Did not deserve to die!!!!!!!!!!
I'm willing to bet that many people (even here) HAVE done things they "deserve to be shot for". I'm not speaking literally, but you know what I mean. There is a difference in having fun as a kid (i certainly did some stupid things), and having no respect for your fellow man. this 15 yr old obviously had no respect for the property of others, even when that property obviously meant everything (literally) to another person. Obviously his parents did a poor job of teaching him respect, and that failure cost them their son. Again, I'm not saying this was a justifiable homocide -- just wanting to make it clear that I've got no respect for the kid/family either.
I bet he could of fired the shotgun in the air and had the same effect on the kid, minus the killing part.
Spare the rod, spoil the child. I'm a firm believer in corporal punishment for kids as long as it's not done arbitrarily, in anger and with the kid understanding that it's for their own good. This "child abuse" thing is rubbish. Not saying real child abuse doesn't exist and shouldn't be stopped, but a loving parent disciplining their child physically is to be encouraged, not punished.
My point exactly... ~ I dont sell cars, I sell engines. The cars I throw in for free since something has to hold the engine - Enzo Ferrari
He was a 15 year old kid! He walked across the lawn and you guys are saying he's a fu$$ing punk. I disagree, we've all done stupid crap in our younger years, the old man deserves what's coming to him. We don't know if the kid just ran across the lawn b/c it was a shortcut to get to a friends house or if he literally walked over to some flowers and stomped on them. Any man measuring their grass and mowing it 3 times a day has some mental issues. I don't think the parents were a failure b/c their son walked across the lawn, there are much worse crimes that children commit and don't deserve to be murdered for.
My cars have always meant everything in the world to me, but at the end of the day, they're just pieces of metal sitting in the street. When some a****le backed into my car and dented the crap out of the rear "fender", I wanted to smack him silly. But killing somebody over simple material damage (no pun intended) blows my mind. Anything material can be fixed. Grass grows back, cars get fixed. You can't cure dead.
That kid was a stupid moron who would die young anyway, one way or another. He did not have enough sense to know when to stop messing around or when to run like hell when he sees the wrong end of the gun! I would bet he was still taunting the old man when the gun went off. The kid didn't deserve to die, but he asked for it!
Who are you to say he was a stupid moron? He went on the guys lawn, whoop dee freaking do. You can't say you've never done something stupid to taunt someone and piss them off. That's what he was doing, kid can't even learn his lesson b/c he's dead. I'm not defending taunting people, but it's just freaking grass. Like Jeremy said, it grows back. Just b/c he walked on his lawn, means he was going to die young anyway? Please! You can't be serious. Think about the parents, they have to live the rest of their lives knowing their son is dead b/c he stepped on some grass.
I wouldn't say that the old fellow was right by any means..... However, let's take a look at society, and it's new methods of raising children. I spent a few years as a High School Shop Instructor, so I have a bit of insight on the situation. With no doubt the best of intentions, the "Warm Fuzzies" have set us on a course that is quite literally scary. In focusing on "happy memories", and sparing any sort of physical punishment, they are unwittingly creating a group of sociopathic* people. The world was created with a few simple parameters, one being all creatures respond to fear, or pain. Remove the pain result, and the child is not learning a valuable link between cause and effect. ACTION/RESULT. Wtihout a mental link for them to draw on, they do not have a connection between their actions, and the consequences. Hence the things we read about in the news. There is a lot of wisdom in the old saying: Spare the rod, spoil the child. This does not mean the child ends up a product of too much giving. Spoiled means it is rotten, or not fit, I would think. Qiute frankly, what life will be like when this generation is in control decades from now scares the crap outta me. Mind you, I am not refering to abusive punishment, as that can create it's own problems. I am saying this course of action will not work. * A simple definition of sociopath is: someone who is unable, or unwilling to recognise how their behavior affects others
I'm a firm believer in corporal punishment. Hell, I wouldn't be the same person if my parent's hadn't whooped my butt when I got out of line. Society today has made this effective type of punishment seem wrong. You have to talk to your kids now and tell them they've done wrong. And if you must be harsh, you go a step further...like my aunt and uncle do to my 12 year old cousin. They take her Blackberry away for the night when she's in trouble!
Some people need to get their priorities straight. Bottom line is simple ... is a kid's life worth some grass?
Yes I am serious! I believe the old guy when said he was harrassed for 5 years. I don't think the kid just happenned to walk by on the lawn and got shot at randomly. The old man does not seem like a typical psychopath, an obsessive-compulsive, flag-waving, gun-toting, right-wing maniac maybe, but not a psychopathic murderer. The kid, and his parents too probably, must have been messing with him for a long time for him to snap like that. The kid should have had better things to do that day than to pick on the old guy. I don't think this is just about the grass. We all do stupid things that should have killed us long ago, but it is not the kindness of men, but the grace of Buddha that we are still here.
Oh man, what a pu$$ified society we're becoming ! I can't tell you how many times my dad'***** me. I wouldn't be half the man I am today without those experiences and I am grateful for them. The great irony is that treating kids with the new and pu$$ifed approach is NOT going to make for a more peaceful and responsible society when they become adults. Why can't the pu$$ifiers understand that simple truth - negative reinforcement works.
All I know is my mom would have beaten my ass if I had disrespected the neighbors like that. If someone would have told me to get off their lawn when I was that age, I would have apologized and that would have been the end. I think this old coot may have saved us taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars. RMX
That's scary stuff... I can think of at least 3 miserable old men I had to deal with when growing up who fit this guy's description perfectly.
Ferrari 0234, I agree with Si Van. After 5 years of dealing with the kid and his parents, the old nut snapped. Not a rational response, but also not a response to a single incedent of a kid walking across a lawn. None of us know what the details are but I doubt the kid was a little darling. Art S.
If you read the original news article it looks like the local kids were tormenting him for several years. IMO it appears he shot the little **** once to get his attention and it clearly didn't work hence the 2nd shot.
I reread the article and it does appear he was tormenting the guy. Still no reason for the guy to be standing outside waiting with a gun.
The senile old fart should have just gotten put up a wall or hedge or trees and maybe had the Cops talk to the kid about trespassing laws