man shoots 12 yr old for ringing doorbell & running

[gunsmith]

Time for someone to lay off the caffeine
Things are tough in Louisiana, I imagine a flaming bag of poo warrants a rocket launcher.
http://www.courier-journal.com/article/20110614/NEWS01/306140048/Louisville-man-charged-shooting-boy-12-who-rang-his-doorbell-ran?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|Home

Could be he thought a home invasion was happening but you should have an idea about what you're shooting at.

[RoadKingLarry]

The shooter is an idiot, glad the little miscreant likely did not suffer a serious injury.

We played that "game" as kids but I wasn't too good at it, I was always too slow.

[MechAg94]

Dorsey said the kids are not troublemakers.

“They're all really good kids.”

Apparently, that isn't true at all.  They are troublemakers, and no one bothered to know what the hell they were doing running around the area at night.  I hope they learn to reign it in after this, but I wonder if the reaction shown in this article will just encourage them.

Please be sure I am not saying the kid deserved to be shot.  I shouldn't even have to say that. 

The boy, whose name is not being released because of his age, suffered a possible buckshot injury from a shotgun, said Dwight Mitchell, a Louisville Metro Police spokesman. He said police are still investigating what kind of ammunition was used.

A "possible" buckshot injury?  I would think they would already know that.

[Ned Hamford]

"Dorsey said he was outside his home Monday night when he heard a shot and then screaming, and noticed a group of kids scurrying across the street.
He went to help and saw the boy hunched over, with his back covered in blood.
Dorsey said the kids are not troublemakers.
“They're all really good kids.”

I'm not saying they are bad kids, but imho really good kids wouldn't leave their friend behind.  I'm willing to take them as at least normal kids, possibly bad...

[roo_ster]

Even budding juvenile delinquents deserve the benefit go the doubt in shoot/no shoot.

I wish it were still OK to just give such kids a good whooping as a deterrent.

[Tuco]

Not the first time, nor sadly will it be the last..

http://www.nytimes.com/1992/11/19/us/no-headline-969692.html

[Seenterman]

I'm not saying they are bad kids, but imho really good kids wouldn't leave their friend behind. 

They where kids, I doubt at 12 many of us would brave gunfire to save a downed friend. Budding juvenile delinquents wow, you guys must have been boring as kids to have never played ding dong ditch.

[roo_ster]

Budding juvenile delinquents wow, you guys must have been boring as kids to have never played ding dong ditch.

Nah, some of us were just raised right(0).   





(0) And had neighbors who knew the family well and were authorized to take care of business.

[Ned Hamford]

you guys must have been boring as kids to have never played ding dong ditch.

:shakes his cane and demands the hoodlums stay off his lawn:

Around here it is call ring and run. Never done it myself. Good kids wouldn't but I am willing to accept it is a kid thing to do.

[BlueStarLizzard]

Kids are allowed to occasionally be idiots.

Adults really should know better.

Shooting live rounds at kids pulling a harmless prank (and ring and run is harmless) is really too much.

If you want it to stop, you need to be creative, scary and actually harmless as well.

[MechAg94]

They where kids, I doubt at 12 many of us would brave gunfire to save a downed friend. Budding juvenile delinquents wow, you guys must have been boring as kids to have never played ding dong ditch.

I grew up in a rural area.  The only other houses had relatives and cousins or people who knew who I was.  I was just commenting on all the people typically saying how great the victims were.  It reminds me of the stories about real criminals getting hurt.  Regardless, just because you did something as a kid that you shouldn't have done does not make it right or a proper thing for kids to do now.  

I do agree that the old guy should not be shooting at kids and ought to know better.  

[Declaration Day]

Ding dong ditch is pretty normal for kids to do.    Not saying they should, but kids (even good ones) will look for trouble just for the thrill of it from time to time.  Hell, we used to do it in broad daylight.  But I grew up in a nice, safe neighborhood, and I am assuming that the neighborhood in question is less so.

Even if the shooter thought it might have been an attempted home invasion, shooting at someone who is running away is always a bad shoot.

A few months ago I pulled a shotgun on someone who was clearly trying to break into my home.  He ran, so I did not pull the trigger.  He also hasn't come back.

[HankB]

I was taught at a very young age that you don't shoot someone because they annoy you; if that lesson hadn't taken, I'm afraid I would've been locked up a LONG time ago.

At 56, Michael Bishop is a little older than I am . . . old enough to know better. He's finally going to learn a whole lot about consequences . . .

[Northwoods]

Kids are allowed to occasionally be idiots.

Adults really should know better.

Shooting live rounds at kids pulling a harmless prank (and ring and run is harmless) is really too much.

If you want it to stop, you need to be creative, scary and actually harmless as well.

^^This.

My mom got tired of the neighborhood kids doing this (it was always the same couple of boys).  So she got herself into a good ambush position, sat there with a book for part of day, and caught them in the act.  Freaked the kids out.  One of them was the kid of the top guy in the local mafia (no, really - dude had the FBI taking photos when they held the memorial service for a friend killed by a car bomb).  I remember his mom came over and yelled at my mom for scaring her "sonny-boy".  I'm 99% sure she was pissed as a newt at the time.