Student killed after forcing way into apartment (bizarre story)

[Fire_Medic_Dave]

FORT WORTH — An 18-year-old Fort Worth man killed Tuesday afternoon inside a north Fort Worth apartment had apparently forced his way inside, armed with an aluminum bat, when he was shot by one of the apartment’s residents, investigators said.

Derek Splawn, a student in the Keller school district, had been upset with the apartment’s 18-year-old resident and had reportedly threatened in an earlier telephone conversation "that he was tired of this and he was going to come over there," homicide Detective Curt Brannan said.

snip

Though the resident did not emerge, Brannan said, Splawn was able to force his way inside the apartment after the resident’s roommate opened the front door to peek out and saw Splawn standing there with the bat.

"Before he could get the door shut, the man pushed the door open and had taken several steps inside the doorway in the direction of the <18-year-old>," Brannan said.

Brannan said the 18-year-old, in turn, picked up a shotgun he kept in the home and fired once, striking Splawn in the face.

snip

http://www.star-telegram.com/804/story/1348552.html



Please read the entire article. Some very strange events.


David

[Lasher]

1. You forgot the link. n/t

[Fire_Medic_Dave]

2. Thanks.

[Lasher]

3. Looks like the 18-year-old didn't have a choice.

Too bad the roommate opened the door. Stupid move.

[Fire_Medic_Dave]

4. Calling the police initially would have been a prudent move.

Unfortunately after Splawn made entrance into the apartment the "shooter" had no choice. The comments on the website say Splawn went to collect a debt on behalf of another person.


David

[ProgressiveProfessor]

12. Our local city boy county attorney has made that a key item in his analysis of self defense claims

The joke is that if you did not call 911, you are going to trial. Fat lot is does me since I am nominally 30 minutes away from the sheriff's office. However, now I call every time there is the least issue, lest by the time they get there violence has occurred.

[alphafemale]

5. Yeah. If you try to force yourself into a persons home and you are armed with a deadly weapon...

You might get shot in the face.

Surprise.

[Fire_Medic_Dave]

6. Certainly shouldn't have been a surprise.

[WVRICK13]

7. HMMMM

Sounds like a drug debt collection effort. Those things usually go bad for someone.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

8. I am amazed at the defenders of the dead perp and their lack of skills

in terms of language and argumentation.

[yay]

9. In before....

.... "mah baby didn't do nuffin!"

[ProgressiveProfessor]

11. You shoul read the 100+ comments on the original article, lots of those kinds of posts

"He made a mistake but he should not have been killed for it" kind of crap.

Home invasion and clear intent to attack someone with a bat? That is no innocent mistake. His friends are bemoaning his death. Where were they when he was alive and clearly needed help and guidance

[virginia mountainman]

14. LOL, He made the "mistake"

Of running toward a man with a shotgun, while wielding a baseball bat....

He, chose to die....

[Hoopla Phil]

16. Wow, I cannot believe some of those comments. Someone

actually said that the perp took the bat for "back-up" in case he needed it for, now get this, "self defense". Wow, that's just crazy.

[krispos42]

22. He was performing actions in which he needed to be stopped immediately

He was not killed for going to the house, he was not killed for knocking on the door, he was not killed for talking to the roommate. He was killed to keep him from killing or assaulting someone that was not acting aggressivly.

[virginia mountainman]

10. Note to self...

Don't bring a ball bat too a gun fight....

[jody]

13. Corollary, don't use ignorance to defend against facts. n/t

[Caliman73]

15. Strange and sad story

I have to say that I am a bit saddened by some of the comments here though. Yes, the person with the bat appears to be culpable for the intended invasion and assault. Yes, the person in the apartment had the right to defend himself. As I said in another post though, cavalier statements like, "Don't bring a bat to a gunfight" only serve to propagate the idea that gun owners are callous towards human life. Crime is not cut and dry. Human interactions aren't clean. On its face what Splawn did was criminal and what the shooter did was justified legally. However, if the two were involved in drugs and this was a dispute over a debt, then what we have is one criminal killing another.

I read some of the comments after the article and I also agree that calling the actions of Splawn "a mistake" are ridiculous. From the information provided, his intent was to by intimidation, or violence, obtain a favorable settlement of an issue he had with the shooter. That is a violation of the social contract we have in a civil society. Firearms are kept for the purpose of defending oneself from people and entities that intend to violate the contract and harm others. One comment said, "these were two 'great' guys". Perhaps so, but in my experience "great guys" do not go to someone's home with a bat to collect a debt. I am sure that these two guys had sides of their personality which were positive and possibly admirable, but it seems though both had made decisions in their lives that put them on this tragic path.

I freely admit that I own firearms and I would not hesitate (at least I hope not) to use them to protect my family and myself. I would certainly not take pleasure however, in killing anyone or have the attitude of "oh well, shouldn't have come after me". I think we need to tamp that sentiment down. When someone means to do another person harm then that person may have the consequence of being injured or killed in a defensive action by the intended victim. Deserved or not, it is still a tragedy that a life was ended and the consequences are not only borne by the person killed. They are also borne by the person who felt the need to defend him/herself with lethal force.

[jody]

17. Nothing strange about a citizen using arms for self-defense against a violent crime. It occurs

over 2.4 million times every year albeit with results that rarely end with the criminal being wounded or killed.

[Caliman73]

18. That is not what I meant by strange

The circumstances that lead to the event are strange, not the idea of self defense. I am a proponent of self defense up to and including lethal self defense. I know the stats and I detest the media portrayal of only the most sensational misuses of firearms. The point of my post was to illustrate how our statements making light of death are justifications for people to think that gun owners are callous.

[jody]

19. I understand, we pro-RKBA DUers can be callous after countering unsupported assertions and

ad hominem attacks with facts for the umpteenth time.

Not trying to defend callous statements, just saying I as well as others sometimes have had a belly full of anti-RKBA lies.

[Caliman73]

20. I hear you

I get irritated as well, but I tend to think about what the fence sitters who come into the forum might think. They see the stupid comments about "penis size" and "crazies", see from the anti-RKBA types but then they also see comments celebrating death from our side and their choice becomes difficult as to who to support. For example, I think that terrorists are cowards and killers, but I also find what our government did regarding torture to be disgusting. I condemn terrorists but I do not trust or support the government either. There is no winner there. If we choose to sink to the level of our opponents then there is no winner in our debate either.

[Tim01]

21. That's going to leave a mark.