Army of Dog

The local rag has taken a break from painting anyone who doesn’t support “comprehensive immigration reform” as a virulent nationalist to breathlessly report on a tragic series of events that took place over the weekend in a an area just east of the Metroplex. The short version is that two teenage boys decided to check out the loud music coming from a nearby party around 10:30 Saturday night . They climbed over their neighbor’s fence and were in the process of sneaking past the front porch on their way through the yard when the 74-year-old homeowner fired a shot from inside the house. The bullet struck one of the boys in the arm. The other boy’s mother, who happened to be a nurse, decided to rush the wounded teenager to the hospital in her car. On the way to the hospital they were struck head-on by a drunk driver and the 41-year-old mother was killed.

The reporters writing the story gave a surprisingly even-handed account of what took place:

“We kept hearing music, so we wanted to go check it out,” Brandon said in a telephone interview from his bed at Parkland Memorial Hospital. “We walked across this dude’s yard. I heard the window blinds move, and I told Devin. … I heard gunfire, and we ran.”

Not realizing Brandon was hit, both boys darted back to Devin’s home. Brandon’s arm went numb. He looked in a bathroom mirror and saw the blood.

The boys woke Ms. Nalls, who instinctively rushed them to her pickup and headed for the hospital.

Ms. Nalls was killed minutes later in the accident, which also ruptured Brandon’s spleen. Devin suffered minor injuries and was released from the hospital Sunday.

That is, unless you count little gems like this one:

There were no items of value in the Frosches’ yard the night of the shooting, and Sgt. Francis said there is no indication of any burglaries at the home.

First, “items of value” is a subjective term. For me, an “item of value” is the one someone is trying to steal out of my yard at 10:30pm. Second, is there some kind of “first time is free” thing going on with burglary now? Are we supposed to wait until the second theft before we try to stop criminals from taking our shit?

In this particular case it is true that these boys were not burglarizing their neighbor, but they were certainly trespassing. Moreover they were trespassing at night, close to the house, and they were moving in a stealthy manner.

The two teens were stealthily crossing the Frosches’ yard, trying not to be seen by the partygoers, when Mr. Frosch heard something, told Mrs. Frosch to call 911 and armed himself with a handgun.

A follow-up article sheds a little more light on the homeowner’s perspective:

The Kaufman man who shot a 15-year-old boy standing near his front window last weekend says he feared – and still believes – the teen and his friend intended to break into his house that night.

W.C. Frosch, 74, rejected Brandon Robinson’s contention that he and Devin Nalls, 16, innocently cut across the Frosch property on their way from Devin’s home next door to check out a party down the street.

Mr. Frosch says he saw what he thought were prowlers before he told his wife to call 911, retrieved his handgun and fired one shot through his front window.

There is no doubt that what happened that night was a tragedy. It was certainly an avoidable tragedy.

If we had any sense as a society, we would take two lessons from this story. The first, children should be taught from an early age to respect the property of others. Your desire to sneak around investigating loud parties does not entitle you to jump a neighbor’s fence, and it certainly does not entitle you to prowl around his house at night.

The second lesson is that self-defense is about perspective. The fact that you have the purest of intentions when you trespass late at night and prowl around the house of an elderly couple doesn’t mean that you don’t present a threat in the mind of the homeowners. Anyone, especially a 74-year-old, has every right to feel threatened when they look out their front window and see an adult-sized shadow creeping around their yard near the house. And in Texas (thank God), a law-abiding citizen who perceives a reasonable threat has the right to defend themselves. I’m sure that one could easily find fault with the decision-making process of the homeowner in this case, but the fact is that two young men, through their own carelessness and lack of respect, set these events in motion.

Predictably, not everyone feels that way. I knew the moment I read the news story earlier this week that the usual chorus of gun control fascists would start howling about the evil “castle law” and America’s lust for gun violence. I was, shockingly enough, not disappointed.

Re: “Teens’ curiosity began deadly chain of events – Shooting, which ended in fatal car crash, may test state’s ‘castle law,’ ” Tuesday news story.

I read the story of a teenage boy shot as he crossed a neighbor’s lawn. Because of this senseless act, an innocent woman lost her life as she tried to aid the shooting victim.

I sat my 12-year-old son down and explained that he must never cut through a neighbor’s lawn. If he kicks a ball into someone else’s yard, under no circumstances can he retrieve it.

I had to explain to my son that in Texas, property rights are more important than the right to life. That here, it’s OK to shoot first and ask questions later, and that here in Texas, unqualified individuals are allowed to be judge, jury and executioner.

“What would Jesus do?” is a popular refrain around these parts. I’ll tell you what Jesus did Saturday night in Kaufman County. Jesus wept.

Michelle Rose, Denton

We’ve come to the point in American society where defenselessness is revered and anyone who refuses to value the lives of criminals above their own property, or even well-being, is a monster. Well, fuck that. I’ll say it proudly, if you decide to enter my property, especially at night, and take things that I worked hard to obtain, I will feel no remorse in using whatever force I am legally permitted to use to stop you. You do not have a right to my shit, I don’t care how oppressed you are.