By Alex Pappas - The Daily Caller | The Daily Caller – 12 hrs ago
The Trayvon Martin case has gripped Americans since February 26, but Florida isn’t the only state reeling from the shooting of a 17-year-old at the hands of a man who claims he acted in self-defense.
A coastal community next door in Alabama is suffering over its own tragic episode that shares some similarities with the Sanford, Fla. case.
The Mobile Press-Register reported that 17-year-old Summer Moody, a star high school volleyball player in Baldwin County, Ala., was shot in the head April 15 after authorities said she and three other teens were caught breaking into a fish camp early in the morning.
Three men who found the teens trespassing on the Gravine Island property admitted to firing the shots that hit Moody.
Authorities said they believe the teens — who, with the exception of Moody, have been charged with first-degree burglary — were committing a theft at the time of the shooting.
Moody is still alive, but an attorney for her family has said she has a very little chance of survival.
The Gravine Island shooting has been compared to the Martin case because both victims were the same age and both cases involve questions of whether the shooters were within the boundaries of the law in shooting the teens in order to, according to the shooters’ accounts, protect themselves and their property.
“All the circumstances that could go bad went bad,” Baldwin County Sheriff Huey “Hoss” Mack said, according to the newspaper.
Tom Dasinger, an attorney for one of the shooters, said the men were not actually trying to kill the teens, but were rather firing warning shots to keep them away.
“They are not vigilantes,” Dasinger told WPMI in Mobile. “They were simply trying to help out their neighbors.”
The district attorney in Baldwin County has not charged the shooters with any crime.
Source
So, they're both 17. They were both shot by people claiming self-defense. Both events are tragic, but other than that, this is in no way comparable and it does both cases a disservice to do so. The media kills me with this BS, I swear. Plus, you know some concern-trolling white folk somewhere are going to pull this case out and claim it didn't get as much attention because the victim was white.
The Trayvon Martin case has gripped Americans since February 26, but Florida isn’t the only state reeling from the shooting of a 17-year-old at the hands of a man who claims he acted in self-defense.
A coastal community next door in Alabama is suffering over its own tragic episode that shares some similarities with the Sanford, Fla. case.
The Mobile Press-Register reported that 17-year-old Summer Moody, a star high school volleyball player in Baldwin County, Ala., was shot in the head April 15 after authorities said she and three other teens were caught breaking into a fish camp early in the morning.
Three men who found the teens trespassing on the Gravine Island property admitted to firing the shots that hit Moody.
Authorities said they believe the teens — who, with the exception of Moody, have been charged with first-degree burglary — were committing a theft at the time of the shooting.
Moody is still alive, but an attorney for her family has said she has a very little chance of survival.
The Gravine Island shooting has been compared to the Martin case because both victims were the same age and both cases involve questions of whether the shooters were within the boundaries of the law in shooting the teens in order to, according to the shooters’ accounts, protect themselves and their property.
“All the circumstances that could go bad went bad,” Baldwin County Sheriff Huey “Hoss” Mack said, according to the newspaper.
Tom Dasinger, an attorney for one of the shooters, said the men were not actually trying to kill the teens, but were rather firing warning shots to keep them away.
“They are not vigilantes,” Dasinger told WPMI in Mobile. “They were simply trying to help out their neighbors.”
The district attorney in Baldwin County has not charged the shooters with any crime.
Source
So, they're both 17. They were both shot by people claiming self-defense. Both events are tragic, but other than that, this is in no way comparable and it does both cases a disservice to do so. The media kills me with this BS, I swear. Plus, you know some concern-trolling white folk somewhere are going to pull this case out and claim it didn't get as much attention because the victim was white.
I thought that when you fire warning shot, you aim at nearby object, not people...
Edited at 2012-04-23 06:00 pm (UTC)
Edited at 2012-04-23 07:46 pm (UTC)
or at least, thats what the rcmp told my uncle to do with the jerkwads that were wandering on to his land and growing pot in the back woods. you call 911, you walk outside, you yell that you have called 911 and that they are trespassing, you yell for them to leave, you yell that you have a gun, you fire a warning shot, and yell for them to leave again, rinse and repeat until the rcmp shows up and tell them which way the trespassers headed, then you take your gun inside and put it back in the gun safe.
the rcmp stress that you NEVER actually aim your gun at another person no matter what, because accidents happen. and if you aim at objects, the dangers of ricocheting bullets pop up. you can't control where a ricocheting bullet goes.
edit: hm, looks like Alabama goes more for stand-your-ground than Castle. Still really a screwed up law. How the hell were these men supposedly being so threatened that they had to fire shots in self-defense, by people breaking into someone else's property?
Edited at 2012-04-23 06:30 pm (UTC)
The concept of warning shots has always escaped me, to be honest. My Dad always told me the second I pointed my gun at anyone, I had better be ready to kill that person, because that's how serious of a weapon a gun is.
This case, with Summer Moody, should be considered fucked up on its own merits, not compared with Treyvon's murder based solely on the fact that the victims were both seventeen year olds killed in supposed self-defense. Summer was breaking the law, which adds a different tenor. In addition... Who the hell shoots a gun at someone or something they aren't willing to kill? Who the hell shoots a gun at someone breaking into someone *else's* property, instead of calling the cops? Even assuming that Castle doctrine and stand-your-ground laws aren't often used in really screwed up ways, which they totally are... How the fuck was it "self-defense" to shoot someone committing a crime that has no direct impact on the shooter, where the shooter was not threatened?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yoshihiro_
Trayvon was not doing anything wrong.
Trayvon was not anywhere he wasn't supposed to be.
Trayvon did not potentially outnumber the person who perpetrated the crime.
Zimmerman has never claimed to have "shot in warning."
Ah. White girl. Right.
Loo, the crime is awful, yes, but, really, comparing a white girl who WAS committing a crime to a black boy who was just walking home? FAIL.
Just...smacks a little too close to victim-blaming. She didn't deserve to be shot *at all*, unless she was physically attacking someone or wielding her own weapon.
Not that that justifies using a gun, jfc. This is why I am so glad that gun rights are not a part of the Canadian psyche to the extent that they seem to be in the US, because it seems like for every five responsible owners there's at least one who's irresponsible... And that's all it takes.
Not that my letter did anything, you understand (I got a rather condescending letter back from Minister Vic Toews about how this repeal was such a good idea, blah blah blah).
Yes, this was a FAIL.