Simple Stupidity From the Streets of Philadelphia

I just finished reading a news story that has my whiskers atwitter. In Philadelphia, the city of Brotherly Love, some children were having a snowball fight. A passerby is accidentally struck by a snowball by a 15 year old boy. The passerby, a 26 year old man, an obviously well adjusted member of society and quite even tempered, goes home and gets his illegally owned firearm. He then returns to shoot the boy in the side of the head. The boy consequently dies a day later in the hospital.

This in and of itself is a tragedy but not what has me a little more than annoyed. The "Snowball Shooter", because of course all murderers should have a cute name for the media to use, is in court and his legal counsel's defense for his actions are that he was defending himself, as the 15 year old pulled a knife.

So, let's recount the chain of events. Passerby gets struck by snowball, 15 year old then pulls knife and passerby says, "Wait a minute, will you? I need to run home and get my gun, I'll be right back." 15 year old boy and friends sit patiently and wait while this pillar of society goes home, gets his gun and returns to shoot a child for a mistimed snowball.

The "Snowball Shooter" will no doubt enjoy his new found cute name while serving a lifetime time in prison as someone's girlfriend. We can only hope that this is the outcome and that the young boys family can receive some measure of comfort from this. My condolences and thoughts go out to the family.