Man shot and killed by juveniles while bush hogging

[plowhog]

I'll go with his prepared statement over a reporter's interpretation of his statement.

Fair enough. Do you have a source for the official statement? I haven't seen it...

 

[Hay Dude]

I bet the boys say, on their own or coached by parents, they were shooting at tires and accidentally hit the man.
Nobody takes responsibility any more.

 

[bcp]

Family Court Petition Filed in Reference to Westminster Area Homicide

(Walhalla, SC)--------------------------------------The Oconee County Sheriff’s Office is announcing today that a petition has been filed in Family Court in reference to charging an 8 year old and a 9 year old with Involuntary Manslaughter in relation to the shooting death last week of 62 year...

www.oconeelaw.com

Bruce

 

[Fuddy1952]

Kids are stupid, far and away mostly boys. One shot then handed gun to the other.
Most likely "betcha can't hit that tractor".
Just a horrific tragedy for all, mostly the poor 62 fellow bush hogging and family and kid's families. One stupid thing causes a life changing (and ending for one's) life.
As kids we were taught assume every gun is loaded, never point one at anything you don't intend to kill.
Then my brother and I would shoot at each other with pellet guns because we were stupid kids.
In my wife's neighborhood kids had war games using BB & pellet guns, bow & arrows, knives, rocks, etc. One boy lost an eye.
Our neighborhood a boy lost most of one hand making nitro glycerin.
Most of us were lucky.
Kids are stupid.

 

[Steppenwolfe]

We are dealing with "boys" here... that alone set's the stage for "where are the parents" and "what are we going to do with them". I feel bad for the man on the tractor; bushogging is one of the most enjoyable things I do on the tractor... A devastating tragedy all around.

 

[plowhog]

I feel bad for the man on the tractor

Of course I agree.

But sometimes, the one who died has the easier part of things.

Imagine the wife's grief of losing her loving spouse-- no chance to say goodbye-- due to an idiotic senseless killing that never should have happened. How does one "move on" from that? And figure out how to pay bills, find someone to bush hog or do the maintenance her husband used to, plus ... can she still even live at that property considering the emotion involved? It just cascades for the survivors ...

The Sheriff did not (could not) put the kids in custody. Under SC law, you can't do that with anyone under age 10. Seems absurd you would need to arrest an 8 and 9 year old, but maybe times are changing?

The shooters are in the comfort of their own homes, while the victim is laying on a slab.

 

[Larry Caldwell]

I'm always worried about becoming a victim in a public mass shooting.

I live deep in the woods to avoid such things but not deep enough to avoid high powered guns. A while back my plumber said he and his helper had to run inside my house because they could hear gun shots and then bullets flying thru the trees above them. I'm 1/2 mile from the nearest neighbor.

I'm so deaf I would never hear them.

I have had a couple fairly close calls. Once a deer hunter shot a hole in my house. It made me very angry. I hopped in my pickup, found where they were parked, and clipped all their valve stems with a pair of side cutters. Then I drove back to my house and called the sheriff. 911 response time to my house was about 45 minutes, but they were still there when the cops arrived.

Another time a neighbor shot a hole in one of my metal buildings. He missed me by 40 feet. Shooting at me makes me very angry, but it did not lead to violence.

 

[ruffdog]

We are dealing with "boys" here... that alone set's the stage for "where are the parents" and "what are we going to do with them".

In today's world, the parents think their responsibilities stop after they are school age, then it is society's problem if the kid does something wrong. The blame will get thrown to the schools, peer pressure, social media, media, mental sickness, etc.....then the kids/parents will be viewed as the real victims. While the real victim is dead and the family will adjust with the loss of grandpa. I doubt meaningful responsibility will be demanded from the parents of the shooters.

 

[ponytug]

Holy cow. People can be so stupid!

I’m not sure I could have controlled my temper - most especially if they were on my property.

MoKelly

While I agree with sentiments, I can understand @oosik response as they were in position of weapons and had already demonstrated a certain lack of judgement in their actions...

We are dealing with some local yahoo's at the moment who are shooting at anything that moves and spotlighting game at night. Surprisingly hard to get the game wardens and sherif to act. Three were arrested a month ago, and they are still at it... I don't like it it, but I don't like any of the alternatives either. It is posted, there are game cameras up with cell phone transmission of the photos and still...

All the best,

Peter

 

[Molalla1]

The problem is to much codling. If I had done something like that I would beg them to put me in jail. That would be much better than facing my Dad. I was shooting by myself at that age but I knew what I could and could not point that gun at. And trust me, you obeyed my Dad.

We use to bring our 22's with us to grade school to go hunting after school was over, I'm 78 I knew when I was that age, terrible.