T1B

Cedar Springs teen shot during early morning prank
by The Grand Rapids Press
Sunday October 12, 2008, 8:13 AM

KENT COUNTY — A 14-year-old Cedar Springs boy was shot early Sunday morning as he and four other males were vandalizing a home with toilet paper in the 900 block of Sherwin Street NE in Solon Township.

Around 1 a.m., the homeowner was awakened by noise outside his home and saw several people in his yard, police said. Thinking the strangers were trying to break in, he fired three shots from a 12-gauge shotgun.

One boy was struck. He suffered non-life-threatening injuries to his chest, stomach and leg. He was transported to Spectrum Health Butterworth Hospital.

No arrests were made, and the case has been forwarded to the Kent County Prosecutor's office for determination of charges.

DEEPWATER, Mo. -- Officials are trying to decide whether to file charges against a Missouri man who fatally shot his wife while trying to install a satellite TV system in the bedroom of their home.

Patsy Long, 34, of Deepwater, died after being shot in the chest with a .22-caliber handgun on Saturday. Her husband, Ronald Long, fired the shot from the inside of their home after several unsuccessful efforts to punch a hole through the exterior wall using other means.

Henry County sheriff's deputies said the woman was hit by the second of two shots fired by her husband.

Long was given CPR by neighbors and family until medics arrived, police said. She was transported by air ambulance, but was pronounced dead at the hospital just after 6 p.m.

"He was under the impression that everybody was inside the residence, that he knew where everybody was at,” said sheriff's department spokesman Maj. Robert Hills.

Hills said a person involved in such a case normally would be charged with manslaughter, but that would be up to the prosecutor.

"Once we complete a diagram of the incident, we will be submitting everything to the prosecuting attorney and let him decide if he wants to press criminal charges," Hills said.

Henry County Coroner Scott Largent declined to release details about Patsy Long's death until the sheriff's department completes its investigation.

On Tuesday morning, Henry County Prosecuting Attorney Richard M. Shields said he has yet to receive the case from the sheriff's department.

Neighbor Mark Lassince said he believed it was a tragic accident.

"Bad things happen to good people,” Lassince said.

Patsy and Ronald Long were raising their children in their rural home overlooking Truman Lake.

"I was in the shower, and the son came in and told me his mom had been shot, so we went up there to see if we could help,” Lassince said.

Patsy Long worked as a carhop at a Sonic restaurant in Warsaw, Mo.

“She was a good person, you know, took care of her family,” Lassince said.

Mace wrote:

Goober McTuber wrote:Deepwater is not too far from Kansas City. Just sayin’.

Guns are way quicker than using one of those pesky drills.

Mace

Mace wrote: Should the guy have fired the shots? No. Are you intelligent enough to put yourself in his shoes.....waking up at 1:00 a.m. and finding a group/gang of people in your front yard and wrongly assuming that they were there to break into your home? No, you're probably not. My bad.

Mace wrote: There's a distinct difference between condoning his actions and understanding how/why it happened.

Mace wrote:

Kierland wrote:

Mace wrote: Should the guy have fired the shots? No. Are you intelligent enough to put yourself in his shoes.....waking up at 1:00 a.m. and finding a group/gang of people in your front yard and wrongly assuming that they were there to break into your home? No, you're probably not. My bad.

So you were against peppering him in the face before you were for it. Gotcha.

There's a distinct difference between condoning his actions and understanding how/why it happened. It's like me not condoning abortion but understanding how your mother wishes she'd had one. Get it? Of course not.

Mace

Mace wrote: I said the guy should not have fired the shots...

You don't know? Neither do I.

mvscal wrote:Personally, I wouldn't give a fuck if he killed the lot of them.

Mace wrote: What we do know, is that they were close enough to the house to wake this guy up.

Terry in Crapchester wrote:And being shot is a necessary and proportional consequence of trespassing on another's property?

Good God, you're about as civilized as a Neanderthal.

mvscal wrote:

Screw_Michigan wrote:All the guy had to do was yell out at the kids and let them know he was on to them and they would have scrambled like the little punks they are.

All the kids had to do was stay off his property in the first place. What could be easier than that? Personally, I wouldn't give a fuck if he killed the lot of them.

Mace wrote: Neither of you need any help in that regard, dumbfuck.

Mace

warren wrote:

mvscal wrote:

Screw_Michigan wrote:All the guy had to do was yell out at the kids and let them know he was on to them and they would have scrambled like the little punks they are.

All the kids had to do was stay off his property in the first place. What could be easier than that? Personally, I wouldn't give a fuck if he killed the lot of them.

Exactly.

Kierland wrote: The death penalty for trethpath. Brownshirt much?

I said right up front that the guy should NOT have fired his shotgun at the vandals.....