Jeffery Lovell — (Chicopee Police Department)
A couple of teens were doing a very teenage thing, drinking and looking for a friend’s house. They didn’t find their friend, but they found a gun fondling lover of the 2nd amendment, and death.
A Massachusetts man, who used his Facebook page to promote the Second Amendment, is being held without bail after shooting through his front door and killing a teen who mistakenly knocked thinking it was a friend’s house.
Jeffery Lovell, 42, was charged with murder after killing an unidentified 15-year-old Saturday evening, reports MassLive.
According to prosecutors, “detectives were able to determine the victim, accompanied by a friend, were consuming alcohol at a near-by home that afternoon. The investigation indicates that the two friends were apparently confused while walking in the neighborhood and arrived at the address where the incident unfolded, believing it was the home of a friend, and began knocking at the door.”
Police state that Lovell went to his front door, gun in hand, and after trying to speak with the teen, shot him through the door after a pane of glass was broken.
I can certainly understand calling the cops if someone’s knocking broke a pane of glass anywhere on my house. That might be what I’d do. I have had very drunk people wander into my house, more than once. One time at about 2 or 3 in the morning. Got up, told them they were in the wrong place, waited for the penny to drop, and escorted them out. Being drunk should not result in a death penalty. It’s true that I don’t live urban, and I don’t deal with a high crime rate where I am. Back when I did, I would probably have been more inclined to call the cops.
MassLive reported that Lovell’s Facebook page featured a photo of him posing with a gun as his profile picture, along with posts promoting the Second Amendment.
While the Facebook page has been shut down, Lovell’s Pinterest page is still live and features multiple photos of handguns as well as a rifle under which Lovell wrote: “Can you say ‘pest control?’ Gotta get one. ”
Lovell was set to be arraigned in in Chicopee District Court on Monday.
This is what happens when you fetishize guns – you start viewing people as pests, as something beneath you, to be crushed, while you envision yourself as the great and grand defender of freedom, the guy in the white hat. And now a 15 year old person is dead.
Via Raw Story.
But it says “after a pane of glass was broken”. Doesn’t say the teen broke it; if there was a discussion, just as well the homeowner broke it before sticking his gun through it and shooting.
As for calling the cops, I’d rather do that only after making sure the teens on my front step aren’t black.
rq, that’s true. There was nothing about how the glass was broken. Even if the kid did it, you get death for that? No.
At least the gun fondler was arrested, which I found surprising. I guess that means the victim wasn’t a black teen wearing a hoodie and carrying skittles.
This guy was in his house, surrounded by weaponry. There was zero reason for him to not hole up, call the cops, and wait. I can only imagine the wake of sorrow caused by his fucking idiocy.
I have a feeling he didn’t shoot out of fear, but out of annoyance. Someone annoyed him and he finally got to use one of his toys.
Kengi @ 5, I think it was playing out a fantasy. “Oooh, I’m gonna be the good cowboy” kind of crap. That’s three quarters of the gun problem in this country, they are the central players in juvenile fantasies.
Definitely. Sorry if that came across as trying to rationalize shooting. I was going for the opposite, that it seems the unnecessary escalation of any kind came directly from the homeowner themselves. In other words, pretty much what you said about the fantasy of being in danger and saving oneself from imaginary attackers.
Either way, not a particularly responsible gun owner.
I wish I thought this story would get much traction in the news cycle—especially what with the RNC Jamboree goin’ on, ‘n’ all.
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Fuck these trigger happy assholes.
The one good thing about the proliferation of guns in the US is that the owner of said guns is more likely to get killed by them than anyone else. It can’t happen soon enough.
CC @ 9:
Just posted an update to this story. Asshole had the nerve to plead self defense.
I’ve got to admit that if I were at home alone and a drunk teenage boy knocked on my door and wouldn’t go away, I’d be frightened. Especially if it was the kid that broke the glass. I might also be angry and possibly combative because that’s what happens to me when I’m frightened: I turn into a bit of an asshole beserker. This is one reason that I do NOT own a gun. Because then it’s too easy to let those emotions run, lethally.
Dianne @ 11:
That’s why you have the option of holing up in your house, and staying on the phone with emergency services. That’s exactly what Lovell could have done, keeping his precious gun, and waiting until the cops got there. Even when you have a gun, shooting first should not be a consideration, let alone an option at all.