No one will blame Fox News, not even partially blame Fox, for this horrible tragedy.

[Bucky]

http://www.wsbtv.com/news/news/local/warrant-23-year-old-man-fatally-shot-while-driving/nT8rm/ emphasis added.

[font size="4"]Friends: Man shot dead after pulling into wrong driveway[/font]

LILBURN, Ga. — Lilburn police are investigating the fatal shooting of a 22-year-old man.

{snip}

The friends said they pulled into the driveway and saw a man peer out the window. They said they waited in the car for a bit and then the man, Phillip Sailors, 69, came out of the home with a handgun, firing a round into the air.

“The guy came out. He went in again and he came out with a gun in his hand and he shot into the air,” 15-year-old passenger Yeson Jimenez said.

The friends said that's when they tried leaving the house, and said Sailors pointed the gun at the car and shot Rodrigo Diaz, 22, who was driving the car. An arrest warrant said Sailors had a .22-caliber pistol. The passengers said Sailors never asked what they were doing there.

“’Shut up.’ That’s the only thing that came out of his mouth,” passenger Gandy Cardenas said.

The friends said Sailors held the rest of the people in the car at gunpoint until police arrived at the home. All three passengers in the car are Parkview High School students.

{snip}

Thomas has also learned Sailors is a war veteran and a former church missionary. Sailors' attorney told Thomas that the man believed he and his wife were being attacked.

“He is very distraught over the loss of life from the defense of his home. This incident happened late in the evening hours when he was home with his wife and he assumed it was a home invasion and he maintains his innocence,” the attorney said.

Not to sweep too broadly, but this old fellow thought he was having a home invasion because a group of Hispanic youths, on their way to a party, pulled into his driveway. According to another news source (TPM) the kids were the victims of a GPS navigator error in the car and simply drove to the wrong house. But in the hostile, racially charged paranoia ginned up by Fox News, some elderly folks in suburbia think most Hispanics are criminals.

How come? Because Fox News talking head like Bill O'Reilly & Sean Hannity constantly harp about how illegal aliens from Mexico are likely to criminals, angry, and impossibly for the law to track down. It's barely disguised race baiting on their side and it's not even true. Immigrants, both legal and undocumented, are far less likely to be involved in crime compared to most demographic groups in this country. But logic doesn't matter when Fox earns its ratings by placing their audience under a constant state of fear and whipping up paranoid fantasies.

To be fair, I have no idea what TV shows the tragic and doubtlessly depressed Mr Sailors was watching. I only know something conditioned him to see a car load of Latino kids as a threat to his life and home. And thus he came out shooting. Whoever spooked him won't be blamed; and if it's somebody like Glenn Beck or Fox or Pat Robertson or any number the dozens of fearmongers out there spooking up an audience to earn their daily bread, then their revenue stream won't be slightly disrupted by the moral implosion of one sad old man or the needless murder of a young man with so much to offer society who's not cut off from his future.

[tularetom]

1. Well, not to be too nit picky about it, but you're blaming them

I will agree that there is more than an even chance this old fool was a regular Fox news viewer. Judging from his mug shot anyway.

But we really don't know that for sure. At this point all we know is he panicked when he saq a car full of "them" in his driveway and shot one of them out of fear. We don't know what caused or fed the panic that he felt at the time.

I have no objection to placing blame where it belongs once we learn the truth about Mr Sailors. But let's wait until all the facts are known.

[Ash_F]

10. How do you know he felt fear and panic?

Maybe he did it because he thought he could get away with it.

[Bucky]

16. Hanlon's Razor.

Besides, the paper said he was in jail and feeling depressed (as he should). It doesn't make sense that a guy with no criminal record just up and figures he'll shoot a Latino for the hell of it. It doesn't jibe with the facts. Hanlon's rule is "Don't attribute to malice that which can be explained by stupidity."

[Ash_F]

41. It makes perfect in sense. In fact it's quite common

Last edited Wed Jan 30, 2013, 08:18 AM - Edit history (1)

...that someone with a long brooding hatred to jump at what they consider to be an opportunity to commit violence.

Though it does happen, odds are you've not personally never seen a murder happen like this. But you have probably seen the scenario where two people get into an argument and one dares the other to hit them, right? They don't say that because they want violence committed on them. Some people are just looking for an excuse.

[Zoeisright]

2. I blame Fux Noise for it.

Those assholes should be tried and convicted for treason and inciting violence.

[abelenkpe]

28. Dr Tiller

Gabby Giffords

Maybe even Sandy Hook. Why did that Lanza's well to do suburban mother think the the economy was going to crash and she needed to own guns to and store provisions. Sounds like some one stressed out on a daily dose of hate and fear.

[onenote]

39. Yet another DUer who doesn't have a copy of the Constitution

Its not a progressive value to go around yelling "treason" at people who, however odious their views may be, haven't even come close to engaging in the very narrow and specific behavior defined as treason. We properly ridicule tea partiers for displaying ignorance of the Constitution. We ought not to do the same here. Some of us were labelled traitors for opposing the Vietnam War. I refuse to be a hypocrite and stand silently while that accusation is leveled at others by people who ought to know better.

[Auntie Bush]

3. The kids tried to leave so why did he shoot them? It wasn't self defense.

[benld74]

4. P*ssy! Big bad man with a gun! NOW PAY THE PRICE for your stupidity!

[Bjorn Against]

5. The gun nuts have a frightenenly broad definition of what constitutes self-defense

Some of the crap I have seen justified as "self-defense" by the gun nuts recently makes me want to pound my head in the wall. These people seem to think that anytime they feel even the slightest bit threatened they have the right to shoot someone. Now one of them considered a guy who was in the car to be a home invader, and how much do you want to bet that the gun nuts will defend him the same way they defended George Zimmerman.

I hope this guy spends the rest of his life behind bars.

[librabear]

14. Have you found someone defending this guy?

Or are you talking out both sides here?

[Bjorn Against]

15. Yes I have actually

Read the comments:

http://www.opposingviews.com/i/society/transportation/cars/video-phillip-sailors-shoots-kills-immigrant-who-accidentally-drove

I found this on the first site I looked at outside of DU, didn't take long at all.

If they were going to pick up a friend, then why did they just sit in the car? Why didn't one of them get out and go up to the house? Better yet, if they were there to pick up a friend, they should have known where their friend lived. Sounds like a made up story to me. Hopefully the police look at the GPS and see if they are telling the truth. If you pull up in my drive way and just sit there in the car, you might not like the end result either.

On edit: Here is the second site outside of DU I went to read comments on, multiple people defending him here as well:

http://lilburn.patch.com/articles/lilburn-man-arrested-charged-with-murder

Here is just one of several examples:

leah abigail
10:45 am on Tuesday, January 29, 2013
I'm reposting a comment I made on other sites:
This is a tragedy! Focus on that! It isn't about guns! Its about crime and the fear that our elderly have to deal with. This man's wife was my child's kindergarten teacher and I know the family. He is not some deranged racist. He is a man who loves his family and adores his wife (also a senior citizen). He fought for our country! His neighborhood, home for 30+ years, has seen increasing crime. A close friend of theirs - in his 70's who lives nearby had a vehicle stolen from the driveway and was burglarized in December. The elderly are becoming targets and they know it. That driveway is pitch black so I doubt Mr. Sailors could see if the occupants were black, brown, white or purple. Don't be so quick to assume the worst about a person. It is a sad thing that a young person was killed. Its sad that we live in a world where fear can make even the nicest people become reactionary.
As a mother of sons, I grieve for the family of the deceased. Mr. Sailors, a SIXTY-NINE YEAR OLD MAN was in his home minding his own business when this occurred. If someone pulled into my driveway like that I would probably brace myself for the worst too. Let us hope the police will do a proper investigation. To point a finger as if you know the truth is hardly helpful so if you can't be part of the solution - don't contribute to the problem.

Yes, we already have gun nuts saying it is justified to shoot people who pull into your driveway.

[Robb]

6. Why is he "distraught?" Isn't this what he's been preparing for?

[Bucky]

18. Obviously not.

He murdered a man for no reason and now it's all sinking in on him. The typical killer isn't a stone cold remorseless murdering machine. That's just in the movies and on Law & Order. In reality, most people who've crossed that line start soon enough to feel true remorse. He's ruined more than a few lives. He seems to be an active Christian, even did missionary work earlier in his life. Those people practically come pre-wired for guilt feelings. That's how their ministers are able to make so much money off of them.

[TransitJohn]

7. That sure sounds like 1st degree murder.

Premeditated act to shoot into a car.

[Maraya1969]

8. Whatever happened to locking the door and calling the police?

This country has gone barking mad! You are scared of different looking people who pull in your driveway so you come out with guns a blazing? WTF? This reeks of Fox news, right winged racism, guns, God and Christianity. Those people are ruining this country!

There has to be some public service announcements that teach people that you do NOT reach for you gun every time you are scared.

[another_liberal]

9. You can shoot someone . . .

You can shoot someone for pulling into your driveway? How about if they use the sidewalk in front of your house, or park blocking your view of the street?

Don't tell me no! We need to be safe!

[Bucky]

19. Don't forget Traevon Martin.

Apparently you can stalk someone, provoke a confrontation with them, and when it looks dicey shoot them, all within a safe five blocks from your home and call it self defense.

It's all just so appalling.

[another_liberal]

21. Good point.

I guess the sidewalk in front is really no stretch at all. Not by a long way.

[WCGreen]

11. This is what Hunter S. Thompson was writing about when he used the term...

Fear and Loathing to describe the dark, dangerous under flow of the America psyche.

[PatrynXX]

12. which is idiotic of course

since this didn't used to be a party issue and we had 8 illegal years of Bush because Bush and Hispanics went together at the hip and as Republicans tend to do to voters they just get thrown under the bus

[Bucky]

20. "because Bush and Hispanics went together at the hip"

No. Re-think please. Dubya represented the high water mark of Republican outreach to Hispanics because he's from Texas, he speaks okay (but accented) Spanish & throws Mexican idioms into his ventures into non-English discourse, and down here most Republicans know Latinos (at least the rich ones) and are comfortable with them.

Still, he only got 35% of the Hispanic vote in 2000 and 40% in 2004. That's not "joined at the hip". That's still losing the Hispanic vote.

[busterbrown]

13. Jesus Christ, This is a major story ought to be closely examined!!

This idiot was hoping for a day like this and it happened. His whole life probably revolves around the fear
of minorities and abortion fueled by right wing media. This guy saw himself as s soldier ready to defend Liberty, Freedom and the Constitution and did so by killing a young man on a way to a party.
I’m so fucking sick of the words, Liberty, Freedom, Constitution coming out of assholes in our country!!

[chuckstevens]

17. What Us?

I sure if they ever had the guts to respond to the charge that they inflame their viewers, they would say, "Fox News never condones this sort of thing." Yeah; MY ASS they don't!

[geckosfeet]

22. You don't shoot people for pulling into you driveway where I live.

That's insane. If the kids never left the car, how do you figure home invasion. The guy is out of touch with reality.

[patrice]

32. Good points. What's wrong with this scenario? nt

[ProudToBeBlueInRhody]

23. We should probably find out if he had cable first

I mean, just a thought.

There were racists and cowardly bigots long before FUX News was invented. They never needed a reason or motivation to shoot minorities.

[Logical]

24. This is 100% pure murder. No doubt. Life in prison I hope! n-t

[kellytore]

25. He probably was a Neal Boortz listener,

and Boortz told his listeners a few years back that he wanted to see more dead urban thugs in Atlanta.

[crazyjoe]

26. Blaming fox news is kinda stupid, about as stupid as thinking it ok to shoot someone

for pulling into your driveway.

[SheilaT]

27. Well of course!

Of course the second amendment gives everyone the right to be armed to the hilt and then the next logical step is to shoot at anyone at all that makes you feel uneasy. I mean, these kids were in his driveway, for pete's sake. If that's not the prelude to a home invasion, then what would be?

Sarcasm guys, sarcasm.

But this man's behavior is the absolute logical outcome of the drumbeat of the NRA about how everyone must be armed and ready to defend oneself at any moment. 30 people a day. 30 people a day on average are killed by guns in this country. The gun apologists think that's a perfectly reasonable price to pay. Personally, I don't.

[Dreamer Tatum]

29. If you have no idea what he watches on TV

then you're pretty much talking out of your ass.

[morningfog]

35. You think this was a liberal?

[onenote]

40. We have know idea "what" he was or what he watches

Not everyone who isn't "liberal" watches Faux News. In fact, given the size of the faux audience, its more likely than not that this guy doesn't watch anything.

[Dreamer Tatum]

43. HEAVENS NO! Liberals never commit any crimes, ever!

I'm sorry if I wasn't clear! My god, I almost created the impression that someone
NO ONE KNOWS A FUCKING THING ABOUT might be a Democrat!

[morningfog]

45. Wait and see. I don't know any liberals who shoot Hispanics turning around in their drive way.

But I know plenty of RWers who would think this reaction not out of bounds.

[Dreamer Tatum]

47. Ain't that the truth. I know RWers who kill people and eat them.

Man, they're crazy.

[morningfog]

48. Wanna place a DU donation bet on this?

[Demobrat]

30. The kids didn't even get out of the car

and this guy thought he had a right to shoot them? I hope he never sleeps another night in his own bed and dies in jail.

[Kalidurga]

31. Stories like this make it ok with me if we near a total gun ban...

I have heard and seen enough of them to be very comfortable with not letting just anyone that wants a gun be able to have one.

[Chorophyll]

37. +1

[patrice]

33. People, what the fuck is this country going to be like in 10 years if we don't figure out what

to do about this sort of thing?

Is it just going to spontaneously get better?

No.

Honestly, I can't avoid the realistic expectation that it's only going to get worse and worse.

[JI7]

34. as i said before, many of these gun nuts are looking and hoping to kill someone

like zimmerman

[Demobrat]

38. Yep, that's the real problem.

As much as they brey about "protection" the truth is they don't buy guns to decorate a gun safe, or to protect themselves in the unlikely event of a home invasion. They buy them because they want to shoot somebody, and if an opportunity doesn't present itself soon enough for their liking they create one.

[morningfog]

36. My Mamaw used to say, when turning around in a driveway, "Don't kill a chicken

we ain't staying long."

I guess today we need to say, "Don't kill me!"

[cali]

42. I don't give a shit about Fux News in this case. I place 100% of the blame on the fuckwad murdering

asswipe. I fervently hope he spends the rest of his miserable days suffering in prison.

[B2G]

44. This thread as 33 recs?

[Bandit]

46. If only those kids had been armed everything would have been okay......