Posted on 07/22/2009 8:29:55 AM PDT by skyman
BLUFFDALE -- A Bluffdale man is in critical condition after being shot over a misunderstanding.
Salt Lake County sheriff's investigators say David Serbeck and the president of his homeowners' association were in an SUV near 1570 West and 13400 South at 11 p.m. Tuesday on neighborhood watch when they approached two girls.
Lt. Don Hutson says those two girls went home and told one of their fathers that they were being stalked. The father, Reginald Campos, then went out in his own SUV and found the men.
"Words were exchanged. There was a verbal altercation," Hutson says. "Unfortunately, Mr. Campos fired at least two rounds, possibly three rounds."
One of the bullets exited near Serbeck's spine. Deputies say he couldn't move when they arrived, and it's believed he is at least partially paralyzed.
"I think it's one of those situations that, had people had more time to be able to evaluate, it certainly wouldn't have escalated to this point," Huston says.
Hutson says all three men were armed legally. The Salt Lake County District Attorney will screen the case.
The details are still sketchy on this but if the facts are true in the article this didn't need to happen.
This is horrible. But I’ll bet the girl didn’t tell her father the two men were on neighborhood watch. Or the victim didn’t.
“The father, Reginald Campos, then went out in his own SUV and found the men. “
Reginald Campos is a criminal who belongs in prison.
forgot to mention this is the type of situation that the anti-gun, anti-concealed carry people will use to show how people can’t responsible when carrying.
“The father, Reginald Campos, then went out in his own SUV and found the men. “
I agree that the father went out looking for trouble. It was probably a case of the father getting angry and emotional thinking someone was stalking his daughter. Being a father of girls I can understand this. Going and and trying to find the alleged stalkers and reporting them to police is one thing. Confronting them (which I assume is what happened) is another matter.
Why was this a ‘bad’ move? They were on patrol, seems an obvious thing to do to me.
“Reginald Campos is a criminal who belongs in prison.”
Absolutely! He had no justification for pulling the trigger in this situation. Hope he gets the max for this stupidity—naturally Libs will salivate over this story serving it up as “proof” that guns in the hands of citizens will only cause suffering.
All in SUV’s!! Why does the media ALWAYS focus on SUV’s?? Perhaps the evil SUV’s actually INSPIRED the shooting!! Had these guys been in cars, none of this would have happened.
Segways
“The immediate, instinctive and natural reaction of a father (or mother, for that matter) carries a lot of weight, IMO.”
It would have IF he had been correct in his assumptions. As it stands now he was WRONG WRONG WRONG, and he will have to PAY PAY PAY. Hope his stupid little princess is happy with the mess she made.
Maybe, maybe not. We'd need to know the circumstances of the shooting in much more detail.
What we do know from the article is that all three men were armed.
We know that the Neighborhood Watch guys approached the two girls.
We know that the two girls said they were being stalked; and that Mr. Campos subsequently went out looking for the "stalkers."
Now we might speculate to fill in some of the gaps.
Q. Why would the girls believe they were being stalked?
A. Probably because the Neighborhood Watch guys were following them, or continually circling back to observe them. We can also speculate that the girls either did not know the men, or did not trust them. So they went home, scared and upset, and told Mr. Campos.
So Mr. Campos goes out armed, looking for two stalkers in an SUV. Was he right to go armed? It depends ... in a 2-on-1 situation, it's probably best to be armed.
Campos approaches the Neighborhood Watch guys, somehow manages to get them to stop their vehicle, and then he exits his own vehicle to accost them, probably aggressively. The NW guys are armed, and have just been chased down by a very angry man.... they prepare themselves.
Campos is angry, and the NW guys are probably responding in kind, which is not helping matters....
At some point, somebody undoubtedly displayed a gun as a threat to "defuse" the situation; I'm inclined to speculate that Campos was the first to bring up the topic, but that he did not fire until one or both of the NW guys showed their own weapons.
Proper response should have been to call the police. Unless there was immediate danger, Reginald should have used the 911 system instead...
Yep. There was no immediate threat to pull and fire. For that matter that would have been something that the 5 to 10 minute police response time would have been fine if he called the police first and had them check it out.
The girls probably lied through their teeth because they got caught sneaking out, so they're partially responsible for it too.
Far as the neighborhood watch goes they did nothing wrong at all that I can see.
Patrolers themselves should have some easily identifiable ,prominently marked jacket or vest ,and optional cap.All should be numbered,and the person who has a sign,vest,etc. recorded.
All should have a photo ID badge which has been recorded at Watch headquarters,even if the headquarters is the watch captains desk at home.
Watch persons need training that emphasizes the absolute requirement to identify themselves to anyone they stop,and need to be trained on the limits of their authority.
That's when the firearm is best left at home.
When I worked community security I made a point of stopping to introduce myself (and our function) to anyone moving into the community.Many new residents had not been told by the real estate agents that their new home was in an association with private police,pools,parks, and FEES.So the existence of our patrol was a surprise.
If the Watch patrolers were wearing ordinary clothing and driving an unmarked vehicle,and doing anything more than simple observation ,they were asking for trouble.
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