Man Kills Another in Dispute Over War -- Press Calls It a First

[julialnyc]

http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1001010741
Man Kills Another in Dispute Over War -- Press Calls It a First

By E&P Staff

Published: August 06, 2005 6:30 PM ET
NEW YORK It was bound to happen sooner or later, and in what newspapers in Kentucky are calling a first, one American has killed another in a dispute over the Iraq war.

It happened at Floyd County flea market on Thursday, when two friends, who were firearms vendors there, drew guns after quarreling about the war. Douglas Moore, 65, of Martin, who backs the war, shot and killed Harold Wayne Smith, 56, of Manchester, who opposed it, according to investigators.

Moore was released without being charged after he convinced police he had acted in self-defense. A grand jury may yet hear evidence in the case.

Commonwealth's Attorney Brent Turner said the episode might mark the first death in the U.S. due to a dispute over the war.

[MadHound]

1. It would be interesting to find out if either of these fellows

Had CCW permits. After all, those with CCW permits are no more prone to inflicting gun violence than anybody else:eyes:

[liberalitch]

2. May be a first, but probably won't be the last

[louis-t]

3. Good thing they had them guns to perteck themselves.

Score one fer shrub, one-a his boys just successfully defended hizzonner.

[jaxx]

4. The story of a divided America.

[GreenPartyVoter]

5. Note it was the pro-war guy who did the killing

[Catholic Sensation]

8. the anti-war guy pulled out a gun too

it's not like one side is completely innocent here. And according to this article they've discussed Iraq before, so how either of them got so angry is what I'm wondering about. The article, and others I've seen, say they were both friends before this killing.

[klyon]

19. rule is if you pull a gun be prepared to use it

sounds like the pro-war guy picked up a gun, pointed it and got blown away when he did

sounds like the other guy was defending himself

Does this mean the right are starting to shoot themselves?

KL

on edit
What the hell where they doing with loaded guns in a flea market?

[Catholic Sensation]

23. no the anti-war guy got killed

they pulled out their guns at roughly the same time, only the pro-war guy was quicker on the trigger than the anti-war guy.

[ridgerunner]

25. no, the anti-war fellow (Smith) drew first

according to witnesses

Another witness, Chuck Newsome, said yesterday the Sept. 11 attacks also were included in the argument, which quickly escalated into an altercation and then to a kind of showdown in front of the market's snack stand.

After a scuffle, Newsome said he saw Smith stand beside the snack shed, pull a small pistol out of his pocket, cock the hammer and say, "I'm going to blow your ... brains out."

Witnesses said Moore pulled a .38-caliber pistol from his pocket.

"Doug was just quicker," Harold Hannah of Salyersville said.

http://www.kentucky.com/mld/kentucky/news/12317968.htm

[klyon]

30. thanks for the link and clarification

I assumed since he was not charged he drew second. Sounds like he should be charged. Goes to show how careful we all should be. I personally have been threatened and once I was told by a pro-war knuckle dragger that he hoped my family would be in the next terrorist attack. It is a scary time we live in.

KL

[expatriot]

6. I have to admit, I was on the edge of my seat reading this article

to see the politics of the killer. It is a crying shame, the thugs we are up against. I am assuming a lot here, but I don't think the man who opposed the war intended to shoot when he drew the weapon.

[StayOutTheBushes]

14. He was probably just making sure the safety was on.

[Egalitariat]

24. I oppose the war, but I also know the first rule of firearms is

if you pull it on somebody, you have to shoot them. If not, you're a dead man.

[SteppingRazor]

7. This is not even close to a first...

Four days into the war, a supporter shot and killed an antiwar man here in South Florida:

<snip>

When Mellor, who had about nine drinks that day, aggressively approached Komyakevich, the bartender stepped in. "Ron was trying to get around me -- it was like football," recalled Peretto. "It was like I was an offensive lineman. At one point, Ron said, 'Let me get around you, I swear I won't cold-cock him.' And John sat there looking at the TV and talking. I said, 'John, shut up.'"

Eventually, Komyakevich, who didn't have anything to drink that night, instructed Peretto to call the police. Mellor left. Rather than dial 911, the bartender locked the back door. "Ron seemed determined," Peretto said. "I thought he might come back. But a gun? I never thought that was possible. Fists? Oh yeah. Maybe even a knife. But not a gun."

Peretto told me the rest of the story. Ten minutes later, the six-foot-two, gray-haired Mellor returned through the unlocked front door, walked determinedly down the bar toward Komyakevich and lifted his silver-colored Smith and Wesson 9mm pistol.

<snip>


The first shot hit the bar but missed Komyakevich, who rose up from his stool to see Mellor coming at him. The second shot seemed to hit the Russian in the stomach. Komyakevich grasped his side and let out a scream of horror and pain, then turned and made a break for the back door. With cold determination, Mellor kept walking and firing the pistol, the bullets piercing Komyakevich's back. \


http://www.newtimesbpb.com/issues/2003-04-10/news/norman.html

[expatriot]

10. not even close... most Iraqis

that are killed by the U.S. military, the majority of its personnel being in support of the Operation Enduring Freedom, oppose the continued occupation of their country. These deaths are caused by differing opinions on the war, I think.

[SteppingRazor]

15. Well, to be fair...

We're talking about American idiots shooting antiwar Americans here. Iraqis are an entirely different matter. And given the negative publicity and the terrorist-breeding tendencies, I'm sure the army would avoid killing casualties if at all possible.

You read that Salon article with the American sniper in Iraq a while back? Positively harrowing. The man obviously doesn't want to kill innocent people. He could barely admit that he had done so when presented with the evidence.

[expatriot]

18. it was supposed to be witty but sometimes I am bad at that. nt

[expatriot]

9. NRA: Would this have happened if the two were selling turnips?

At worst, you would have ended up with a black eye or two.

People kill people but guns add a certain "convenience factor" that makes killing a whole lot easier for people to find the time for it.

[SteppingRazor]

11. Yes, they do.

When Samuel Colt first produced his .45 "Peacemaker," they called it "Colt's great equalizer." Guns are inherently dangerous, and should be kept out of the hands of dangerous men. That said, me and my four handguns are just fine and dandy, thank you very much :)

[Sequoia]

12. What about the Marine wanna be guy who attacked his girlfriend

because she didn't support Bush/War last year? She could've been killed.

[Terran]

13. Boy, that's some good police work.

"Oh, you say the treasonous peacenik pulled on you first? Okey-dokey, you can go then."

[dogday]

16. Thank Rove for this

this division and hate between the two parties has festered into a kind of hate that will kill and by evidence has killed. We can either learn by our mistakes or die by them.....

[nadinbrzezinski]

17. Ah yes the civil war is getttng close to hot

Read some history folks, can we all say 1857?

how long?

[StayOutTheBushes]

29. not long

[Supersedeas]

20. Uniting 'Merikans in the common theme of settling the dispute with Murder

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

21. First? Hardly. Draft Riots 1863. Kent State 1970.

In both cases, anti-war protesters were gunned down by the military.

At least there was cause to shoot the rioters as they were lynching blacks. They were mostly poor Irish immigrants who were facing conscription in a war they little understood and had no stake in, and unlike their wealthier American peers, couldn't buy their way out of.

At Kent State it was just plain murder.

[Mr_Spock]

22. It won't be the last

At least I don't think it will.


Edit: oops, retarded typo.

[expatriot]

26. it's good that you clarified yourself :)

by saying "at least I don't think it will." I was worried for a minute that you might have snapped and were at this minute ringing the doorbell of your Bushie neighbor with a pistol behind your back.

[Mr_Spock]

28. Yes, one must express that it was an opinion...

and yet still make one's point :D

[nadinbrzezinski]

27. So what is the matter withj Kansas?

Think of Kansas in 1857 folks

[Tim4319]

31. The truth hurts!

When the right wing gets hit with facts that they cannot address, they tend to speak of violence. Now I see they are capable of the violence.