Teen With AK-47 Opened Fire

Status
Not open for further replies.
CountGlockula

CountGlockula

Member
Joined
Oct 1, 2006
Messages
3,527
Location
In a Los Angeles coffin.
Need to lock up your guns better...

http://www.wfsb.com/news/16262219/detail.html

Police: Teen With AK-47 Opened Fire
Accused Teen Autistic, According To Parents

POSTED: 2:42 pm EDT May 14, 2008
UPDATED: 7:42 pm EDT May 14, 2008

BROOKLYN, Conn. -- State police said a 16-year-old boy has been charged with attempted murder after he fired an assault rifle at people playing basketball behind a Brooklyn church.

State police said the teen shooter had an AK-47 rifle, but was subdued by the basketball players who rushed the gunman and wrestled him to the ground Tuesday night.

Police said the shooting occurred shortly after the teen argued with the young people playing on the basketball court behind Our Lady of Lasalette Church.

Troopers said the boy allegedly bragged about having an AK-47 rifle and returned 10 minutes later dressed in black and opened fire.

Police said the teen fired the weapon from the woods about 15 to 20 yards away from the basket ball court.

Channel 3 Eyewitness News reporter Eric Parker reported that blood remained on the ground where police said the basketball players subdued the teen.

The teen was arraigned in a closed courtroom in Danielson on Wednesday.

The boy's parents told Eyewitness News that their son is autistic and has temper problems. They said the gun belonged to his minister father. The father said the teen broke a window to retrieve the gun from a locked room.

"Other people are probably saying he could be a bad person, but I know … he's not a bad person," said the teen's friend, Jarrad Staplins.

The teen was being held in a lockdown unit at a local hospital.

His bond was set at $300,000 and he was scheduled to return to court on May 30.
E-mail news tips to Eyewitness News, or dial: 866-289-0333.
Connecticut's latest breaking news is on WFSB.com and Channel 3 Eyewitness News
Click to expand...
 
"Other people are probably saying he could be a bad person, but I know … he's not a bad person," said the teen's friend, Jarrad Staplins.
Click to expand...

Jarrad... when someone tries to kill other people, they're a bad person.
 
The boy's parents told Eyewitness News that their son is autistic and has temper problems. They said the gun belonged to his minister father. The father said the teen broke a window to retrieve the gun from a locked room.
Click to expand...

I guess he's about to have some anger management in prison.

Think he'll actually go? or will they try him as a minor? or maybe even let him off just bc he's autistic?
 
Blame the father. If all he had to do was break a window, that was not properly secured.

This was more than likely not the first showing of anger/aggression issues, and knowing that he was autistic, the father should have kept a much tighter leash on his guns.
 
Soldiers too ?

Bad, I don't think so, but insane, yes I think so.

I'm surprised he is still alive, if a gang of teens being shot at got to him. Lucky day no one was killed. Any idea how many basketball players there were ?
 
Blame the father. If all he had to do was break a window, that was not properly secured.
Click to expand...
Is it really right to expect the father to lock up everything potentially dangerous from such a young adult? Would we be saying that the father should have had pad locked on the knife block, chained the propane bottles down, and a safe to put his car keys in? I don't think we need to pass blame to the father.
 
Could have been worse, I think that if the father knew that his kid was prone to such things, he should probably have taken more extensive precautions.
 
Wait, aren't AK-47s prohibited under Connecticut's AWB? Couldn't daddy be charged now too? BTW, am I the only one who is sick and tired of mentally defective people gaining easy access to firearms? Why is it that parents of these kids are unwilling to acknowledge that junior is mentally unstable? I mean, if I had a kid who was a even a little off balance, I'd lock the guns in a safe to which junior didn't know the combo. The problem isn't the guns, it's the idiot parents. If the kid has such easy access to guns, what the hell else can he get his hands on?
 
Unarmed....
Charging a guy firing an AK......
Good job guys !!!!

Better you than me !
 
Good thing the kid didnt know how to shoot!

Normally when I hear about incidents like these, Im all over the parents in no time, but this time I really dont know. I have serious doubt that the father had the gun just lying around behidn a window for the son to see, perhaps he thought it was hidden? And what about the ammo? The kid were obivously smarter than the parents thought, but I wouldnt say that the father were reckless or irresponsible.

That said, that kid wastes good air every time he breathes. I hope the basketball kids got him good.
 
Unarmed....
Charging a guy firing an AK......
Good job guys !!!!

Better you than me !
Click to expand...

:what:

Tell me about it!

I'm not really sure what to think here...

Unbalanced teen with anger issues and the only glass holding him back from a rifle(which has never 'assaulted' anyone so I'm not sure why they called it an assault rifle).

Who should be held accountable here? The father with poor judgment or the unbalanced teen?

Thanks goodness no one was killed...Hopefully anyone injured wasn't severely hurt.
 
Who should be held accountable here? The father with poor judgment or the unbalanced teen?
Click to expand...

I don't know about Conn. laws, but under federal law, the teen could lawfully possess the rifle if he had not been prohibited by other factors (mental defect, etc). In light of that, the blame falls wholly on junior.

His father should have been more responsible knowing of his son's issues, but morally reprehensible behavior does not constitute jailtime under our laws.
 
If breaking a window to enter a room is all you have to do to get a hold of the firearm, I would consider it not to be properly secured to begin with, but hindsight is always 20/20. The room was locked, the weapon was not loaded, and the window did not open from the outside. That tells me that the father did not knowingly, or recklessly leave a firearm within the reach of this teen.

The responsibility for this incident falls solely on the one that opened fire. But if he does not understand responsibility, other measures must be taken, and I am not qualified to suggest what those measures may be.
 
"In other news, Century Arms manufacturing saves the lives of teens playing basketball." haha
 
Need to lock up your guns better...
Click to expand...

Or raise your kids better......Even autistic with anger problems the parents really blew it here.

Like Crunker said, you have a responsibility to go a little beyond normal parental duties and safety measures with a child like this.
 
Autism is a difficult and scary problem....no easy answers for parents of autistic kids.

Thank the Lord above if your kids don't have it.

Just imagine raising a child from infancy and never being able to hug them.

Often they can't communicate. Can't make friends. They have stuff going on in their head that nobody understands.

And as far as figuring out how to get the AK and ammo. goes... autistic kids are often uber smart....with very high IQ scores. but they can't look you in the eye and say "good morning".
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

T
  • Locked
Teen may face charges for shipping an AK-47 to Canada
Replies
3
Views
631
Crownvicman
C
LaVere
  • Locked
Teens lucky BB gun victim didn't shoot back.
2 3 4
Replies
95
Views
5K
40SW
4
S
  • Locked
(AK) five teens playing with airsofts in store arrested
2
Replies
41
Views
2K
carebear
C
D
  • Locked
(NY) Teens toying with a rifle fire shots into ex-cop's apartment
Replies
10
Views
1K
Zen21Tao
Z
T
  • Locked
Teen with pellet gun 'very lucky' cop didn't shoot
Replies
15
Views
1K
pdt203
P
Back
Top