights?
You think this kid deserved to die because he was playing ring and run??
I'm shocked at some of these comments here. Yes, it's irresponsible behavior, but who of us was a model, responsible citizen at 16?
My friends and I used to TP other peoples' yards late at night when we were about that age. We's sneak out from slumber parties and the parents wouldn't even know. We played ring and run when we were a little younger, although it was never at 12:30 a.m.
Thank God nobody was quick on the trigger at us back then, or I guess I'd be dead as "deserved."
And yes, I am a staunch supporter of the Second Amendment and I own a gun.
I have that feeling too. More information is needed before can say for sure wheither the shooting was justified or not but this teenager was certainly behaving badly.
Ringing the bell and running is one thing when you are eight and it is daylight. It is quite another thing when you are adult sized, it is the middle of the night and you stick around waiting for the owner to come out.
Finally, one day, one of 'em got out and got hit by the very same cement truck we had coming to fill in the holes under the fence.
Stupid bunch. We ended up putting them on the barby. Still got some packed away in the feezer.
Best way to protect yourself is to use good locks, concrete block and steel walls, and have your cellphone in good working order so you can call for help from a private security service.
Otherwise you are unfairly putting other peoples' lives at risk answering your door at 2:30 AM with a gun in your hand.
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