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You can't compare incidents today with things we did as kids 20+ years ago. Most of the pranks we pulled were not damaging or life threatening. Back then, neighbors knew each other and kept all the neighborhood kids in check. If you were caught doing something wrong by a neighbor, he'd yell at you and then you got it when you got home from your parents. Back then there was responsibility taught and the fact that there are consequences to your actions. 14 yrs olds weren't out roaming the neighborhood at 2am - we had curfews.
For many kids in today's society - there is no respect for themselves or others, there is no responsibility taken, and there are few repercussions. Parents either don't care or have lost control, and those that do care have lost the right to discipline.
I guess I am a bit older than you, when I was young, unless a family had a pool they didn't have a fence so you cold walk down the block in the back yard, kids NEVER thought of taking anything, if there was a hose connected we could take a drink and no one ever said anything, we always turned the water off too.
You mention to today's kids that we listened to other adults and if doing something "bad" all that was needed was "hey billy, you want me to call your father and tell him what you are up to?" Now it would be "Hey F you, call him and he will come over and kick your A"
We always had curfews, when younger it was the "street light rule", see if the kids can figure that one out ... When older it was usually nine or ten except during the school week.
So 14 year old burglars deserve the death penalty?
Unsupervised teens deserve to die?
Wow.
Engage in hyperbole much? Where did I ever say he deserved to die? What I said was his death was a direct result of his actions and had he been home in bed, which is where a 14 year-old child belongs at 2 am, he would be alive today. Three parties bear responsibility for this child's death - the child himself, the shooter, and the child's parents. The adults in this child life are who will never be held liable but in reality are the ones most capable of preventing it, had they been more responsible in their parenting decisions. This was a kid whose life had been destroyed long before he chose to have an encounter with this particular homeowner.
I grew up in Chicago, and I can testify to how common this is. The city is dense and as kids, we were always traipsing across other people's property. Me and all my childhood playmates would be dead if everyone thought like this guy.
What if the kid was retrieving a tennis ball, or his cat ran under the car? The point is, this homeowner didn't know anything. Just last summer I was running around in people's backyards in the dark because my friend's dog got loose and took off after a rabbit. If I'd lived around some of you folks, I'd be dead.
Haven't seen this in the news yet. Maybe the family is scurrying around trying to find pictures of the kid at 8 -10 years old where he has an angelic look designed to gain sympathy. Maybe some Skittles too?
Seriously, I can't wait to see more facts come out about this case. Every state has different laws on property owners defending what is theirs. I am reserving comment until the facts come out.
Sounds like it could have possibly been premature for the homeowner to shoot. I also have a bit of a problem with a 14 year old out roaming the streets at 2AM. We need details!!!
The kid was in the backyard doing nothing threatening. But if you were in my yard picking up after your dog or something, I guess that gives me the right to shoot you.
You know that how? Just by virtue of him being in a fenced in back yard at 2 am, he is threatening. Its the middle of the night, its dark out, and he's somewhere he shouldnt be other than to do criminal intent, on private property. If that had been me, and I had even been up at 2 am (why was the homeowner even up? thank goodness he was), I would have been scared out of my mind.
Sooooo if someone breaks into your yard at 2am you challenge the to a boxing match so the more "honorable" man can prevail?
Or maybe you can ask him to drop his trousers and have a good old fashion "who got the bigger Johnson" contest?
If I am in my house and an obvious kid is 30 feet away from me in my yard, I call the police. Weenie men, who would normally be too afraid to confront anyone, are emboldened by the bulge of a gun in their pants.
The shoot first, use your brain later mentality that permeates so many male authored posts on this thread tells me all I need to know about the size of the various authors' Johnsons.
Does a 14-year-old potential burglar deserve the death penalty? That is, if the homeowner had called the police, and the police had apprehended this unarmed boy, do you think he would have been sent to the electric chair? Tell me what he would have been charged with to warrant the death penalty.
That is exactly what we're talking about here. The kid was not an armed robber. He was a kid who apparently stole things. He didn't know better because he was FOURTEEN YEARS OLD. Are all kids now supposed to have the maturity level of 30-year-old adults, or else be killed?
Your 20/20 hindsight vision is amazing. Im so impressed that you would have known he wasnt an armed robber, just a kid who stole things, at the very time the homeowner saw someone in his backyard at 2 am.
No, kids shouldnt have the maturity level of 30 year old adults, but neither should they have the stupidity to be robbing people at 2 am. Do you think this was going to be his last robbery if he hadnt been caught?
Average gang member is 15 yrs old. "Children' are used by gangs to commit felonies as they get a clean record and released at 21.
Have not heard one peep about the widsespread child abuse committed by gangs. The wail of pain about this 'child', by some, seems theatrical, compared to the abuse and pain gangs are perpetrating on 'children' and the silence and acceptance by the citizens.
Did the shooter ask the kid's age before he shot.
Don't know how this turns out, let the law do its job but don't play the 'child' card in retrospect.
If he fired a warning shot or just missed, he would be charged with assault.
Camera's are a good substitute for guns on some occassions, guns in others.
Wonder if this 'child' ever chewed his pop tart into the shape of a gun?
Shooting someone for breaking into a outbuilding or stealing is just wrong. Too bad Biden and the law are in conflict.
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