Man fires handgun at teens who said they mistakenly pulled in his Va. driveway: Deputies

[BULLDOG]

still no excuse for shooting at people just for coming up a driveway ... i mean apparently since the car was shot in the rear they were leaving ..

$100.00 says he was a NRA member gun nut with a MAGA sign in his yard.

 

[mudwhistle]

could be possible .... but remember it appears he shot at them while they were leaving ... and thats not justification to shoot at a car full of people .

YUP.....they were leaving....so he didn't need to shoot.
At least that's what has been reported.

 

[mudwhistle]

$100.00 says he was a NRA member gun nut with a MAGA sign in his yard.

Chances are better that he's had run-ins with colored folks before. He lives in VA about an hour and 15 mins from D.C. More likely than not he's also a Democrat.

 

[miketx]

THat's why night-son needs to recalibrate his threat meter. So he doesnt shoot a Census taker or a neighbor or his pastor. With multiple drives CONNECTING to the main road -- the probability of someone wanting a NEIGHBORS driveway is pretty damn high. And they are probably ALL POSTED as "private".

Long PRIVATE roads/driveways are NOT generally ON a lot of Nav systems, The Garmin I have gets useless once I enter the 40 acre Gun Club for sporting clays. And because I just joined a year ago -- I COULD get lost in there and not be able to turn around.

I called the police on sorry ass census taker.

 

[miketx]

I'll bet you're the toughest kid in the whole 5th grade.

Notice he don't deny it....

 

[CarlinAnnArbor]

still no excuse for shooting at people just for coming up a driveway ... i mean apparently since the car was shot in the rear they were leaving ..

You won't agree, but it depends on what the "teens" look like and if they fit in your non-crime ridden area

 

[Ray From Cleveland]

You won't agree, but it depends on what the "teens" look like and if they fit in your non-crime ridden area

So you think it would be okay to shoot and kill teenagers based on what they looked like and if it fit your criteria of potential trouble makers? I don't know how Yidnar feels but I don't agree with that the slightest bit. You might want to put yourself in a position of a parent who learns they lost a son because they turned around in somebody's driveway or thought they were at a friends house.

 

[CarlinAnnArbor]

So you think it would be okay to shoot and kill teenagers based on what they looked like and if it fit your criteria of potential trouble makers? I don't know how Yidnar feels but I don't agree with that the slightest bit. You might want to put yourself in a position of a parent who learns they lost a son because they turned around in somebody's driveway or thought they were at a friends house.

I think we're not told the whole story.

No, I know you can t shoot anyone who is not an immediate threat. But you don't know what you'd do under certain circumstances.

And stop with the "teenagers." That has nothing to do with the ability to kill. Have you forgotten already the elderly man brutally MURDERED by soulless "teens"? At, least one of the killers was 10

 

[BULLDOG]

I think we're not told the whole story.

No, I know you can t shoot anyone who is not an immediate threat. But you don't know what you'd do under certain circumstances.

And stop with the "teenagers." That has nothing to do with the ability to kill. Have you forgotten already the elderly man brutally MURDERED by soulless "teens"? At, least one of the killers was 10

If you can't control your own actions under what you call "certain circumstances" you shouldn't be anywhere near a gun.

 

[Ray From Cleveland]

I think we're not told the whole story.

No, I know you can t shoot anyone who is not an immediate threat. But you don't know what you'd do under certain circumstances.

And stop with the "teenagers." That has nothing to do with the ability to kill. Have you forgotten already the elderly man brutally MURDERED by soulless "teens"? At, least one of the killers was 10

Hey, I live in a pretty tough neighborhood. Our last murder only a few months ago in the winter was two kids (10 and 13) who gunned down a 14 year old. I have people turn around in my drive almost daily. It's no reason to chance killing them no matter who they are. As my avatar clearly points out, I am pro-gun and even more pro-self defense. But I'm also for law and order.

You can't go killing people because you don't like the way they look. We live in a civilized society, and we don't do that here. This guy should be locked up and have his key thrown in the garbage. He gives all of us 2nd amendment people a bad name.

 

[CarlinAnnArbor]

.

You can't go killing people because you don't like the way they look.

I never said it was "okay" or that you CAN. Not in this culture anyway.

He must have known there would be consequences but he clearly felt "threatened" enough that he was willing to take the risk.

They were PARKED.

He banged on their window and they tried to flee.

I can see many possibilities, including home invaders from DC. I don't know the details, and neither do you. But there are many possibilities

 

[mudwhistle]

If you can't control your own actions under what you call "certain circumstances" you shouldn't be anywhere near a gun.

So you're saying he should have let those poor teenagers murder his family?

 

[Ray From Cleveland]

I never said it was "okay" or that you CAN. Not in this culture anyway.

He must have known there would be consequences but he clearly felt "threatened" enough that he was willing to take the risk.

They were PARKED.

He banged on their window and they tried to flee.

I can see many possibilities, including home invaders from DC. I don't know the details, and neither do you. But there are many possibilities

All I'm doing is commenting on what is reported. If there are any updates I may change my opinion, but as it stands now this guy should get the max. Given the time period since this was first reported, if there were any updates I'm sure we would have learned about them by now.

As for myself, if I seen any (what I believed to be) suspicious people on my property, I'd wait to see what they were going to do next or call the police. If they broke into my home, that would give me legal abilities to use deadly force because I would know their true intentions. What I would not do is use a deadly weapon to scare them off or because I came to some assumption and pissed myself off.

Remember we are only getting one side of the story. I'd like to hear from these kids and what they have to say. When a kid lies it's so easy to spot. They are not very good at it yet.

 

[BULLDOG]

So you're saying he should have let those poor teenagers murder his family?

You can always be counted on to post the stupidest remarks. Your consistency is unquestionable.

 

[Quasar44]

Link:

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime/man-fires-handgun-at-teens-who-said-they-mistakenly-pulled-in-his-va-driveway-deputies/ar-AAYXE0K?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=2f5ae99e9b0f40e99094b68f895f80fd

From the Article:

"A Spotsylvania County man is facing charges after deputies said he fired a gun into a vehicle occupied by three teens who said they wound up in his driveway by accident.

Spotsylvania County deputies were called to the 6300 block of Grace Hill for a dispute. They were met at the address by Brent Alford, 49, of Spotsylvania County, who told deputies he noticed a vehicle was parked in his driveway.

Armed with a handgun, Alford went to investigate, deputies said. Inside the vehicle were three teen siblings, aged 17, 16 and 15, who said they were lost and had driven down Alford's driveway by mistake.

The teens were attempting to find a party near Alford's home, they told deputies, and were attempting to turn around in the driveway when Alford began banging on the vehicle window and yelling at them.

The 17-year-old driver was startled and quickly attempted to drive away, deputies said. According to the report, Alford fired one round from his handgun into the back of the vehicle, hitting the trunk.

The bullet traveled through the taillight and hit items in the trunk before landing in the center of the back passenger area under the seat cushion.

The two teens in the backseat were not injured, authorities said.

Alford was taken into custody and transported to the Rappahannock Regional Jail under no bond. He's charged with three counts of shooting into an occupied vehicle and one count of reckless handling of a firearm."


OP Comments:

This particular story hits close to home. We have a 700 foot driveway, paved and wooded on both sides. Although the homes in my "development" are all properties over seven acres and spread far apart, we have a shared entrance to the neighborhood with mail and package delivery boxes. Our driveway is clearly marked private, no trespassing, security system. The reason(s) for an unknown or random vehicle to come all the way down our driveway are few. Food, furniture or large package delivery are about it. When we first looked at our place my wife commented on how there'd be pretty much no justifiable reason for a random vehicle to end up at our front door or even halfway down our driveway and not be up to no good.

Of course, I try to be a fairly reasonable guy. I mean, if someone genuinely ended up down our driveway by mistake, they were lost or just had a sudden brain fart, well I wouldn't open fire unless they gave me a good reason. The thing is, with modern GPS technology on every smartphone it's kind of difficult to believe people would actually get lost up the wrong, really long driveway. So anyway, I think about what the gentleman in the above article went through—I think about it all the time, having to deal with a similar situation and how to react and not end up in jail like he did.

All of that being said, I don't think we're getting the full story here about what happened. I looked up the guy's address on Google Maps and the dude has a 400 foot long driveway. I'm guessing he and his wife think the same as my wife and I: no random stranger(s) should be showing up down our long, long driveways. What I think we have here are the accounting of events given to police by the three teens, and we have yet to hear the property owner's side of the story. I also looked up the property owner on Facebook and his political vociferousness on Facebook is not going to help his case here. He's a Marine veteran, pro-Second A, the whole usual country boy republican patriotic type, same as myself save for my being an Army vet. Looks like it could go really, really bad for the guy.

Excuse me !!!
You cannot just discharge a gun because you think they are going to commit a criminal act

The dolt who did this should be in prison

 

[pknopp]

I support this guy being allowed to be armed to protect his property. I will also support the system removing that right from him through due process as he obviously can not exercise that right in a responsible manner.

 

[CarlinAnnArbor]

3 "teens" in my area

 

[yidnar]

So you think it would be okay to shoot and kill teenagers based on what they looked like and if it fit your criteria of potential trouble makers? I don't know how Yidnar feels but I don't agree with that the slightest bit. You might want to put yourself in a position of a parent who learns they lost a son because they turned around in somebody's driveway or thought they were at a friends house.

i have the same view as you do on the situation ... you dont shoot at people because you dont like the way they look .

 

[yidnar]

I never said it was "okay" or that you CAN. Not in this culture anyway.

He must have known there would be consequences but he clearly felt "threatened" enough that he was willing to take the risk.

They were PARKED.

He banged on their window and they tried to flee.

I can see many possibilities, including home invaders from DC. I don't know the details, and neither do you. But there are many possibilities

you are basing your views on possibilities ... we only have whats being reported to base our opinion .. so if what is being reported is correct and the owner shot at them because they used his drive way to turn around in then he committed a crime .

 

[Persuader]

Link:

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime/man-fires-handgun-at-teens-who-said-they-mistakenly-pulled-in-his-va-driveway-deputies/ar-AAYXE0K?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=2f5ae99e9b0f40e99094b68f895f80fd

From the Article:

"A Spotsylvania County man is facing charges after deputies said he fired a gun into a vehicle occupied by three teens who said they wound up in his driveway by accident.

Spotsylvania County deputies were called to the 6300 block of Grace Hill for a dispute. They were met at the address by Brent Alford, 49, of Spotsylvania County, who told deputies he noticed a vehicle was parked in his driveway.

Armed with a handgun, Alford went to investigate, deputies said. Inside the vehicle were three teen siblings, aged 17, 16 and 15, who said they were lost and had driven down Alford's driveway by mistake.

The teens were attempting to find a party near Alford's home, they told deputies, and were attempting to turn around in the driveway when Alford began banging on the vehicle window and yelling at them.

The 17-year-old driver was startled and quickly attempted to drive away, deputies said. According to the report, Alford fired one round from his handgun into the back of the vehicle, hitting the trunk.

The bullet traveled through the taillight and hit items in the trunk before landing in the center of the back passenger area under the seat cushion.

The two teens in the backseat were not injured, authorities said.

Alford was taken into custody and transported to the Rappahannock Regional Jail under no bond. He's charged with three counts of shooting into an occupied vehicle and one count of reckless handling of a firearm."


OP Comments:

This particular story hits close to home. We have a 700 foot driveway, paved and wooded on both sides. Although the homes in my "development" are all properties over seven acres and spread far apart, we have a shared entrance to the neighborhood with mail and package delivery boxes. Our driveway is clearly marked private, no trespassing, security system. The reason(s) for an unknown or random vehicle to come all the way down our driveway are few. Food, furniture or large package delivery are about it. When we first looked at our place my wife commented on how there'd be pretty much no justifiable reason for a random vehicle to end up at our front door or even halfway down our driveway and not be up to no good.

Of course, I try to be a fairly reasonable guy. I mean, if someone genuinely ended up down our driveway by mistake, they were lost or just had a sudden brain fart, well I wouldn't open fire unless they gave me a good reason. The thing is, with modern GPS technology on every smartphone it's kind of difficult to believe people would actually get lost up the wrong, really long driveway. So anyway, I think about what the gentleman in the above article went through—I think about it all the time, having to deal with a similar situation and how to react and not end up in jail like he did.

All of that being said, I don't think we're getting the full story here about what happened. I looked up the guy's address on Google Maps and the dude has a 400 foot long driveway. I'm guessing he and his wife think the same as my wife and I: no random stranger(s) should be showing up down our long, long driveways. What I think we have here are the accounting of events given to police by the three teens, and we have yet to hear the property owner's side of the story. I also looked up the property owner on Facebook and his political vociferousness on Facebook is not going to help his case here. He's a Marine veteran, pro-Second A, the whole usual country boy republican patriotic type, same as myself save for my being an Army vet. Looks like it could go really, really bad for the guy.

Too many gun owners do not know the laws(even in their home state) regarding self defense and when it is legal to use your weapon.

He is fortunate he did not hit anyone....still yet depending on where he lives and how woke the prosecutors office office may be.....and particuarly if the occupants of the car were black he may be in serious trouble.

If the 'teens' were black which they are most apt to be since they were not identified as white....the media may get involved.....if they are able to stir up some trouble.....the guy will most likely face some jail time.....if he has a good defense team he may be able to get off with probation...if he has no previous history of convictions or racism.

The armed citizens need to understand they must be very,very careful in the use of their weapons....particuarly so if blacks are involved.

In a nutshell only fire your weapons if you are in fear of your life....and this fear must be based on reasonable things.....like things the jury may also think justified your use of a firearem.

It is an old cliche ....that it is better to be judged by 12 than carried by six.....not as true as it once was...but if your life is at stake....one should not gamble....take your best shot.