A 10-year-old boy was shot dead in front of his Omaha, Nebraska, home on Thursday night—allegedly by his own father.

  • RememberTheApollo_@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    “But we have to determine if he [Will McDonald] was justified in doing what he did"

    Really. Are we relieving shooters of the burden of making sure of what they’re shooting at or do we just give people a pass?

    • SuddenlyBlowGreen@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      “But we have to determine if he [Will McDonald] was justified in doing what he did"

      The kid was coming right at him! /s

      How could he be justified in doing what he did (which is shooting his child), he’s not a police officer. Usually only rhey get away with stuff like this.

    • Hillock@kbin.social
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      1 year ago

      At this point in time, it doesn’t appear that he was justified in firing.”

      Maybe put the rest of the quote in there. And are you really mad at the police for doing their job of investigating what happened and following the principal of “Not Guilty Until Proven Guilty”.

      • RememberTheApollo_@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        That doesn’t change the point of my opinion. Put the rest of it in there seeing as you prefer more information - the part where he shot a 10 year old. So he didn’t verify what or who he was shooting, and yet we have a public statement that that even considers it could have been justified? I’m all for presumed innocence, but when you whip out deadly force you’d better be damned sure what you’re planning on killing and the consequences for doing so, and I have little tolerance for failure to do so.

        /jordanlund has offered legal standards that would seem to make the shoot unjustifiable regardless of presumed innocence.

        E: words

  • IonAddis@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Given family holidays can be very stressful and violent in bad families, I have to wonder if that poor kid said something dad didn’t like, or cried, or whined, or otherwise was a completely normal kid and the dad lost his shit and shot him for it. Then came up with “I thought I saw a thief!” to get away with it.

    Like, everyone in this thread is assuming the dad actually heard a thief. But I think that should be questioned, too. It’s so common for bad families to slap kids around during thanksgiving. My uncle once lost his shit over something stupid and threw his half-paralyzed mom (she’d had a stroke not too long before) out of her chair onto the floor.

    • Salamendacious@lemmy.worldOP
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      1 year ago

      There just aren’t enough details to say right now. What you’re saying is possible definitely but it’s impossible to be sure if anything other than a child was killed. Anger is the worst human emotion in my opinion. Seneca calls it a form of temporary madness.

      • rosymind@leminal.space
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        1 year ago

        Agreed. I have an anger problem and I hate it. I can remain calm if I’m prepared for it, but if something takes me off gaurd (or I reach peek frustration) I react before I have time to think.

        It’s super annoying, often embarrassing, and the worst of me. It’s like things start happening and my hire-order thinking is just straight-up offline until I’ve said something horrible, stormed off, or thrown something like a toddler. It’s like I have to struggle to catch up to what my body is doing

        The only blessing is that I’m physically weak as shit, (and I married a strong man who is chill/non-reactive)

        I wish I could rewire my instinct to fight out of me, but meditation makes me fall asleep

        • Salamendacious@lemmy.worldOP
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          1 year ago

          I can sympathize. Here’s a video that I found useful. I work on this daily. Some days I excel and other days I fall short. I think of myself as a rage addict and when I fall off the wagon. I try to reflect, not get angry with myself (because that’s just feeding the addiction), and get back on track. It’s a constant struggle.

      • afraid_of_zombies@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Very nice. I disagree. If you aren’t angry you aren’t paying attention. World is going to shit by just about every measure you care to name.

        • Salamendacious@lemmy.worldOP
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          1 year ago

          I try to not get angry because I don’t think it solves anything and while there are a lot of things wrong with the world there are good trends. Global rates of extreme poverty were close to 70% in the early 80s and are now below 47% and continuing down. source. Global birth rates have been steadily declining source, which is a factor in global poverty as well as reducing world hunger (this trended down for years but recently he has unfortunately increased). Global education has improved now only 1 in five adults have never received any education source. Anger didn’t improve any of these situations. Ask a professional or amateur fighter (I’ve personally talked with boxers about this) going into a fight angry almost guarantees you’ll lose.

          • afraid_of_zombies@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            Is rent and housing prices higher in the developing world this year compared to last year? Answer the question or don’t bother responding

            • Salamendacious@lemmy.worldOP
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              1 year ago

              So your only definition of the “world going to shit” is housing prices? I clearly said that there are a lot of problems in the world.

              Housing is a serious issue and while nationally prices probably won’t be going significantly down there are some places where the price has gone down. Not enough to be sure unfortunately.

              How does getting angry solve that problem? How does getting angry solve any problem? If getting angry doesn’t solve the problem what might?

                • Salamendacious@lemmy.worldOP
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                  1 year ago

                  Housing is a serious issue and while nationally prices probably won’t be going significantly down there are some places where the price has gone down. Not enough to be sure unfortunately.

                  I’m not an economist. I’m not sure about world prices. I answered the question the best I can with the knowledge I have.

                  One definition of neoliberslism is: A political ideology or ideological trend based on neoclassical economics that espouses economic liberalism, favouring trade liberalisation, financial deregulation, a small government, privatisation and liberalisation of government businesses, passive antitrust enforcement, accepting greater economic inequality and disfavouring unionisation.

                  I don’t support any of that.

    • em2@lemmy.ml
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      1 year ago

      “The boy’s 47-year-old father, Will McDonald, faces a charge of criminal homicide and possession of a firearm by a prohibited person, according to police.”

      Doesn’t look like he’s even supposed to be a gun owner.

      • PoliticalAgitator@lemm.ee
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        1 year ago

        It doesn’t matter, the pro-gun community will hook them up with either private sales that don’t require a background check or an infinite supply of poorly secured firearms.

        After all, executing your family shouldn’t just be for legal gun owners.

    • Rediphile@lemmy.ca
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      1 year ago

      And, statistically, they are correct.

      I’m anti lax US gun laws btw. But the amount of gun owners to gun deaths/incidents still demonstrates that most are ‘responsible’ owners. Even if I still think far far far too many needless gun incidents happen, it’s not the majority or even vaguely close.

      • MagicShel@programming.dev
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        1 year ago

        Keep in mind that the vast majority of irresponsible acts do not result in natural consequences out of sheer luck. Like most accidental discharges while cleaning don’t hit another person. Most unsecured firearms don’t result in kids accidentally killing one another.

        The level of negligent behavior is much higher than homicide stats would have you believe.

        • Rediphile@lemmy.ca
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          1 year ago

          Totally. But is anyone honestly suggesting that over 50% of all owners have had an accidental discharge?

      • AA5B@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Statistics also say that the self-defense argument is largely bullshit: you’re more likely to harm those closest to you than to defend yourself with a firearm

        • Rediphile@lemmy.ca
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          1 year ago

          Yes, I fully agree. It’s well supported with data. As is my statement.

          I’m honestly confused how people took my comment to be pro gun at all. I just don’t like misrepresenting data.

        • Rediphile@lemmy.ca
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          1 year ago

          I’m not sure I understand. Are you trying to say that 100% of irresponsible gun owners are also gun owners? Well, yeah… that’s definitely correct.

          Or am I missing something?

          • Ensign_Crab@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            Or am I missing something?

            The bit about what happens when people who believe themselves to be responsible are wrong.

            If you’re just going to defend mass gun ownership at me, waste someone else’s time.

            • Rediphile@lemmy.ca
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              1 year ago

              I’m not defending mass gun ownership at all and was completely clear about that in the initial comment. And I certainly am aware that all people who end up accidentally shooting themselves did not plan to do so… and I never suggested otherwise.

      • afraid_of_zombies@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        And the majority of nuclear bomb owning nations are the same. Only one country has used them in wartime. 77 years of responsible nuke ownership. That doesn’t mean I want more nations to have them.

  • can@sh.itjust.works
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    1 year ago

    He said investigators were still working to “figure out” if McDonald may have mistaken his own son for a car thief. Douglas County Attorney Don Kleine said formal charges could be filed as soon as Sunday.

    “It’s obviously very tragic,” Kleine said. “But we have to determine if he [Will McDonald] was justified in doing what he did. . . . At this point in time, it doesn’t appear that he was justified in firing.”

    Is this real? Did I just eat the onion?

    • Hillock@kbin.social
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      1 year ago

      That’s important to figure out because it impacts the kind of charges they are going to press. There are different degrees of murder.

      If the guy planned on killing his son, that’s first degree murder. If he mistook the kid for a car thief that’s second degree murder or depending on the exact circumstances maybe just manslaughter. And even with manslaughter the exact circumstances change it between voluntary and involuntary.

      So let’s not get our pitchforks out for the police doing their work right (for once).

      • Kekzkrieger@feddit.de
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        1 year ago

        So why does a potential car thief even be shot. Maybe let the police and later a judge handle thieves and not take justice into your own hands.

        • Hillock@kbin.social
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          1 year ago

          What if that car thief suddenly charges you after you hear the alarm and go outside to check on it.

          I can see a situation where the kid was trying to scare his father as a prank. And unfortunately the father mistook it for a real threat.

          I assume the person who shot the kid claims he felt threatened. It’s probably not enough and even the police said so, but they still have a duty to look into it.

          The police jumping to conclusions is a big issue in the US, so let’s not criticize them when they follow proper protocol. In every civilized country in the world the police would investigate exactly what happened.

          Maybe the person giving the interview/report should have used better words. But what’s going to happen would still be the same.

  • Fades@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    You should NEVER use a firearm on ANYTHING you cannot identify. If you can’t identify it then you shouldn’t be willing to destroy it, especially when no threat exists yet.

    This man is a fucking coward and a danger to all around him. Put him in fucking prison and toss the key.

    • RGB3x3@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Positive identification on your target and what’s behind your target.

      Every time.

      But I don’t trust the general public to positively identify a fucking stop sign, let alone a target of a gun.

  • TransplantedSconie@lemm.ee
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    1 year ago

    Holy fuck. This is peak 'Merica.

    Don’t call out or anything, Hoss. Just blindly fire at noises and shit.

    • dylanmorgan@slrpnk.net
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      1 year ago

      “A burglar! Hold on, let me get my gun.” “Bill, we can all just yell ‘get the fuck out’ at the same time, they’ll probably shit their pants and run.”

      • andrew_bidlaw@sh.itjust.works
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        1 year ago

        Have you ever stolen something? I doubt so (:

        A bunch of dudes do make you very uncomfy. Not only they see and remember you, they can run and block you from leaving the scene. They can beat you up. They can hold you before cops would show.

        Rule one of stealing is leaving as soon as you are noticed, stakes become too high. Even the dumbest of street theives won’t fuck around if you scream aloud about their attempt and have some people to back you up.