The phrase “shoot first, ask questions later” was never meant to be practical advice. Unfortunately, some people take it that way. Here are just a few of the stories of people pulling their gun and shooting others out of mere paranoia, suspicion, or fear:
Shooting your Uber driver because you imagine that he’s kidnapping you
Forty-eight-year-old Phoebe Lopas was charged with murder for shooting her Uber driver. The attack was prompted after she saw a traffic sign that said, “Juarez, Mexico” during her ride, and jumped to the conclusion that she was being kidnapped. Such signs are actually perfectly normal in Texas, since the Mexican city of Juarez runs along the same highway route. So like any sane and rational person, she pulled a handgun from her purse and shot the driver in the back of the head.
The victim, 52-year-old Daniel Piedra Garcia, had just started driving for Uber a couple weeks earlier. He was driving along the normal route that would take them to the woman’s requested destination. But instead of asking questions she let her imagination lead her to an unfounded conclusion, destroying lives in the process.
I wish she would’ve spoken up, asked questions, not acted on impulse,” says Didi Lopez, the victim’s niece, “because not only did she ruin our lives, but she ruined her life too.” (Martinez, 2023) This story is a prime example of why guns are more likely to destroy you than protect you: Opportunities for fear to get the better of you outnumber instances of actual risk by a thousand to one. When people have a gun in their hand, these everyday stirrings can turn disastrous in a hurry.
I’d like to ask for directions…please don’t shoot me
It’s astonishing just how often people are shot at just for knocking on someone’s door. In one case, a 14-year-old boy was lost in an unfamiliar neighborhood, so the black teen knocked on a door to ask for directions. The homeowner, no questions asked, came out firing, later claiming he feared for his property. Luckily for everyone involved, (especially the lunatic homeowner), this man is a horrible shot, and all his bullets missed the fleeing teen. (NBC World News, Oct. 11, 2018) Mr. Trigger Happy was later charged in the case, although many times shooters get away with such lunacy under the ‘murder and get away with it’ laws states have passed (i.e., Stand Your Ground laws that allow people to shoot and claim self-defense if they merely feel threatened for any reason, regardless of how baseless such fears might be).
Another man wasn’t so lucky. When he knocked on his neighbor’s door one night, she shot through the door, no questions asked, assuming he was a burglar. The man died from his wounds. Because Arizona has a murder-and-get-away-with-it law that protects gun owners who kill people when they merely imagine someone is a threat to them, she is likely to get away with murder. (NBC News Phoenix, July 27, 2018)
Shooting people for stopping at the wrong house
It’s astonishingly common for gun owning lunatics to open fire on people who happen to stop at the wrong house, especially if those someone’s happen to be people of color. Here are some examples:
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On April 13, 2023, in Kansas City, Missouri, Andrew Lester, a white 84-year-old, shot and seriously wounded a 16-year-old Black teen who mistakenly stopped at the wrong house when trying to pick up his twin brother. (Zucharek, 2023)
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On April 15, 2023, in Hebron, New York, a 65-year-old shot and killed 20-year-old Kayling Gillis when he opened fire on three vehicles that had mistakenly driven up the quarter-mile private driveway in a remote wooded area. (Zacharek, 2023)
Shooting you granddaughter
In Rochester, Minnesota, a grandfather shot and critically wounded his 16-year-old granddaughter when he decided to shoot first and ask questions later. The teen, who had been staying with them, apparently snuck out at night and was trying to sneak back in. When granddaddy was awoken by a sound at around 11:00 p.m., he assumed his granddaughter was asleep in her bed, and fired at least two shots at the figure outside the door. (USA Today, 12-12-2012, p. 6A) What a douche.
A similar story unfolded in Cincinnati, Ohio, when a father decided to shoot first and ask questions later. He dropped his son off at a school bus stop, but the boy, attempting to skip school, returned home and hid in the basement. When the father heard a noise he shot, no questions asked, striking 14-year-old Georta Mack in the neck, killing his own son. (USA Today, 1-14-2016, p. 4A) Double douche.
References:
- Martinez, A. (2023, June 27) “woman feared she was being kidnapped,” USA Today, p. 4A
- Zacharek, S. (2023) “It’s a mean, mean world,” Time, May 8, pp. 21-22
Additional resources on Gun Safety: