Running Shooting Thread 2024

Thanks for warning us in advance.

 

Transgenders are the latest GQP scapegoats.

 

This new technology may have saved a number of lives in the Winder shooting. Gwen's former school has double glass locked doors but no teacher activated system in case the shooter is already inside the facility.

And six minutes from shooting to arrest is pretty damn impressive, given the reaction in Uvalde and Parkland.

New Panic Buttons Worn By Ga. Teachers Likely Saved Lives In School Shooting: Authorities

 

I read something idiotic the other day where people were recommending that the bystanders go play Tetris right away to ward off PTSD.

Except it wasn’t idiotic. It’s peer reviewed science.

Trauma, treatment and Tetris: video gaming increases hippocampal volume in male patients with combat-related posttraumatic stress disorder

 

For the lawyers and others here who are are interested:

What is the threshold for a kid being tried as an adult, either age-wise, or crime-wise? Because 14 seems kind of young for that to happen, even for a murderer. What influences the decision, and legal ability, to try a child as an adult?

And, this arrest of the dad, without his direct involvement in the actual shooting, seems like potentially new territory to me in terms of parental responsibility. Is it? Especially under a manslaughter charge, which makes it sound as if he was actually directly involved, instead of, say, an accessory charge, or something like that. No?

 

I am sure Uvalde and Parkland influenced the response in this case. And yeah, I read that article and was so happy and thankful for that device. It needs to be available and put into use in schools everywhere. Unfortunately.

 

Great questions.

1. According to a couple of legal websites I just Googled, many states have set 14 as the minimum for bumping premeditated murder charges up to adult court. It doesn't list Georgia specifically, but California and Florida have that provision. That allows the DA to press for much more serious sentencing rather than juvy court, particularly in a case where there's solid evidence of motive and intent. I guess it comes down to whether the defense wants to pursue mental illness/insanity. The judge can also refuse to grant a waiver if they feel the case should be handled at the juvenile level.

From a personal standpoint, I have no idea how Georgia Department of Corrections handles a situation like this. He's being held in a county jail, which assumes he's in perhaps solitary (or a hospital ward) for his own safety. I'm guessing the youngest guy in my cellblock was probably at least 17 or 18. I have no idea what it would be like to have a 14 year old kid mixed in with the drunks and drug dealers.

I would also be incredibly surprised -- although nothing about jail surprises me -- if Gray and his son are in the same block. Sort of the same issue with the Michigan kid and his parents.

Gray is looking at going down the road for a long time, and will they just dump him into general pop? Or do they have a way to "graduate" prisoners at 18 from a serious offender juvy program, perhaps?

2. Involuntary manslaughter is contributing to a death without intent, which carries a much tougher sentence than just being an accessory. I'm guessing the DA believes it has proof that not only did the father provide the weapon but knew his son was a threat and did nothing to stop him, so even though he didn't intend for the murders to happen, he was an active participant. Why he's also charged with second degree murder? Not sure. The eight counts of cruelty to children second degree, I'm guessing, are for the injured.

 

The two kids who did the shooting at the middle school in Jonesboro, Arkansas in the mid-90s were 11 and 13.
Legally the state could only keep them in custody until they were 21.

 

I really have no problem with holding parents accountable for the actions of their kids on things like this. Let alone the emotional abuse that must have helped create a kid that would do something like this. If it makes other parents give a second thought to giving their kid an AR-15 or being a little more vigilant about their mental state - all the better.

On another note, was out dropping some stuff off at local schools in the area today and noticed many schools require you to be buzzed in to gain access to the grounds - not sure how it works in the morning, if they keep the main door open and monitor it to make sure nobody is smuggling in an AR-15. Its crazy to think that schools have to account for these things in their construction now - my high school had 6 different rows of buildings all very accessible from any direction - no central access point. Many windows, classrooms had rear exits (so I guess that's good). But I have noticed you don't hear the "I never thought something like this would have happened here" anymore after school shootings.

 

At my daughter’s school, there is only one main entrance, you cane enter through any other doors. You have to stand in the entryway, get buzzed in and once you enter the building, get buzzed a second time to actually get into the school. One of many changes made after Sandy Hook.

 

This isn't a mass shooting, for a change, but a simple boyfriend-girlfriend tragedy in a small college town. For some reason they felt a need to keep a handgun in their apartment, even though the guy was on the college wrestling team for two years.
Boyfriend shot UW-Whitewater gymnast Kara Welsh 8 times, according to complaint