Georgia man shoots and kills young Latino who accidentally pulled into his driveway
10:06 am - 01/30/2013
Rodrigo Diaz, 22, was driving around with his girlfriend and two friends when he pulled into a driveway, thinking they had arrived at another friend’s house, his brother says. But instead he pulled into the driveway of Phillip Sailors, 69, who thought his home was being robbed, his lawyer says. Sailors then shot Diaz, according to the police report, citing what Sailors told officers at the scene. Diaz later died while in the intensive care unit.
“Basically, what happened is they were looking for one of my brother’s girlfriend’s friends,” says his brother David E. Diaz-Valencia, 23. “The guy came outside and my brother’s girlfriend said he was screaming, ‘Get off my property!’ and he shot into the air. My brother was backing out fast because he was scared and he rolled down the window to say he was sorry and he was not doing anything wrong. Then the guy shot him in his head.”
When officers arrived, Angie Rebolledo, Diaz’s girlfriend, had blood on her jeans, both arms and both hands as she was attempting to get a response from him and screamed frantically that her boyfriend had been shot, according to police.
Police arrested Sailors, of Lilburn, Georgia, who was booked into the Gwinnett County jail Sunday afternoon and charged with murder, according to the police report.
“At this point we have established probable cause to charge Mr. Sailors and when the investigation is complete, we will turn over the case file to the Gwinnett County District Attorneys Officer for processing,” Lilburn police Chief Bruce Hedley told NBC Latino. “To preserve the integrity of the case, I will not be releasing further information concerning this incident.”
Sailors’ lawyer says his client is a Vietnam veteran with no prior criminal history and thought he and his wife were about to be victims of a home invasion. “You have to understand this is a 69-year-old man who is a military veteran who has been honorably discharged,” Michael Puglise says. “He dedicated his life to community service, specifically the Christian Lay Ministry in Latin America.”
Source
eta: above all, if you shoot someone because you assumed they were going to commit a crime, but they had no plan or intention or desire to commit a crime, that makes you in the wrong. period. it doesn't justify someone's death in any way, but it does justify charging you with murder because that's what killing an innocent person is.
Edited at 2013-01-30 06:19 pm (UTC)
there were a million different courses of action he could have taken. he could have done what i do when people i don't know pull in front of my house or in my driveway, which is just keep an eye on them until they leave, and if they were acting suspiciously, he could have just called the police. if he felt an irresistable urge to confront them, he could have just asked what they were doing, and they would have said they were lost and left quickly and quietly. all of these would have resulted in diaz still being alive and sailors NOT being in jail for murder. and you'd think that those actions are a hell of a lot easier than shooting and killing someone, but apparently not. :(
sailors almost took the cranky old man yelling 'get off my porch you hooligans!' stereotype to the next level and now everyone involved is fucked.
it reminded me of gran torino.
...except real life is not a clint eastwood film.
And I hope that Mr Sailors rots in jail for the rest of his life.
The symptoms of dementia can include any (but not necessarily all) of the following:
--Memory loss
--Difficulty communicating
--Inability to learn or remember new information
--Difficulty with planning and organizing
--Difficulty with coordination and motor functions
--Personality changes
--Inability to reason
--Inappropriate behavior
--Paranoia
--Agitation
--Hallucinations
Source
Please note the five items I've bolded. This man was definitely exhibiting at least four of those things, and the fact that he has no prior history of violence points to the possibility that he may be displaying a fifth (personality changes), imo.
When dementia begins to take hold, it's often overlooked at first. Relatives and friends may assume that grandpa is just getting old and crotchety or whatever. When someone you've known for years begins to deteriorate in this manner, the tendency is to continue to see them as that person you've always known and brush aside any discrepancies, until the symptoms finally become so severe they're impossible to ignore.
Don't get me wrong: I am as offended by the comments about his involvement with the "Christian Lay Ministry in Latin America” as anyone else here. And I don't give a fuck about him being a veteran. Neither of those things make this remotely okay. Most of all, I'm NOT necessarily trying to say he isn't a racist toerag. There's no reason to assume he isn't one. Racist toerags can get dementia, just like anybody else. But when someone's behavior is SO consistent with a diagnosis of dementia. I think it's at least barely possible that he's just an old dude who made a REALLY BAD choice because he's suffering from paranoia, agitation, and the loss of his ability to reason due to dementia.
Again, I'm NOT making excuses for the man!!!! But I do hope he is given a full psychiatric and medical evaluation. If it turns out he doesn't have dementia and did this just because he's a douche, I hope they throw the book at him. I just think dementia needs to be looked at here and, if possible, ruled out.
Either way, this is tragic and raging as fuck. D:
[Edited repeatedly for html and formatting fail and insert words I accidentally left out.]
Edited at 2013-01-30 07:29 pm (UTC)
Hey, arsehole, here's a thought. Ten commandmants. Heard of 'em? Try 'Thou shalt not kill' on for size. See? I'm not Christian, and *I* understand that.
How do people like him, those Christians so full of rage and fear and hatred, ever parse the notion of 'What would Jesus do'? I mean, someone pulls into your driveway at night - sure, Jesus would grab a gun and shoot that sonofabitch as he tried to leave.
Racist, murdering shithead. Throw the book at him.
Edited at 2013-01-30 08:14 pm (UTC)
[/sarcasm]
Fuck guns. Fuck racism. Fuck this murderer. My heart goes out to the family of the victim and especially to his girlfriend. I can't imagine how horrific that must have been and I hope she'll have access to therapy or whatever she might need to help her after something like this.
Especially on Facebook.
Source: I'll never, ever make that mistake again. Ever.
Take it down a fucking notch.
A friend on a parenting group last night said she left it because someone's dog got into her house, licked the baby, so the reaction from this woman was to beat and kick the dog and pull a gun on the owners who came to fetch the wayward dog.
Le fuck?
When will we see the NRA making some fucking noise about "the gun not being your go to for every little issue". How many more innocent people get a gunshot to the head for being in the wrong place innocently? I don't give a rats ass he's a decorated vet, he's a racist hothead who blew someone's head off.
Knowing what I know about vietnam and the war, this means shit all to me.
I hope that you are convicted and spend the rest of your days in prison, because you clearly don't deserve to be allowed free range.
Horrible incident. Truly tragic death of young man who was never given a chance to explain.