Probably slightly controversial
Feb. 27th, 2008 11:35 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
isabelladangelohttp://www.wsbtv.com/news/15424009/detail.html
BOGART, Ga. -- A man is facing a murder charge after authorities say he shot and killed a motorcyclist who followed his daughters home from a department store.
Richard Harold Gear, 45, claimed he was acting in self-defense when he shot Bryan Joseph Mough around 6:45 p.m. Monday as Mough drove his motorcycle past Gear's house, Oconee County Sheriff Scott Berry said.
The daughters, ages 17 and 19, had called their father on a cell phone to tell him they were being followed, Berry said. As they arrived home, Gear was waiting at the end of his driveway with a pistol, Berry said.
Mough, 21, drove past the house, turned around and made another pass. Gear fired his .40-caliber semiautomatic gun two or three times, hitting Mough once in the back, Berry said.
He was taken to Athens Regional Hospital where he was declared dead.
Gear called 911 after the shooting, as did neighbors, and sheriff's deputies arrested Gear on a murder charge, Berry said.
"He made an unspecified claim of self-defense," Berry said.
Gear's daughters and Mough apparently left the parking lot of a Target in nearby Athens around the same time Monday evening, Berry said. Tempers flared as the drivers headed west toward Bogart.
Gear's daughters told investigators Mough cut them off, they made obscene gestures at him and Mough ran into their car at one point, Sheriff Berry said.
"There is evidence of a collision between Mough's motorcycle and the vehicle operated by Gear's daughters," Berry said, adding authorities do not yet know who initiated contact.
"We've got questions about how it happened," he said.
Investigators went to Target for witnesses and looked at surveillance videos but found nothing to indicate Mough met the girls inside the store or in the parking lot, Berry said.
Honestly, good for this Dad. Given the situation, I can't say I would have acted much differently. Basically, his daughters called him up, scared, and he waited for the guy to make a SECOND pass before pulling the trigger, obviously fearing for his family's safety.
Yes, the daughters *should* have called up the police as well and let the police handle it but when you are THAT scared you normally aren't thinking straight and you call the person who you know, instictively, will protect you the most. In this case, it was their Dad.
BOGART, Ga. -- A man is facing a murder charge after authorities say he shot and killed a motorcyclist who followed his daughters home from a department store.
Richard Harold Gear, 45, claimed he was acting in self-defense when he shot Bryan Joseph Mough around 6:45 p.m. Monday as Mough drove his motorcycle past Gear's house, Oconee County Sheriff Scott Berry said.
The daughters, ages 17 and 19, had called their father on a cell phone to tell him they were being followed, Berry said. As they arrived home, Gear was waiting at the end of his driveway with a pistol, Berry said.
Mough, 21, drove past the house, turned around and made another pass. Gear fired his .40-caliber semiautomatic gun two or three times, hitting Mough once in the back, Berry said.
He was taken to Athens Regional Hospital where he was declared dead.
Gear called 911 after the shooting, as did neighbors, and sheriff's deputies arrested Gear on a murder charge, Berry said.
"He made an unspecified claim of self-defense," Berry said.
Gear's daughters and Mough apparently left the parking lot of a Target in nearby Athens around the same time Monday evening, Berry said. Tempers flared as the drivers headed west toward Bogart.
Gear's daughters told investigators Mough cut them off, they made obscene gestures at him and Mough ran into their car at one point, Sheriff Berry said.
"There is evidence of a collision between Mough's motorcycle and the vehicle operated by Gear's daughters," Berry said, adding authorities do not yet know who initiated contact.
"We've got questions about how it happened," he said.
Investigators went to Target for witnesses and looked at surveillance videos but found nothing to indicate Mough met the girls inside the store or in the parking lot, Berry said.
Honestly, good for this Dad. Given the situation, I can't say I would have acted much differently. Basically, his daughters called him up, scared, and he waited for the guy to make a SECOND pass before pulling the trigger, obviously fearing for his family's safety.
Yes, the daughters *should* have called up the police as well and let the police handle it but when you are THAT scared you normally aren't thinking straight and you call the person who you know, instictively, will protect you the most. In this case, it was their Dad.
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no subject
Date: 2008-02-27 05:10 pm (UTC)He can't come back later while you are sleeping if he doesn't know where you live.
Unfortunally the Protective Dad will now no longer be around to protect them. He will at least be guilty of manslaughter.
no subject
Date: 2008-02-27 06:01 pm (UTC)