Teen deemed hero last year accidentally killed during livestream, suspect charged

[Nevilledog]

https://6abc.com/upper-darby-pa-teen-shot-anthony-alexander-murder-marshall-road-police/12752880/

UPPER DARBY TWP., Pennsylvania (WPVI) -- A Delaware County teenager who was recently hailed as a hero for saving children from an icy pond was shot and killed over the weekend.

Police say 17-year-old Anthony Alexander Jr. was shot on the 2400 block of Marshall Road. The shooter told police the gun accidentally went off while being passed around during an Instagram live stream.

Alexander's family is now mourning when they should be celebrating the teen.

He was getting accolades from local, state, and national officials for his role in saving the kids last February, who had fallen into an icy pond in Collingdale.

"By him rescuing those kids, it made his future even brighter," said Alexander's dad, Anthony Alexander Sr. He says his son loved sports, video games, and wanted to be a Marine. The high school junior was just starting to seriously look into going into military service.

*snip*

Such a tragedy.

[rubbersole]

1. Tragic. Guns.

[Sky Jewels]

2. This boy was failed by his country.

Devastating.

[Kaleva]

7. I teach my young grandchildren gun safety

The oldest is 8.

I use their Nerf guns as a training aid.

[Hermit-The-Prog]

3. What were they doing passing around a gun that -could- go off?

So much heartache!

[SergeStorms]

4. Some stupid Tik-toc game maybe?

That's just a guess, no inside information.

Could be like a "Tide pods" challenge, or something equally stupid.

[Samrob]

18. A game that is made possible by the open availability of guns.

[Mr. Evil]

5. What a great idea.

Let's go on Instagram and pass this loaded gun around! Stupid kids live, good kid dies.

Social Fucking Media. The new Clap (VD).

[2naSalit]

9. Only worse.

[Kaleva]

6. It wasn't an accident. It was negligence.

My guess is those involved had very little training on the proper handling of guns.

Don't have a gun or handle someone else's gun unless you are willing to treat them as the dangerous weapons they are.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

11. Seems like both. The teens had an accident.

Whoever let the teens have a gun unsupervised, they were negligent.

The first two rules of gun safety (alternative rules):
1. All guns are to be considered loaded. Treat them as such.
2. All teens are to be considered morons. Treat them as such.

Even if a particular gun is not loaded at a particular time, and a particular teen is not being moronic at a particular time, it doesn't hurt to follow the alternative rules.

[Kaleva]

15. I wonder how many parents teach their kids about gun safety

And I agree with you that the owner of the gun is also negligent. However, I think the teens are old enough to have heard and understand that guns are dangerous .

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

16. Probably most parents. Mine did.

But mine also had me go through a NRA course, then get a Marksmanship merit badge in Boy Scouts.

So I was trained, but that doesn't mean my teenaged mind couldn't go into "moron mode" at any random moment. So, supervision was still a good idea.

[Kaleva]

17. I can't argue with that

[Johnny2X2X]

8. Properly trained people can mishandle guns too

Virtually every hunter out there has a story about accidentally discharging their guns. Usually ends with, "Man, a foot to the left and I might have taken my toe off."

People buy this image that gun owners are super careful and well trained. It's not true, people are jackasses with guns just like they're jackasses with everything else from time to time. It's just human nature to be careless once in a while. I've gone shooting with ex military who are well trained and one who even is a gun safety trainer themselves. Plenty of mishandling of guns goes on. Even with guys like that all have stories of drinking and doing stupid things with their guns.

And don't even get me started on teenagers or young adults with guns, the stupidest stuff imaginable is common place. Thousands die of accidental gun deaths. Tens of thousands use guns for suicide. Tens of thousands more are murdered each year with guns. Guns are the problem. Our societies relationship with them needs to change, as it is there's little appreciation or respect for the damage they do. Guns are a prop for too many people, something that is treated with no more respect than power tools or fireworks.

[Kaleva]

10. Where did you get your info that virtually every hunter has "accidently" fired their gun?

And why do you hang out with people who don't take gun safety seriously?

Your comment:

"People buy this image that gun owners are super careful and well trained. It's not true..."


Just because a person is a gun owner doesn't mean that they are well trained and super careful. We read post after post here about gun owners who aren't.

And most people know that getting training and adhering to proper gun handling procedures doesn't entirely eliminate negligent discharges. It can greatly reduce them. Like wearing a condom or getting vaccination shot won't eliminate the chance of getting AIDs or COVID-19.

[Kaleva]

14. I've been thinking. I'm unaware of any program that teaches hunters not to use the safety

These hunters you talked about. What training are they doing as training is a life long thing? One doesn't just take a class and call it good. One needs to spend time practicing what they were taught and do it often.

I have a revolver and it's empty and secured in the gun safe in the master bedroom. The ammo is in a locked metal ammo box in the basement. It's going to stay that way until I feel up to training 3 or more times a week which I used to do before I fell down the basement stairs and had my left shoulder replaced . I hope to begin training again this month and maybe by spring I'll feel I'm competent enough to keep both the ammo and gun in the gun safe in the bedroom.

I have a CPL but I don't ever intend on carrying out in public off my property as I don't have the desire to spend money on taking more advanced classes and increasing my training regimen.

[Iggo]

12. Gunfuckers, I blame all of you. This is a hundred percent your fault. (n/t)

[Kaleva]

13. And what does that accomplish?

Talking tough on the internet doesn't do much as far as I can tell.