Teen accidentally kills self with stolen weapon

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4D5

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Read this article today in the Nevada Appeal (Carson City, NV).

http://www.nevadaappeal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20040921/NEWS/109210018

The article actually describes the whole incident without bias. However... I had a real hard time factoring in the "accident" I mean how the heck can putting a gun to your head and pulling the trigger be an accident? I thought the article deserved a call to the author. So I called and talked to her. I asked her how she factored in the "accident". Got some lame answers but she finally said it was an accident that the gun was loaded. I said and what was the putting gun to head and pulling trigger? silence.... I told her that every gun safety rule was broken, and where were the parents? I told her the article was ok but the title definately does not qualify as an "accident". Author said the definition of an accident is something unexpected. I said, oh... so that would be someting like playing with a rattle snake? silence... I pressed more, asked why she used "accident" in the title, well... the staff that come up with the titles wrote it. I said fine, let me talk to that person I really have an issue with "accident". One moment..... she comes back on the line(bluff didn't work), I ask, are you the person who wrote the title, no it's me again. So what's up with the title people, well they thought it was right for the article. Explain "accident" to me again. I said this is precisely why I left the PSRK to avoid "news" that gives fuel to the ultra liberals and punishes the 98% law abiding citizens with opressive gun laws. Her reply, well I was in the service, oh I was too and am a responsible gun owner. I asked her since she is familiar with firearms if she ever put a gun to her head and pulled the trigger thinking it might not accidently go off. Well no... neither have I nor has any other person I know. So what do you think about "accident" now... well maybe it shouldn't have been in the title... well I have to go now, ok fine...
 
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Good for you 4D5 for calling that reporter on her biased reporting. Nevadans aren't sheeple like Californians but with the immigration from PSRK to the Silver State, they could bring their steenken leftist outlook with them and ruin that state. :fire:
 
If the idiot didn't accidently kill himself, then what would you call it? foolishly killed himself? stupidly killed himself?

I think the reporter was just trying to make it clear that it wasn't premeditated suicide.

That Kilgore character, though..."straight-out accidental". Okay. Keep guns away from that brain trust as well.
 
Hi. I've never been in the service, but I have written for newspapers.

The reporter (not "author") writes the article. The copy desk writes the headline (not "title").

So the nice lady was telling you the truth. She didn't write the headline.

The copy desk people often read the first few paragraphs, then have to kick out a headline that is interesting, and fits the space.

Sometimes they blow it.

I'm afraid that, instead of changing minds, you came off as a belligerent gun nut.

4D5 got it half right, Gary. the article is remarkably free of bias. Where he goofed up was ripping into her for a headline she didn't write.

Two other things:

1. Welcome to the High Road!
2. Use paragraph breaks! :D

---------------------------

One interesting tidbit from the article:

[Killgore] described the teens as "good boys," just looking for something to do.
Click to expand...

Good boys who broke into five cars, stole stuff, including guns, and then recklessly played with them with fatal results?

I'd hate to see what bad boys do. :rolleyes:
 
Guess you would have had to have been there

P95Carry

And Andrew would be ? That saved you having to write?



Matt…

Well I guess not having been in the service you might not understand the connection you have with others about experiences with respect to training/guns/responsibility for your actions, wherein you know what the right thing to do (write the true headline) would be and be able to press for “your†headline for the article.

I have never written for newspapers (except for letters to the editor) so I can’t claim to be well versed in that field.

OK so the “reporter†writes the article, I stand corrected.

The copy desk writes the headline (not "title"), corrected again. However, even though she didn't write the headline, well that’s what she said, she “could†have influenced the final wording and said so if she asked for it to be different. And she didn’t connect me with the headline writer because?

So the nice lady was telling you the truth. And you would know she is nice how? The conversation started out as an inquiry but quickly turned defensive on her part. The “ripping†didn’t start until I you could see the conversation going in favor of the shepple.

I'm afraid that, instead of changing minds, you came off as a belligerent gun nut. Well it’s kind of like her being a belligerent reporter. You just have to realize that some people will not ever be “convertedâ€.

And… thanks, I’m glad to be a member of THR even though I haven't posted much on this board.
 
Welcome to THR, glad to have you.

It's fine with me if the media starts getting a little antsy about fielding phone calls related to their reporting;)

cheers, ab
 
Never wrote for a paper...

but i was entered against my will into a UIL competition for "headline writing" ....

it was read the story and come up w/ a headline that fit the space required, that transfered the soul if you will of the article. I won regionals and lost at the state level. hehe..

Either way - the point is if the artical wasn't big on "accidental" then how/why would a person who makes the headlines go w/ accidental?

If one were to try to logically track back through - it CAN be considered an accident if one thought the weapon to be empty. Accidental because if you don't think its going to fire then it does - you didn't MEAN for it to happen - and thus accidental. Yes i know what the four rules say, and i agree w/ them completely. Note that the four rules came from experience i'm sure... experience that was written to help stop ACCIDENTAL deaths/injuries.

I know ya'll (most) don't agree any ND is an accident (and vice versa) and ya know- if yer even somwhat cognizant of how dangerous it is - then it would be a ND no matter what... but people are people and accidents happen - i hope to never have a accidental discharge by following the four rules... four basic rules that were expertly written to bring down accidental (nd) deahts/injuries.

The article btw... says accidental like fourty times - if i was a copy guy who wasn't big into guns or seen the rabidity of the gun knowledgable about what is a ND and what is accidental (none) i'd prolly have put accidental in there as well as a headline.

love this btw....
He described the teens as "good boys," just looking for something to do.
Click to expand...

heh good boys who robbed 4-5 cars and a motorhome... just bored my ass - if they were "good boys" they'd know that thievery was not "good"

bleh

J/Tharg!
 
Accident is being assumed based on the statement of another person who was not at the scene at the time of the shooting.
The person who was there said that the victim loaded and unloaded the gun according to the person who was not there.
We have no way of knowing what was in the victims mind at the time of the shooting since he is dead.
If he loaded the gun first, then either he had ammo for it or it was unloaded and the ammo was loose with the gun. By loading it first, he showed some knowlege of the gun being able to load it, then unload it.

Just going by what was reported.

Typical news article making assumptions without the facts.
 
What's the problem??? Article seemed fine to me from beginning to end. I especially like the outcome. The witness, Killgore, said:

There's no way I would have let them play with those guns. They would have instantly been taken, no question."
Click to expand...

Yeah. And I'll bet he'd have called the law and turned them in:rolleyes: . Good riddance to bad rubbish. Hey, how many times have I seen, "I'd like to kill the !@#$% who stole my guns".....well, this time, this dumb@ss saved someone from a murder charge. If that was my gun, I'd be smilin', like this: :D :D :D :D :D
 
Somebody please, please tell me that the other boy is being charged with the five burglaries??? Don't tell me that he's going to be let off with a slap on the wrist because of the "horrible accident" he witnessed!

:fire:
 
In some states the other boy would be charged in connection with the death.He was present when the guns were stolen and present when the "accident" took place. Fry baby fry!
 
I work for a newspaper, and I just want to add something about the reporter(s) not writing the headlines. Many times (maybe even MOST of the time), their work is submitted, and they never see the headline until they open the newsprint.

As for this being an accident, that's a load of bull. If you point a gun at your head and pull the trigger, you're not that bright, but it wasn't an accident.
 
Maybe it's called an accident so the kid can be buried in a church cemetary, depending on religion. And for insurance reasons, if there's insurance.

Sort of like the old "killed while cleaning the gun" reason.

Regards.
 
I accidentially got in a car accident once. Of course I was doing 80 in a 30 in the middle of a four wheel drift around a corner.
 
Sites down :(

But I'd have to agree with:
Maybe it's called an accident so the kid can be buried in a church cemetary, depending on religion. And for insurance reasons, if there's insurance.

Sort of like the old "killed while cleaning the gun" reason.
Click to expand...
 
In case the site goes down again, here's the article:
Teen accidentally kills self with stolen weapon

by F.T. Norton, [email protected]
September 21, 2004

MINDEN - The gun with which a 15-year-old Indian Hills boy accidentally shot himself to death early Sunday morning had been stolen in a motor-home burglary by the victim and a friend, police said Monday.

"The subsequent investigation revealed that the victim and a 14-year-old male had allegedly committed several acts of (vehicle) burglary in the area of their homes, and during one of these acts came into possession of two loaded handguns," said Douglas County Sheriff's Sgt. Tom Mezzetta.

The victim, whose name is being withheld because of his age, was in a bedroom of the other boy's home about 1:30 a.m. when he put a .22-caliber weapon against his neck and pulled the trigger, Mezzetta said.

"He believed that it was empty, unloaded," he said. "What a horrible assumption on his part."

The boy was pronounced dead at the scene.

Mezzetta said the surviving teen, whose name also is being withheld, confessed to his and the victim's involvement in about "four or five" vehicle burglaries in Indian Hills in which they took items such as loose change, sunglasses and CDs. The theft of the guns from the motor home happened sometime Saturday evening, he said.

Family friend Nathaniel Killgore, 19, said the boys were gone from the house for only about 30 minutes when they returned and were acting suspicious.

"I saw (the boys) kind of sneak in the house," said Killgore, who was attending an Xbox party. "I didn't go see what they were up to, and I always go see what they are doing."

He said the boys were in a bedroom for about five minutes when a shot rang out.

The homeowner tried to help the victim, Killgore said, but it was too late.

According to the other boy, the victim had loaded and unloaded the weapon prior to the shooting, Killgore said. "It was straight out accidental," he said.

He described the teens as "good boys," just looking for something to do.

"This was totally unexpected. It's completely sad. Just completely shocking," he said. "I just regret not getting up to go see what they were doing. There's no way I would have let them play with those guns. They would have instantly been taken, no question."

Contact F.T. Norton at [email protected] or 881-1213.
Click to expand...
(Posted for discussion purposes only, under the Fair Use laws. Follow the link in the first post to read the article in context.)

pax
 
accident

I don't think it's too far fetched that they called this an accident. The definition of accident as taken from www.m-w.com is "an unforeseen and unplanned event or circumstance " and "an unfortunate event resulting especially from carelessness or ignorance" I'd believe, though can't say for certain, that this event was unplanned and resulted from carelessness and ignorance. I would be willing to put money on the fact that he popped out the magazine and there was a round chambered and he didn't realize it (the ignorant part). Then, to be a tough guy to his buddy, he put the gun to his neck and pulled the trigger (The careless part).
 
4D5, the reporter had probably left the building before the headline was written. That's just how newspapers work.

I once wrote a very nice obituary about a Mathematics professor and amateur astronomer. The headline read, "Astronomy prof dies".

Argh!!!!

The article was good; the headline was bad.

The reporter should have been judged on her work product -- unbiased -- not on your perception of her "...going in favor of the shepple," which seems to have started only after you started grilling her about a headline she didn't write.

Why didn't she connect you to the copy desk? Maybe the copy editor wasn't there (they basically work second shift hours), or maybe she didn't want to subject a colleague to the attitude you had already given her.

Or maybe she just wasn't feeling like a phone operator, but a skilled, educated, experienced professional getting ripped into by a guy who didn't know squat about her job for something she had no control over.

If I were you, I'd call her back, apologize for your misunderstanding, and praise her for her good reporting and unbiased writing. It'll accomplish a lot more.

The go read my newspaper, the Minneapolis Star Tribune, and see what real biased writing looks like.

Then, maybe check out how to quote text in a message: http://www.thehighroad.org/misc.php?action=bbcode#buttons

:)
 
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