Illinois Man Shot And Killed His Neighbor Who Was Using A Leaf Blower

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Hang on Diva. US is not 'the world'.

This is a particularly American problem because of the scale.
I know you have a large population over there but you have an even more guns than people.
You are now living with the consequences of lax regulation of gun ownership.

I saw this on Twitter today and thought it a fair question that calls out for an answer

"If people are the problem - why the hell would you give the problem… GUNS?!?"
 
Hang on Diva. US is not 'the world'.

This is a particularly American problem because of the scale.
I know you have a large population over there but you have an even more guns than people.
You are now living with the consequences of lax regulation of gun ownership.

I saw this on Twitter today and thought it a fair question that calls out for an answer

"If people are the problem - why the hell would you give the problem… GUNS?!?"
I know Warrigal...but right now it's our world (we U.S. citizens). But you'd be surprised how much horrible stuff I read that's going on in other countries on my Smart News app. That is an excellent Twitter question!
 
Blame all of these states that are governed by right wing gun loonies. They let you carry a gun anywhere you want, even church. So if a gun toting crazed moron gets mad at you, he can shoot you dead anywhere. Walmart, drive-in theater, Burger King, or even during mass. And needless to say, don't knock on their doors, or pull into their driveways, not even to simply back up, and turn around. If you get shot, the gun lobby and NRA supporters will simply say, "Oh well! He should have kept his mouth shut at Burger King!"
 
I know Warrigal...but right now it's our world (we U.S. citizens). But you'd be surprised how much horrible stuff I read that's going on in other countries on my Smart News app. That is an excellent Twitter question!
Yes, the frequency of these events is very disturbing. Because of the internet the rest of the world gets to read all about them. Americans post their reactions via Twitter and using Facebook so I learn about them even before they appear in the evening news. Perhaps these events have been happening for decades but did not make the news but I doubt that is the case. I agree with you that the madness is becoming worse.

Then there are the darker corners of social media where angry people club together to fan the flames of their anger into perpetual rage against some perceived "them" until they are triggered by someone merely asking that they don't shoot their gun at 11.00pm because there is a baby that cannot get to sleep.

Angry people can be found in every society in every country but in most of them they don't have access to the kind of weapons that allow them to execute their neighbours, including children.
 
Yesterday there was an article about some guy shooting his gun in his front yard. A neighbor asked him to stop because the baby was trying to sleep, so the gun owner entered their house and shot everyone including a young child. As of yesterday the police were still looking for the gun owner.
 
….. nor would ever dream of doing so. 😨
I don't know, I've had a few neighbors I dreamt of shooting. If dreams were prosecutable I'd be in trouble.
Correctly if I am wrong but is it not easy to drive across the border to buy the weapons of your choice? Has US recently passed national laws that make this difficult?
You are right, that is a problem. Our state borders are quite permeable, no controls. For the most part we like it that way, but it limits how much any one state can control things like guns...
 
I don't know, I've had a few neighbors I dreamt of shooting. If dreams were prosecutable I'd be in trouble.

You are right, that is a problem. Our state borders are quite permeable, no controls. For the most part we like it that way, but it limits how much any one state can control things like guns...
As would I but somewhere reality kicks in for most people who realize that MORE violence isn’t the answer. Nothing is solved through violence. Violence begets violence.
 
Leaf blowers are maddening, maybe it is justifiable murder. Ha, sorry shouldn't joke about it. How do people calm down in those types of situations (arguments with neighbors over loud activities)? My personal reaction is to just stay inside and fume to myself. I always admire people who can calmly address situations.
American culture must have encouraged community and cooperation more in the past maybe? Now it is half a population indulging in allowing their intolerance and emotions without normal social limitations.
 
When you get the guns off the street maybe you can ban rocks.

Once again, murder comes from the human heart, not the inanimate object whether it is a gun or a rock. The problem is the lack of human values, sometimes aggravated by mental illness.

“We have to go back and see that”: Men who threw rocks that killed Colorado woman took picture of her car as memento​

Three men accused of hurling large rocks at several cars west of Denver last week, killing a 20-year-old woman, drove back to take a picture of her car after the fatal crash, arrest documents show.

“We have to go back and see that,” one man said to his two friends after a landscaping rock smashed through Alexa Bartell’s window, striking her in the head and killing her April 19, according to an arrest affidavit.

One of the suspects told police he felt a “hint of guilt,” but that all three were excited when the rocks they threw hit a car. He and another man suspected in the rock-throwing spree had been throwing rocks at cars on at least 10 occasions since February.

Joseph Koenig, Nicholas “Mitch” Karol-Chik and Zachary Kwak, all 18, face first-degree murder charges. Authorities say the men acted with “extreme indifference,” meaning they allegedly intended to kill someone but didn’t care whom. They appeared in court Thursday morning, after they were arrested Wednesday morning at their homes in Arvada.

A judge ordered each be held without bond, a court spokesman confirmed.

Karol-Chik said Kwak threw the rock that killed 20-year-old Bartell while she was driving on Indiana Street at about 10:45 p.m. Kwak said Koenig threw it. Koenig refused to be interviewed by police.

Karol-Chik’s attorney could not immediately be reached. Court records show that the other two men are being represented by the public defender’s office, but did not list the names of their attorneys.

According to the arrest affidavit, Kwak said he remembered hearing a loud noise that sounded like a “rail gun” shooting a block of concrete when the rock smashed Bartell’s window. After seeing the car run off the road, they turned around and he took a photo of the car as a “memento” for Karol-Chik and Koenig.

On their drive home, the men talked about being “blood brothers” and vowed to never speak about the incident again, the affidavit said. Kwak said he met with Koenig the next day to get their stories straight and deny their involvement.

A friend described Koenig to investigators as someone who frequently partakes in destructive behavior because he likes creating chaos, the affidavit said. He said he was with the three men hours before the rock-throwing spree as they collected landscaping rocks from a nearby Walmart parking lot.

They picked up “as many as they could carry,” placing them in the back seat of their truck, the affidavit said. The friend told police he knew “something bad was going to happen” and asked to be driven home, which he was.

When investigators found Bartell’s car, there was a large hole in the front windshield on the driver’s side and the rear window was completely broken out. Bartell appeared to have a wound to her head and was pronounced dead at the scene, according to the affidavit.

Near her car, they found a large bloodstained landscaping rock.

Investigators said Bartell’s car was the last car struck in a series shortly after 10 p.m. in Westminster on April 19. Drivers of two other vehicles suffered minor injuries.

https://coloradosun.com/2023/04/27/arrest-affidavit-alexa-bartell-rock-throwing-spree/

Pictures at the link. You will never see 3 dumber looking killers or a more innocent looking victim.

I have landscaping rocks in my yard. So far none of them have gotten up and launched themselves through a windshield and they've had plenty of opportunity. Some are very close to the street and many cars go by daily.

 
Correctly if I am wrong but is it not easy to drive across the border to buy the weapons of your choice? Has US recently passed national laws that make this difficult?
I just read an article a few weeks ago about Chicago and high crime rates, while having stricter gun regulations. Guns are simply imported into Illinois from states that have lax gun regulations. Gary Indiana is like 5 miles from Chicago.
 
Hang on Diva. US is not 'the world'.

This is a particularly American problem because of the scale.
I know you have a large population over there but you have an even more guns than people.
You are now living with the consequences of lax regulation of gun ownership.

I saw this on Twitter today and thought it a fair question that calls out for an answer

"If people are the problem - why the hell would you give the problem… GUNS?!?"
The question is rhetorical.
 
One thing I find interesting in this thread is we don't seem to be talking about what would make someone shoot a neighbor over a leaf blower. Sure, it's irritating but death? We see these kinds of crimes a lot more than we used to. Why are so many people on the edge of committing murder?

Is it drugs?
Is it financial stress in a country that is on the edge of recession?
Is there something in society that is driving people insane?
Is it the stress of living in highly compacted cities so close together?

I know some might say the pandemic but violence was a problem before the pandemic.
 
One thing I find interesting in this thread is we don't seem to be talking about what would make someone shoot a neighbor over a leaf blower. Sure, it's irritating but death? We see these kinds of crimes a lot more than we used to. Why are so many people on the edge of committing murder?

Is it drugs?
Is it financial stress in a country that is on the edge of recession?
Is there something in society that is driving people insane?
Is it the stress of living in highly compacted cities so close together?

I know some might say the pandemic but violence was a problem before
One thing I find interesting in this thread is we don't seem to be talking about what would make someone shoot a neighbor over a leaf blower. Sure, it's irritating but death? We see these kinds of crimes a lot more than we used to. Why are so many people on the edge of committing murder?

Is it drugs?
Is it financial stress in a country that is on the edge of recession?
Is there something in society that is driving people insane?
Is it the stress of living in highly compacted cities so close together?

I know some might say the pandemic but violence was a problem before the pandemic.
I ponder this every day. There is definitely something very wrong. Suicides are way up as well. I’ve had three relatives die by suicide over the past seven years.
 
I am against using guns to commit crimes. I am also against violence of any kind.

However, I can understand someone shooting someone using a leaf blower. I have lived in 2 different apartments and at one of them, it seemed they used a leaf blower every week. In the winter, they blew away the snow on the sidewalks. In the summer they blew away the grass clippings on the sidewalk that the lawn mover had left behind. The leaf blower could be heard blocks away. Many are the times, I too wished I had a gun.

Then there are the turkeys with motorcycles and Trucks. Not your ordinary motorcycles and trucks but those modified exhaust system especially modified to make a loud noise.

Some people just don't care for their fellow human beings. If I ran the country, I would make sure that folks that make loud, unreasonable noise be put on a road gang or at least made to do community work. They are bad little boys who just refuse to grow up. Shame on them!
 

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I know some might say the pandemic but violence was a problem before the pandemic.
Violence has been a problem before the pandemic but gun sales tripled since the pandemic.

Your country now has 120 guns per 100 people. Everyone in the world is stressed about the pandemic but we don’t all own guns. Is there a possible chance that since guns are a lot more available now, that more people are actually using them?

Earlier in this thread you gave an example of of why rocks might be banned next

Quote :Once again, murder comes from the human heart, not the inanimate object whether it is a gun or a rock.

Let’s compare these two inanimate objects.

There’s probably a lot more rocks than people and they are probably easier to find.
If an angry kid goes to school with a knapsack full of rocks to hurl at others in order to kill them, do you think this kid would have as equal a chance of killing as many kids with rocks than he would with a gun?

I would think there’d be dozens of people that would jump the kid before that would ever happen. Why? Because they can. There’s far more time to do that and rocks just aren’t as dangerous.

Plus carrying a bunch of rocks would be very heavy. Most girls couldn’t pull this off. Throwing rocks takes much more strength and accuracy than shooting a gun does and is probably at least 100 times slower.

If rocks were equally as dangerous as guns why the 300% increase in gun sales when rocks are far cheaper ( free ) and no license is even required?
 

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