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Story details don't add up? Teen shooting

I'm posting on behalf of some coworkers, who spent quite a bit of time analyzing recent events in W. Toledo, when a teen died while playing Russian roulette. News reports seem to have stated that the kids in the car picked up a 14-year-old friend from Bowsher after school, drove to a mall parking lot and spent 20 minutes there, but did not enter the mall; then began playing with a gun in their car while cutting through a neighborhood on their way to the 14-year-old's home on the UT campus.

Inquiring minds want to know: doesn't it sound like they bought (or acquired) the gun in the mall parking lot? Is there an open-air firearms market? How is it that a 14-y.o. girl lives on campus at UT (excuse my ignorance: is there family housing there?). If a high school student DID live at UT, wouldn't she be enrolled in Whitmer?

I think people are upset because of the tragedy and focussing on the details to make sense of the situation ... which was a senseless tragedy, IMHO. Anyone have any nuggets of wisdom for my work group?

created by viola on Feb 04, 2010 at 04:30:37 pm     Comments: 20

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Comments ... #

I don’t know anything about it except that the UT area is not in Whitmers district.

posted by Ryan on Feb 04, 2010 at 04:51:06 pm     #



If they did pick it up in the parking lot it was illegally, from someone that probably shouldn't have had it either (felon). I doubt it though. I bet one of the kid's either swiped it from a parent, brother, or they had it already.

Something sounds fishy in the whole thing anyway. 1. they dumped the body and then told someone else to call 911, 2. They then took the truck and washed all the blood out.

posted by lfrost2125 on Feb 04, 2010 at 05:23:09 pm     #



It is a senseless tragedy, but the only person to blame is the victim who shot himself. He put the gun in his hand and pulled the trigger.

The rest of the questions are really just superfluous.

posted by Mesmerix on Feb 04, 2010 at 05:46:31 pm     #



This is such a bizarre story that I don't know where to start.
I think there was much more going on here than what we've been told.

posted by hockeyfan on Feb 04, 2010 at 08:38:55 pm     #



The facts Viola was told do not seem to match the Blade story. The 14-year-old girl did not live on the UT campus, but the 17-year-old victim's girlfriend did (she was not part of the incident). The police say the .38 caliber Smith-and-Wesson handgun was stolen, not purchased at some open-air gun market.

My guess is that there is a lot of rumor-mongering going around after this tragedy. The victim's mother is convinced that there is more to the story, but so far police and the prosecutors seem to be buying the accounts of the teenagers in the car with the dead young man.

posted by historymike on Feb 04, 2010 at 08:58:57 pm     #



The facts Viola was told do not seem to match the Blade story. The 14-year-old girl did not live on the UT campus, but the 17-year-old victim's girlfriend did (she was not part of the incident). The police say the .38 caliber Smith-and-Wesson handgun was stolen, not purchased at some open-air gun market.

My guess is that there is a lot of rumor-mongering going around after this tragedy. The victim's mother is convinced that there is more to the story, but so far police and the prosecutors seem to be buying the accounts of the teenagers in the car with the dead young man.

posted by historymike on Feb 04, 2010 at 08:59:00 pm     #



Sorry for the double-post - not sure what happened.

posted by historymike on Feb 04, 2010 at 08:59:21 pm     #



Rumor mongering indeed, and perhaps some denial on the mother’s part. For example, it has been said that the roulette story was a cover-up for a murder.

But, the gun ballistics apparently point to a self inflicted wound.

posted by Offshore on Feb 05, 2010 at 08:41:49 am     #



It's a shame either way. I believe holding a gun and firing causes traces of gun powder residue to be left on the skin. So if the victims hand shows these traces it's pretty likely he fired it.

posted by JeepMaker on Feb 05, 2010 at 12:30:25 pm     #



Thank you all for being the voice(s) of reason. Assumptions have been made that "the mall" is overrun with teens and that they are, therefore, doing illegal things in the parking lot.

When I was younger, we were constantly warned not to play Russian Roulette. I always thought it was strange that we never knew anything about it until they told us exactly how to play it, and then warned us to never do that.

I had forgotten about R.R. altogether, until just recently.

posted by viola on Feb 05, 2010 at 12:41:13 pm     #



See Rihanna's Russian roulette vid

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZQ2nCGawrSY

posted by Offshore on Feb 05, 2010 at 12:49:03 pm     #



From Viola: When I was younger, we were constantly warned not to play Russian Roulette.

Odd. I would think that an explanation of the game would be enough warning in and of itself. But you were constantly warned?

posted by madjack on Feb 05, 2010 at 04:22:48 pm     #



From HistoryMikePhD: police and the prosecutors seem to be buying the accounts of the teenagers in the car

Yeah, and now that time has passed everyone involved has probably been in touch with a lawyer, so whatever the police have is all they're likely to get.

I'm betting it was an accidental shooting, in that the victim didn't mean to pull the trigger on a loaded gun.

posted by madjack on Feb 05, 2010 at 04:25:21 pm     #



What kind of idiot plays Russian Roulette with TWO rounds? "Hey, a 1 in 6 chance of blowing my brains out seems too safe, lets go for 1 in 3."

posted by Ace_Face on Feb 06, 2010 at 02:10:54 pm     #



Or how about what kind of idiot asks a guy with a loaded gun "how do you play russian roulette?" REALLY bad idea.

Also a highly questionable name/theme for a pop song.

posted by housebeats on Feb 06, 2010 at 05:16:00 pm     #



"Also a highly questionable name/theme for a pop song"

Yes. During one of my endeavors as youth advocate, many kids have asked about Russian roulette since the release of Rhianna’s song.

While each individual is responsible for their own actions, a prevalent urban gun culture tends to be exacerbated by media. Stunts by Plaxico Burress and others don't help either.

posted by Offshore on Feb 07, 2010 at 09:16:50 am     #



Sometimes possession of information can indeed be a curse, though I suspect that Rhianna's song is just one of countless pop culture references to Russian roulette. I would list some examples of knowledge I wished I never learned, but then I would be engaging in the behavior I just put down.

posted by historymike on Feb 07, 2010 at 10:27:24 am     #



The fact that the two youths turned themselves in, as the police said, makes their stories credible. I suspect when they cleaned out the vehicle, they probably were thinking about coming up with some other story, then decided against it.

posted by bikerdude on Feb 08, 2010 at 11:16:52 am     #



Also, I'm sure I read the first day that the mother denied that her son owned the gun, but his 17yo girlfriend identified it as his. If he had bought it in the parking lot, she never would have known he had it, she wasn't with them.

posted by nana on Feb 08, 2010 at 11:13:18 pm     #



http://www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100130/NEWS16/1300380

yeah, here it is, down in the second half.

posted by nana on Feb 08, 2010 at 11:16:25 pm     #