I awoke to shots fired in front of my house

[madecov]

My days off are Tue/Wed
Both my son and I are LEO's and he lives at home.
This morning the wife, daughter and dog were freaking out.

Evidently, some turd broke into a car (BMV) on the street right behind my house. The victim followed the suspect to my side of the block and confronted the turd (who was in my driveway) looking to break into another vehicle.
The turd tries to get away, the old guy who had his car broken into (BMV) pulls a revolver and yells for the guy to hit the ground. The turd turns and approaches the victim who then fires a warning shot into the air. Turd plays Olympic sprinter and long jumper and beats feet .

My son and I grab our weapons and go to see what's going on while the wife and every other neighbor dial 911.

Sheriff's deputies get there in record time and start the search for the turd while interviewing the old guy victim.

What a cluster.

[DefensiveCarry.com]

[srfl]

Glad to hear that your neighbor was ok.

[SubNine]

Another act of stupidity with a firearm, never EVER fire a warning shot, because the simple law of gravity. Eventually the bullet will stop climbing, and fall back to Earth at a very lethal speed and could possibly kill someone (one could only hope it hits the perp instead of an innocent person). Apparently not everyone understands that a round fired into the air is just as lethal as when it exits the muzzle.

[retsupt99]

someone steps on that 'turd'...

ret

[farronwolf]

Another act of stupidity with a firearm, never EVER fire a warning shot, because the simple law of gravity. Eventually the bullet will stop climbing, and fall back to Earth at a very lethal speed and could possibly kill someone (one could only hope it hits the perp instead of an innocent person). Apparently not everyone understands that a round fired into the air is just as lethal as when it exits the muzzle.

You don't watch mythbusters do you? Unless it is a rifle round fired at about a 45 degree trajectory or less it is not going to have enough velocity on the downward arc to hurt someone. Basically a pistol fired straight up on the air will not have enough velocity to do any harm on the way down.

That being said, I don't necessarily agree with firing warning shots either, although I could see doing it in some situations.

[peacefuljeffrey]

Farronwolf, it seems that real-life experience would indicate you are mistaken (or the vaunted "Mythbusters" are; take your pick). Here in Palm Beach County, last year there and the year before, several people have been maimed and at least one has died from bullets returning to earth after having been fired into the air in "celebration" both at New Year's Eve and Independence Day.

I don't know for sure what angle they were fired at, but I am reasonably confident it was handgun rounds, and that they were determined to have been coming mostly "down."

[raevan]

You can test this theory of no danger. Go outside, fire straight up in the air and don't move, when the bullet hits you come back and tell us how it feels.

[PatrioticRick]

You don't watch mythbusters do you? Unless it is a rifle round fired at about a 45 degree trajectory or less it is not going to have enough velocity on the downward arc to hurt someone. Basically a pistol fired straight up on the air will not have enough velocity to do any harm on the way down.

That being said, I don't necessarily agree with firing warning shots either, although I could see doing it in some situations.

Seems to me in that myth busters the rounds ended up about 4-6 inches into the ground. I think that would hurt.

[mexican_ninja]

You don't watch mythbusters do you? Unless it is a rifle round fired at about a 45 degree trajectory or less it is not going to have enough velocity on the downward arc to hurt someone. Basically a pistol fired straight up on the air will not have enough velocity to do any harm on the way down.

That being said, I don't necessarily agree with firing warning shots either, although I could see doing it in some situations.

We did a similar experiment in physics but with rockets. I know its not the same but yes, the rocket was more "lethal" (for lack of a better word) at an angle than straight up. You also had to factor in wind and stuff.

[SIXTO]

When I was a little kid, I threw a rock into the air, it hit my buddy on the head. He cried. He cried cause it hurt I'm sure.

Yes, firing a warning shot is dumb, unless your in a 50's western movie.

[artz]

dang....another turd gets away.

[Old Chief]

Firing a warning shot into the air is dumb on two counts: 1) what goes up must come down (except for space travel) and 2) it is a waste of ammunition.

[CharlieMike]

so -- this "turd" tries to get away but the neighbor escalates the situation by drawing his firearm. was this "turd" armed? should the neighbor have ever chased and drawn his weapon?

from this description, it sounds like the neighbor used poor judgement all around.

maybe he should be charged. it was irresponsible to discharge his weapon (at a ballistic trajectory or not) if he wasn't defending himself.

i'm not defending this "turd" but maybe this could have been handled better.

[ELCruisr]

Ask all the people who have been killed or injured in New Orleans by falling bullets on New Years Eve if it's dangerous. A stupid tradition that they have yet to stamp out.

[denverd0n]

Basically a pistol fired straight up on the air will not have enough velocity to do any harm on the way down.

Not quite. What the Mythbusters concluded was that the bullet coming back down would not be LETHAL! It could still do considerable harm. And, quite frankly, given the almost complete lack of scientific rigor concerning their experiments I don't really believe that it would be non-lethal (but I love that show anyway!).

Regardless, warning shots are DUMB!!! If you have justification to fire then you have justification to fire COM. If you do NOT have justification to fire COM then you do NOT have justification to fire at all! The old guy in the original story is darned lucky that he doesn't live in a jurisdiction where they would just as soon arrest him as the turd.