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
That said:
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.”
I hate this line of reasoning so fucking much. He shot and killed someone who was trying to get away from him; this man's ~spotless military history~ (lol) doesn't matter worth a fuck.
MTE. And neither does his "community service." The fact that it was with Christian Lay Ministry in Latin America just makes me want to throw up more, not forgive him.
Plus, he TOTALLY has ~ethnic~ friends!
Exactly. And that "specifically the Christian Lay Ministry in Latin America" will no doubt be pulled out and danced around should allegations of racism come up.
Future Sailors Online Defender (who doesn't personally know Sailors): "Oh, but he's dedicated his life to bringing the Word to those godless sava— I mean, those people down there who are in need of God's love! The poor fellow made an honest mistake!"
How could you POSSIBLY think you were about to be the victim of a home invasion because of some people in a car in your driveway? Oh, wait, I guess they had brown skin so clearly they were criminals.
I hope this guy goes to jail for the rest of his life.
Not to veer too heavily off topic, but I see this shit all of the time with sexual assault. The assailant gets their charges knocked down over and over again to just "aggravated assault" or "battery" or what the fuck ever because they don't have a "criminal history" with sexual assault. It's as though people don't understand that, in order to build a fucking criminal history for a crime, you have to charge them with it in the first fucking place.
Ugh so much rage, I'm sorry
Because, we all know, the story would be different otherwise.
With all of these mindless shootings lately, coupled with the excuses for the privileged person, I'm tempted to make the "Apologist Red Herring Bingo".
But he was a christian! And a veteran! *free space* And an upstanding member of his community!111!
I will never understand how people's heads work. If this kid was going to invade your house, how dumb would he have to be to DRIVE UP TO YOUR HOUSE IN HIS CAR?
i feel like i've already said this a grillion times, but there are just way too many gun nuts who are willing to just shoot someone without asking any questions first and then try to come up with some way to excuse it afterwards. "b-b-but i felt that my life was threatened by the way that he pulled into my driveway!" ughhhhhhh assholes.
This must be the updated version of "But I have lots of _____ friends!"
tw: sexual assault, really fucking awful shit done by a vet
My dad is a Nam vet and is really cautious about being around other vets as a result of some of the things he saw. When I was a kid, we were visiting one of his old vet friends. We very suddenly had to leave, and my parents made sure not to leave me alone around him and specifically warned me when I was five or so. For years I thought the dude was a sex offender cause of that. I found out last year the reason my folks were so upset is that he admitted to my dad he had thrown a captive POW out of a helicopter for kicks. And bragged about not getting caught or punished for it.
So, yeah. The idea that "Vietnam vet" = "can't ever have done anything bad" is freaking bullshit.
Edited at 2013-01-31 04:25 am (UTC)