(US) Granny shoots 12 year old; neighbors cheer

southsiderosie

Don't **** with Grandma!

Margaret Matthews gave a simple reason why she shot a 12-year-old boy who threw rocks at her on her South Shore porch Tuesday: "I done had enough."

That's what the 68-year-old widow told pal Frenchie Johnson about the boy who allegedly terrorized her and her neighborhood for a year.

"These kids are out of control --we all done had enough," Johnson said Wednesday as neighbors overwhelmingly rallied in Matthews' support, dubbing her a "hero."

The boy, who was treated at University of Chicago Comer Children's Hospital for a bullet wound to his shoulder and spent Wednesday recovering at his home a block from Matthews' house, has been charged with misdemeanor aggravated assault to a senior citizen, as has a 13-year-old friend who was unhurt in the incident. The shot boy's family insists he did nothing to provoke Matthews. But Matthews, who has lived at the coach house in the 7600 block of South Cole for 30 years, won't be charged because she acted in self-defense, police say.

Wearing thick-lensed glasses and her graying hair pulled back, she stood mute behind her son-in-law in her yard Wednesday evening as he described how she'd been "terrified" by a yearlong campaign of harassment led by the boy and his friends.

The boy had previously set fire to a rug and thrown it on her grill, and had broken windows at Matthew's home as recently as last week, friends said.

When Matthews returned home with her groceries Tuesday afternoon, she noticed that two of her windows were broken, saw the boys running away and called police, authorities said.

Minutes later, the boys returned, stood on the roof of a small shed in her yard and shouted at her, neighbor Tnola McCoy said. When she stood on her porch 20 feet away and told them to leave, the boys pelted her with rocks, hitting her in the chest and the knee, McCoy said.

At that point -- around 5:25 p.m. -- Matthews fetched a handgun from the house and started firing three or four shots "to scare them," her stepson Pastor Major Matthews said.

Matthews was questioned by police Tuesday night but was released without charge.

Wednesday morning, a steady stream of well-wishers stopped by Matthews' home to support her, saying the children's parents should have done more to control them.

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I'm not normally an advocate of shooting at children, but I am kind of sympathetic to this woman. People have had it with out of control kids: the cops have bigger fish to fry, and so many parents are MIA. The fact that these kids were targeting an elderly woman only makes it even more obnoxious. That said, given that this happened on the south side of Chicago, she's lucky the 12 year old didn't shoot back. :rolleyes:

Obviously we can't shoot all of our problems away, but I'll bet her neighborhood is a little more peaceful...for the next week or two at least.

PCPhoto

IMO she should be charged- but should get a light sentence

but in regards to society in general - these kids should be taken away from their parents - once they start gaining multiple convictions - if they can get criminal convictions or court appearances in their teens then its obvious the parents are unwilling/unable to control them and dont deserve to keep them ...or the state benefits they get because of them.

send the kids outside the city away from their friends and social circle...give them an opportunity to change their lives - if they dont take the opportunity ....burlap sack !!

sligopark

should have buried them in her garden and avoided jail

TimeToShine

Fúcking scumbags...

KeithM89_old

Reminds me of this classic...

Micky Dolenz

What the hell was her son in law doing about the situation?

RMD

Fairplay to her. There's very little she could have done in this situation than what she had done, she'd already rang the cops, parents obviously aren't good enough to bother complaining to if the kids can cause havoc for such a long time.

I can't wait to see the "think of the kids" bridage come rolling in. When I was 12 I knew what I was doing was bad and what was good, I knew breaking windows, throwing rocks at elder ladies and causing havoc for an OAP's life was the height of scum, and is inexcusable.

not yet

Fair fcuks to her, maybe if more people had that attitude the little cnuts would think twice before driving people to the point of desperation.

karlog

What so she didn't shoot the kid?

How disappointing:(

Jesus Wept

...

JONJO THE MISER

Only In America.

Scuid Mhór

justice was not served in any shape or form here.

southsiderosie

karlog wrote: »

What so she didn't shoot the kid?

How disappointing:(

Sorry, I messed something up when I pasted the story over...edited to make it clear that she DID shoot the boy.

Gummy Panda

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hKrxl5fXM8E

Feeona

You see this kind of drain on resources in schools all the time. Parents who can't be ars*d to pick their (infant!) children up from school at the end of the day, draining the resources in the school. If the school reports these parents, they become a drain on social services. Something happens to child, parents blame school/public health system/gardaí/neighbours for not doing enough. All the while these parasites blame everyone else for the bad things that happen to their children, despite their refusal to take responsibility for the children they brought into the world :mad:

They take resources and funding from those families who truly need it

karlog

southsiderosie wrote: »

Sorry, I messed something up when I pasted the story over...edited to make it clear that she DID shoot the boy.

That'll teach him.

southsiderosie

karlog wrote: »

That'll teach him.

The sad thing is, it probably won't.

Irish Guitarist

I can't say I blame her but I wouldn't call her a 'hero'. A hero risks their own life for someone else. This was just a woman that was pissed off.

karlog

southsiderosie wrote: »

The sad thing is, it probably won't.

Well at least the Granny wasn't charged. That's justice, something that rarely happens over here. Maybe the yanks aren't as stupid as they say.

southsiderosie

Giant Squid wrote: »

justice was not served in any shape or form here.

Justice for who?

Son Of A Vidic

Please, please, please tell me it was a head shot?

southsiderosie

karlog wrote: »

Well at least the Granny wasn't charged. That's justice, something that rarely happens over here. Maybe the yanks aren't as stupid as they say.

I'm a yank.

Honestly, I don't think she would have gotten away with it if she weren't both a woman a pensioner. If she had been a 40 year old man (i.e. like the son-in-law), I think they would have been charged...although I think the neighbors still would have cheered.

Maybe we should just arm the elderly to restore order to out-of-control neighborhoods.

medicman2009 wrote: »

Please, please, please tell me it was a head shot?

:eek:

starbelgrade

I honestly don't think that shooting children is anything to be applauded. Or a solution to a problem.

onlyrocknroll

southsiderosie wrote: »

I'm not normally an advocate of shooting at children, but ....

That most be the funniest beginning to a thread in boards history.

Falling Down: The OAP version.

starbelgrade

Falling Down 2 ; The Hip Replacement

onlyrocknroll

starbelgrade wrote: »

Falling Down 2 ; The Hip Replacement

Brilliant! :pac:

Tommy_Vercetti

Its like Gran Torino, with a women, no car, no foreigners and she did shot the troublemakers............

Come to think of it its nothing like Gran Torino!

evercloserunion

In all fairness she probably should have been charged and convicted, as "done had enough" != self-defence.

That said, I sympathise with her, who doesn't wanna shoot some of those scumbag kids sometimes.

orourkeda

I find it hugely disappointing that nobody died.

orourkeda

http://www.oddyap.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/12/granny20gun.jpg

Princess Consuela Bananahammock

JONJO THE MISER wrote: »

Only In America.

Pretty sure that could happen in Fingla, Dundalk, Limerick, or Westport.

onlyrocknroll

southsiderosie wrote: »

That'll teach him.

The sad thing is, it probably won't.

Well in fairness it probably will teach him not to throw stones at peoples' houses.

But you're right, it won't teach him not to be a scumbag in general. Maybe if every time he did something wrong, somebody shot him. Eventually he would be a decent law abiding citizen.

southsiderosie

onlyrocknroll wrote: »

Well in fairness it probably will teach him not to throw stones at peoples' houses.

But you're right, it won't teach him not to be a scumbag in general. Maybe if every time he did something wrong, somebody shot him. Eventually he would be a decent law abiding citizen.

Not to sound like someone's grandma, but back in the day, if your neighbor caught you throwing stones, they would whoop your ass, and then your parents would do it - then they would make you apologize and pay for the replacement windows (usually via child slave labor). And the punishment would be ESPECIALLY harsh if you were throwing them at an elderly neighbor.

Some kids need to be scared straight, and it's sad that it took getting shot to (maybe) make it happen for this kid, but it doesn't sound like police intervention did any good and parental intervention wasn't happening.

Again, not normally an advocate of shooting children (:p), but I do think that kids need to have a sense of healthy fear of an authority figure, whether it's Daddy when he gets home, or the local beat cop, or even their own granny...or the gun-toting granny next door.

brendansmith

starbelgrade wrote: »

I honestly don't think that shooting children is anything to be applauded.

Unless it was a particulary difficult shot

--Kaiser--

Good enough for the little cunt

Dravokivich

brendansmith wrote: »

Unless it was a particulary difficult shot

She was standing behind someone at the time...

and to be honest, she didn't even mean to hit him...

pickarooney

southsiderosie wrote:

this happened on the south side of Chicago

southsiderosie wrote:

I'm a yank.

southsiderosie wrote: »

Not to sound like someone's grandma,

Would you do it again?

curlzy

You know what I think is the problem? It's the law against hitting kids. Go back a few years and a neighbour would have went out and given the kids a good slap in the head before it escalated to this. All this bull**** about not hitting kids means that the wild ones don't have anyone to put them back in their place, their waster scummy parents won't do it so I personally think that the locals should be able to, I'm not saying they should beat the tar out of them but a good cuff in the head would set most of them straight. This PC bull**** will the ruination of society, it's just nonsensical, kids can get away pretty much with murder nowadays.

old_aussie

You dun goofed up kid.

Nice one granny.

Paddy Samurai

Micky Dolenz wrote: »

What the hell was her son in law doing about the situation?

Pointing out targets?.

He probably supplied her with the gun.

Yawns

Well if he shot the kid he'd be locked up. She's a senior citizen so has more rights

jimthemental

This is nuts, she should be locked up for this. She shot at kids with a handgun. This is beyond reckless endangerment and is just typical of gun culture in america. It's like Padraig Nally all over again, you can't call him an out and out hero even if you do feel for the situation because himself and this Granny escalated the situation too far.

Yawns

This is nuts, the kids & their parents should be locked for this. The threw rocks and harrased an elderly person and her neighbourhood. It's the PC brigade all over again, you can't call them role models because noone can slap a child on the arse with being scrutinized. They have escalatd this situation too far.

General Zod

I'll put cash money that it didn't happen the way the son-in-law/granny/media reported it.

R0ot

Rule #1: Don't **** with Pensioners. :pac:

old_aussie

Micky Dolenz wrote: »

What the hell was her son in law doing about the situation?

I fail to see any connection with the son in law

bijapos

Gummy Panda wrote: »

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hKrxl5fXM8E

Is that David McWilliams thats about to jump ?

old_aussie

Paddy Samurai wrote: »

Pointing out targets?.

He probably supplied her with the gun.

The son in law was 200 miles away

jackiebaron

karlog wrote: »

Well at least the Granny wasn't charged. That's justice, something that rarely happens over here. Maybe the yanks aren't as stupid as they say.

I wouldn't call that justice. She shot a kid. She could have killed or paralysed him. Now before everyone picks up their torches and pitch-forks and starts screaming "hang the liberal pinko ******!" I want to emphasise that the kid is obviously a scumbag who deserves to be caned repeatedly in public and then put in some kind of reform centre for a while (although I'm wondering if those places make kids worse than what they were).

But this kind of mob-like cheering for shooting someone is very sinister and very disturbing. Not long ago in Ohio a bunch of 14 year-old kids were throwing eggs at cars, as young punks do at that age. One guy, whose SUV took an egg to the side, turned around, returned, got out of his vehicle brandishing a revolver and started firing at the fleeing kids. He hit AND KILLED one of them. There were many people who cheered for this type of response.
It's becoming more and more accepted to take someone's life, or to at least deliver upon them a shocking level of violence, for the slightest infraction. And people have become so paranoid, so fearful and so gutless that they huddle together and scream "yeah! shoot the bastard. He deserved it."
This kid deserved some kind of punishment and I don't know what it is. Personally I would have battered him. But I'm a young man. This lady is an oul dear. Somebody should have been around to help her (son-in-law?).
Sure, she was at her wit's end with these **** terrorising her but letting her off with no punishment for shooting this kid sends a very dangerous message. Next you'll have someone pulling out a gun and wasting a kid for robbing apples from his orchard and he'll truly expect to get away with it and probably will ("it was an ongoing campaign of terror, your honour!").
Sorry, but this sets a bad precedent.

southsiderosie

jimthemental wrote: »

This is nuts, she should be locked up for this. She shot at kids with a handgun. This is beyond reckless endangerment and is just typical of gun culture in america. It's like Padraig Nally all over again, you can't call him an out and out hero even if you do feel for the situation because himself and this Granny escalated the situation too far.

What's typical of gun culture in many parts of America are gun-toting inner-city 16-year olds who terrorize entire neighborhoods. Like I said before, given where this took place, she's lucky the kid didn't shoot back.

What would YOU have done if you were in her situation?

jackiebaron wrote: »

This kid deserved some kind of punishment and I don't know what it is. Personally I would have battered him. But I'm a young man. This lady is an oul dear. Somebody should have been around to help her (son-in-law?).

Sure, she was at her wit's end with these **** terrorising her but letting her off with no punishment for shooting this kid sends a very dangerous message. Next you'll have someone pulling out a gun and wasting a kid for robbing apples from his orchard and he'll truly expect to get away with it and probably will ("it was an ongoing campaign of terror, your honour!").

Sorry, but this sets a bad precedent.

She went to the police. The parents were MIA. They broke out her windows multiple times, and threw rocks at her when she was on her own porch. Again, what was she supposed to do?

Unless police and parents start taking this kind of stuff seriously, more and more people are going to take the law into their own hands.