Man shoots himself, kills 1 and wounds 2 in his home.

[TWiley]

HAWES TOWNSHIP, Mich. – A 78-year-old man apparently took his own life after shooting three people at his home Wednesday, killing one of them, authorities said.

The Alcona County sheriff's department said Edgar Wendt was found dead in an apparent suicide in the basement of his Hawes Township home. The three wounded people were taken to Alpena Regional Medical Center, where one later died.

Sheriff Doug Atchison said seven of the eight people inside the home at the time of the shootings were related. It was not immediately known how Wendt was related to the victims.

Authorities also did not disclose a motive for the shootings.

The sheriff's department didn't identify the victims, but The Alpena News reported that a 34-year-old woman, 70-year-old man and 16-year-old boy had been shot. It wasn't immediately known which victim had died.

The newspaper reported that the woman was listed in critical condition, and the man and the teen were in stable condition.

Bruce Ball, who was in the area at the time of the shootings, said he drove the woman and teen to a hospital. He said the boy told him the woman was his mother and that he had been shot in the head.

"I just loaded them up in my truck and got them away from there, before the shooter came out," Ball said.

A phone call to a number listed for Edgar Wendt went unanswered Wednesday night.

Hawes Township is about 160 miles north of Detroit.

Full Story: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090319/ap_on_re_us/michigan_murder_suicide


I thought guns were supposed to make a home safer?

[katandmoon]

1. Yup, that's the fantasy. What you posted is so much more often the tragic reality.

[silverojo]

4. Tell that to victims who have defended themselves with guns

Ever notice how anti-gun people have seldom actually faced an armed criminal?

[pipoman]

7. So,

please share with us the studies and reports which back your statement:

What you posted is so much more often the tragic reality.

Of coarse the Brady groups claim this drivel through their skewed interpretation of specious stats, but any unbiased sources? Even parallels drawn from government studies would be a breath of fresh air over these types of erroneous absolutes we so often see here with no sources cites to back the statements.

[rfranklin]

2. The problem was that the teenager wasn't packin'

We will only be safe when everyone carries a weapon.

[silverojo]

3. Even a stick is dangerous in the hands of an insane person

Should we ban those, too? :eyes:

[MrSlayer]

5. You have to be careful not to get one of those sentient guns.

The ones that make you pick them up and kill everyone. It takes a great deal of willpower to overcome a sentient gun, but once broken they virtually become an extension of the wielder's being. People without the ability to fight off the mental intrusions of such weapons will succumb to its bloodthirsty will and shoot indiscriminately, often saving the last shot for themselves as the sentient gun finds most wielders unworthy and is always searching for the perfect match. The match more likely to slake it's nearly unquenchable thirst. Although they are extremely rare now, they were less so 150 years ago. Perhaps this old man inherited it from his ancestors and he could no longer stop it from possessing him. Maybe it caught him with his guard down and finally took over.


Maybe he was drinking paint thinner.

[rrneck]

11. The gun was trying to get back to its master in Mordor. nt

[quickesst]

6. There are arguments for and against...

...keeping a gun in one's home depending upon circumstances, but to cite/cherry pick one incident and pretend it's the norm by way of sarcasm is just so....republican. For every incident such as the one you cited, there are ten more that argue for home protection. The biggest problem anti-gun people have is their somewhat delusional belief that people are too stupid to see through the ploy. The anti-gun argument doesn't stand too well when the main weapon used is insulting people's intelligence, although I'm sure the choir believes it to be "clever". Thanks.
quickesst

[pipoman]

8. Never mind

that for every one incident such as this which occurs there are literally of millions of homes with guns which never report a single incident. Your statement is not unlike posting a story of a fatality traffic accident which the occupant was wearing their seat belt, then claiming "I thought wearing your seat belt was supposed to make you safer", which would also be a completely false dichotomy.

Edit: BTW, nice use of someone's tragedy to further your political agenda.

[slackmaster]

9. Eh?

I thought guns were supposed to make a home safer?

Says who?

[bossy22]

10. hmm didnt this style appear in the 4th grade?

I thought guns were supposed to make a home safer?

to answer your question- not necessarily. If you choose to resist, yes having a gun does increase your safety but a gun alone doesnt do it. If you have a gun for defense and are too afraid to use it, then it can possibly end up putting you in a more dangerous position

so in essence- its in the mindset of the person with the gun.