22 Year Old Man Shot Dead After GPS Error Leads Him to Wrong House

[onehandle]

Sailors and his wife, Brenda, were at their home on Hillcrest Road when they heard a “ruckus” in the driveway, said attorney Mike Puglise. A neighbor had recently been robbed and Sailors was wary when he spotted two people in his driveway getting into their car.

According to Puglise, Sailors grabbed his gun as he headed outside, firing a warning shot into the air. He said he fired at Diaz only after Diaz accelerated his car toward him. “He thought he was going to get run down,” the lawyer said.

But the police report indicates that the vehicle was leaving Sailors’ property when Diaz was shot. Lilburn police said they found his red Mitsubishi at the end of the driveway. Diaz was slumped over the steering wheel, blood covering his face and, the incident report states, struggling to breathe.

The Colombia native who attended Gwinnett Tech and worked at his brother’s cargo shipping business was pronounced dead the following morning from a single bullet that entered the left side of his head and fragmented, causing severe brain damage. Rebolledo said she was in love with Diaz, her boyfriend of seven months. Her father, Gregory Rebolledo, said Diaz was more responsible than most his age, eschewing gangs and partying and rarely drinking alcohol.

http://www.ajc.com/news/news/man-69-accused-of-killing-man-who-went-to-wrong-ho/nT8xp/

[tblue]

1. They were going ice skating.

Damn! Trigger-happy nervousness + loaded gun = horrible needless tragedy.

[csziggy]

2. Phillip Sailors should spend the rest of his life in prison

To shoot someone just for pulling into his driveway is depraved. He couldn't just go and ask what the people were doing? Instead he fires a "warning shot" and then shoots the driver in the head as he's BACKING OUT?

The paranoia in this country is off the charts.

[Cali_Democrat]

3. Fear, racism, guns and conservatism

a deadly combination.

[HughBeaumont]

4. I. So. La. Ted Incident. Really. Nothing to see here.

An unfortunate misunderstanding that happened to involve firearms. Really.

There's no need to do anything about this, Dumberica. It'll work itself out naturally. Really.

[Robb]

5. Well, he did what he set out to. Defended his home.

Successfully defended his home, with his legally owned firearm, exercising his 2nd Amendment rights.

No, no problem here. No sir. I'm sure everyone involved, everyone in the neighborhood, feels safer.

In fact, I bet his gun never hurt ANYONE until this, right? Paper targets? Freedom?

Did I miss anything?

[ecstatic]

6. OMG :'( That could have been me the other day

My hairdresser moved to a new townhome in that area, and despite carefully counting the houses to make sure I was in the right driveway, I still ended up in the wrong driveway. Almost immediately, a red pick up truck pulled up beside me and because of the timing, I figured he was some sort of neighborhood watch person or something. I was kind of slow in realizing that it was his house because I was still so sure I was at the right place, and he didn't outright say it was (and I understand why... from his perspective, he probably was thinking it should be obvious). If I was a guy, I probably would have been shot, especially if I suddenly grabbed my phone or something.

[mainer]

10. It could have been any one of us

I've stopped at the wrong house on occasion, here in rural Maine. Went to the front door to ask where so-and-so lived. Always got a smile and directions in return. Thank god I never stopped in the driveway of some nut with a gun.

[KittyWampus]

7. OMG! He offered NO ASSISTANCE. Holy crap.

Rebolledo, 17, was sitting next to her boyfriend in the front seat when he was struck in the side of the head. As she tended to Diaz, she said Sailors showed no remorse and offered no assistance.
“I want him to spend all his life in prison,” she said. “He is a crazy man.”

[Initech]

8. OMG!!! What a piece of shit!!!

[TeamPooka]

9. last line in the article...

"Puglise said the Sailors family is grief-stricken and is lifting the family of Diaz up in prayer."
What a load of crap.

[HarveyDarkey]

11. " the Sailors family is grief-stricken and is lifting the family of Diaz up in prayer"?

WTF does that mean?

[orwell]

12. Sky God will fix everything...

...I'm sure the Diaz family and friends will be greatly relieved.

And now a word from the NRA...

[libdem4life]

17. This ^^^^ RIP. Sadness.

Hopefully there will be a civil suit filed.... as against OJ Simpson. Mr. Homeowner may find out that sometimes the results of lethal "home/owner protection" may in fact result in losing said home. Again, harsh penalties, not "uh-oh"s.

Home security and a big dog protect 24/7. Not even a 3rd rate burglar would chance those odds.

[SmileyRose]

31. it means they want jesus to pay the hospital and burial expenses

ugh.

Georgia.......

[mainer]

13. 911 call came from the kids in the car. NOT the homeowner.

Mr. Sailors and his neighbors are liars if they want the world to think these kids were home invaders. Glad to see the Police Chief backs up the kids. What kind of creep kills a kid, and doesn't bother to call 911?


"Lilburn Police Chief Bruce Hedley said two calls were placed to 911, one from a passenger in Diaz’s car and another from a neighbor who said they heard gunshots and screams.
Hedley said claims of heavy gang activity in the area are false.
“There’s a sampling of crime in their neighborhood, but no more than anywhere else,” he said."

[siligut]

14. But, but he was a good church going man

Sailors’ friends and family said instead that the retired BellSouth employee is a dedicated volunteer at his church and has been on mission trips to Panama and other Latin American countries.
Chris Anderson, pastor of Killian Hill Baptist Church in Lilburn, called Sailors “a good man who devoted his life to serving others, and his reputation in our community has been unblemished for over 40 years.”

Have to wonder if church-going is what made Phillip Sailors so paranoid.

[libdem4life]

19. I don't think paranoid is the most precise description. Missionary work considers the missioned

to be heathens of one sort or other...even Catholics which is the dominant religion in his chosen mission field...that's the reason for "conversion".

Them vs. Us ... message to Hispanics living in the United States. You are not One of Us just because you live here or are citizens ... go back where you belong.

It's bigotry and racism.

[Rex]

15. This is the GRAND problem with gun ownership.

We cannot keep people from making horrible decisions over life and death usually only reserved for LEOs. There is no way to know when someone is going to murder someone else, based on irrational behavior that they normally never show signs of.

How do we stop people from murdering each other over a wrong GPS address? Poor young man, this has to stop and it starts with rational people deciding not to murder someone on a whim.

Sailors sounds like he is heading for prison. He will have all those years to regret one second of irrational behavior.

[raccoon]

16. I hope the murdered man's family gets a barracuda lawyer and sues this trigger-happy

SOB for everything he has.

[lunasun]

25. They should since he will not spend 1 night in prison

[Fla Dem]

18. If Sailors was alarmed enough to grab his gun, then either he or his wife should have called 911

BEFORE he ventured outside. His actions were irresponsible,They were motivated and encouraged psychologically BECAUSE he owned a gun. If he did not own a gun he would have locked the doors and called 911.

[onehandle]

20. The NRA has drilled it into the minds of the paranoid...

...that calling the police is useless, and that you have to assault to survive.

[lunasun]

26. and that has been posted here on DU too

[Rex]

21. THIS ^^^^^^

I was wondering the exact same thing! Important enough to go back outside and murder someone, NOT important enough to call 911?

[LanternWaste]

22. If only the victims or the perpetrators had had NRA sponsored weapon-safety classes offered to them

If only the victims or the perpetrators had had NRA sponsored weapon-safety classes offered to them at school, this wouldn't have happened...


(in case some NRA-sponsored idiot on DU believes it's an actual thought)

[99Forever]

23. Another law-abiding, legal gun owner...

.. until he wasn't. A real pillar of the community.

YEAH for more gunz!

[mbperrin]

24. You forgot that Sailors could have grabbed some lawn furniture and done exactly the

same thing!

Don't blame the gun!

And yes, mandatory disclaimer these days of nuttiness, I AM being sarcastic. I just noticed that one (but only one) of the NRA talking points had been left off the thread.

Another lifetime wasted with a few pennies' worth of bullet.

Stupid stupid to allow this kind of power over other people....

[raccoon]

29. No, he couldn't have. With lawn furniture, he'd have to get up close and personal with the victim.

Same was with a knife.

Just realized that you said you're being sarcastic.

But I'm going to leave this because the NRA crowd frequently--no, always ignores that inconvenient truth--that
without a gun, if the murderer had a knife, baseball bat, etc., he'd have to get up close and personal with his victim.

With a gun, he could be yards away from his victim. Like Lee Harvey Oswald.

[dgibby]

27. Maybe I've been watching too many crime drama programs,

but how did he manage to shoot Diaz in the left side of the head? Seems like he'd have to had been standing to the side of the car to do that, so it would have been impossible for Diaz to run him down at that angle. Of course, if he was backing up and turning the back of the car to the right, then a shot to the left of Diaz's head would have been almost a 90 angle. I hope Sailors spends the rest of his miserable life in prison.

[ManiacJoe]

28. Diaz had his head out the driver's window.

He was attempting to yell to the shooter.

[WI_DEM]

30. So somebody comes in his drive way and that gives him license to shoot?