General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsNames of 17 year old Summer Moody's pursuers are released: and they have serious criminal records.
Last edited Fri Apr 20, 2012, 08:51 PM - Edit history (1)
Up till now all the focus has been on Summer's teenage friends, and the charges that have been and might be pressed against them for burglary while possessing a weapon.
Now it turns out that the fishermen-shooters have significant criminal records of their own.
Why did it take so long to release this information about the "gentlemen" (the Sheriff's word, not mine) who, according to one of their attorneys, shot their rifles when the teens were scattering "to make them stop"? Sounds like the good ole boy network is alive and well in Alabama.
http://blog.al.com/live/2012/04/campers_in_gravine_island_shoo.html
BAY MINETTE, Alabama -- Two of the men identified in the Gravine Island shooting of Summer Moody have criminal records involving cocaine charges, and the third faced charges of theft in the 1990s, court records show.
William Nicholas Hearn, 37, was arrested in 2010 on a fugitive from justice warrant out of Georgia stemming from a probation violation on a cocaine trafficking charge and a charge of using a firearm in the commission of a felony. The warrant was disposed after Hearn met probation requirements, records show.
Lonnie W. Davison, 38, faced various traffic citations as well as a theft charge in the 1990s.
Larry Dean Duncan Jr., 48, paid a fine for killing an illegal deer in Lowndes County in 2005, and pleaded guilty to the sale of cocaine in 1991. He also faced a charge of cruelty to animals in the 1980s.
SNIP
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(This is the case of the fishing camp on Gravine Island in Alabama, where three fisherman sleeping in their cabin with their wives heard sounds coming from the other side of the island at about 4 am one morning and, concerned about burglaries, decided to investigate. They grabbed a couple rifles, got into their boat and rowed some distance till they reached another cabin, where they shined their spotlight and saw some figures. One of their attorneys says they shouted at them to stop, and when the teens scattered, the fishermen fired "warning shots" to "make them stop." Unfortunately, one of their bullets hit a girl they hadn't seen, 17 year old Summer Moody, who had been there with three other 17 year old boys. She's in a hospital now, with less than a 1% chance of survival.)
http://blog.al.com/live/2012/04/attorney_describes_gravine_isl.html
baldguy
(36,649 posts)And how are their bloodthirsty RW gun-nut apologists going to try to spin THIS?
Cali_Democrat
(30,439 posts)They're thinking about ways to spin this...just give it time.
They desperately want to defend their "rights" to shoot unarmed teenagers.
joeybee12
(56,177 posts)pnwmom
(108,994 posts)Felons aren't supposed to have them.
pnwmom
(108,994 posts)they'll never admit they were wrong. All this talk about how bad the 17 year olds must be, and meanwhile the Sheriff is calling the shooters "gentlemen" and not saying a word about their criminal records.
Now I'm starting to wonder about some comments I've read in the local TV sites . . . . some locals suggesting that Gravine Island was a place where people were engaged in growing marijuana, and that that might have been what some people were protecting.
It appears the gun-religionists here on DU have rebutted your point with the sound of crickets.
pnwmom
(108,994 posts)A Simple Game
(9,214 posts)what is obviously illegal use of guns, the recreational gun owners will also pay a price when the backlash comes.
And at the rate these stories are starting to come, there will be a backlash. We need sensible laws now.
bongbong
(5,436 posts)Remember, according to the gun-religionists, you can't get rid of guns, and there'll always be illegal guns around, so what's the point of gun laws?
(This is just one of the dozens of logical fallacies that they use. I've seen 'em all)
pnwmom
(108,994 posts)wrongly use a gun, and if they do, that makes them criminals, and criminals won't comply with registration laws, so why bother having any?
Makes my head spin.
I'm carrying on ludicrous "debates" on 3 or 4 threads right now. Most of the replies from the gun-religionists just end up with them telling me "I don't get it" or laughing at my "crazy" arguments.
Wanna look?
http://www.democraticunderground.com/117232969
http://www.democraticunderground.com/117231542
http://www.democraticunderground.com/117232903
The gun-religionists hate me, I think.
pnwmom
(108,994 posts)caseymoz
(5,763 posts)As I remember, it took a few days with the Trayvon Martin case. Then the semi-coordinated smear was on.
Logical
(22,457 posts)But I think most progressive gun owners and Concealed Carry license holders think this shooting might no be a good one.
Just like I think Zimmerman was 100% wrong in his shooting. Based on my opinion that he confronted Trayvon.
pnwmom
(108,994 posts)My husband's grew up with guns, so he's not anti-gun, either. But he doesn't think it's okay to shoot "warning shots" or to shoot people unless you're trying to protect human life.
Logical
(22,457 posts)where you can shoot someone stealing your neighbors TV in the back when there was no threat to anyone.
caseymoz
(5,763 posts)I just wish when a particularly outrageous gun tragedy takes place that gunrighters wouldn't treat it as another battleground to defend their favorite right and consumer product.
Of course things are going to go absolutely wrong with guns, frequently. There's no avoiding this outcome and no defending it. It's just, unfortunately, the price we choose to pay for the Second Amendment.
So, why isn't it possible for gunrighters to presume if a girl gets shot in the back of the head, than something most likely didn't work the way it should have?
I mean, nobody would try to defend cars by saying a fatal traffic accident should have happened, but we still drive cars, very often. Yet, gunrighters seem to think making of the most perverse arguments for guns in the face of an unmitigated tragedy serves their cause.
Fumesucker
(45,851 posts)caseymoz
(5,763 posts)If they have criminal records, are they even supposed to have guns, much less wound somebody with them? Why is it that these ex-cons take it upon themselves to "storm" a camp that's too loud rather than say, call the sheriff to do it?
Isn't that what gunrighters always give as the big threat? If guns were illegal, only criminals would have guns?
Well, maybe the laws in Alabama relax it some . . . for rifles. I mean, it's not like a hand gun, unless you're shot in the head with it.
pnwmom
(108,994 posts)Zoeisright
(8,339 posts)Fry them.
Blue_Tires
(55,445 posts)Exactly how far away are the two camps if those men claimed to hear the teens from across a lake? Or exactly how much noise were they making? (I'm not a burglar, but I think the successful ones are usually silent)...
And what is worth stealing in an unoccupied camp lodge??
And aren't "warning shots" usually fired up in the air?
pnwmom
(108,994 posts)I read in some comments section that the camps were between 1/4 and 1/2 mile apart, but don't know if that's true.
But according to the fishermen's story, they heard the sound of the boat's motor, and then they heard "crashing" noises, and they decided to go out in their boat and investigate.
Another question I have is that the fishermen's own boat would be audible, too, right? So if the teens were engaged in some crime, and didn't want to be caught, wouldn't they have been likely to hear the other boat and leave before the fishermen got there?
Flying Squirrel
(3,041 posts)Just wonderin`
Fumesucker
(45,851 posts)Killing deer outside of that season is against the law, hence illegal.
Flying Squirrel
(3,041 posts)I mean, is the deer really illegal? If so, why not arrest it, perhaps have it deported. Oh well, maybe my sense of humor is not working right tonight.