The man was riding his bicycle about 11 a.m. on the Thun Trail near the Bertolet Fishing Dock in West Reading when the boys knocked him off his bicycle, police said.
Two of the boys were assaulting the man when he pulled a handgun and shot them, police said.
The police arrest everyone, but released the 65-year old victim, and sent the uninjured kid to juvie. I’m going to guess the Berks County District Attorney is going to decline charges in this case, except for the juveniles. This isn’t Philly.
I regularly run that section of trail. It’s desolate, no one will hear you screaming there. There are often dirtbags on that section of the trail, since it connects the city to the oakbook housing project – it’s a highway for dirtbags.
I also worked with DA Adams, for a year. I don’t see him pressing charges against the shooter. First, the jury make up of Berks county makes it hard to get a conviction in a case like this. Second, he’s already charged one the kids involved and I imagine that the one who was shot in the neck will be charged in the next day or two.
Pity to see young people throw away their lives like that, but when it’s three on one against a guy in his 60s late at night it seems that the cyclist’s actions were entirely justified. As far as the DA charging him for defending himself, I DREAM about being on a jury deciding a case like that; I bet most people do.
This happened at 11am, in the morning. Also, that section of the trail is well lit at night, with large and bright solar street lights that were put in by the organization that runs the Thun trail.
That reminds me, is there a reason they weren’t in school on a Wednesday morning? Unless there is some holiday in the middle of the week that I’m unaware of, that doesn’t exactly make them look like good little boys.
Sir, I agree it’s a pity these delinquents have thrown away their lives, but this shooting would have been justified even if there had been only one assailant and regardless of any age difference.
If you are attacked, you have every right to defend yourself with any means available. The assailant loses his right to life the moment he threatens yours. (At least in my State.)
I agree with you, Arnie. However, police and DAs consider things like whether you are outnumbered in an assault when they judge whether or not the use of deadly force was justified. In this case, the numbers work in favor of the shooter.
David, thanks for the correction on the time of day. Apparently I missed that lesson in first grade. ; )
Another Brady juvenile “victim” of gun violence. “He was a good boy, he never hurt noone, sang at church” yada yada yada.
The dead attacker will most certainly be included in future statistics for “gun violence,” you can bank on that. More reason not to take statistics at face value.
That must be a horrible feeling – getting arrested and waiting to see if the DA decides to press charges against you (which is a given in Philly).
It makes me wonder if leaving the scene isn’t the better option.
Sounds like leaving Philly is the best option!
I remember seeing a post by someone who claimed to be in law enforcement/security work, who had a blog post about how, when he was trying to track down someone’s kidnapped daughter in a major city (it may have been Detroit), he was told by locals that, due to the political situations, if he were involved in a shoot-out, that it would be best to call 9-1-1 afterwards, then complain about “chest pain”, and drive himself to the local hospital. Apparently, if he were to stay on site, he would have been at risk of being shot by corrupt cops.
To me, stories like this border on “mall ninjery”, so I take this story with a grain of salt…but perhaps it would nonetheless be good advice to take in an area that is unfriendly to self defense.
On the other hand, this person also had some good advice on how to make use of a cell-phone after a self-defense encounter: call 9-1-1 first (if you document everything first, juries might look at that weirdly), and take some photos (but not too many–you might weird out a jury if you do) to document the scene while waiting for the cops to show up. That way, if an ambulance rolls up and crushes a bottle that was used to threaten people (or otherwise unintentionally hurts evidence), you have some documentation to back up your side of the story.
This advice is so reasonable, it almost makes me believe the first story! :-)
It sounds like it isn’t Montgomery County either. I remember the whole Monkey County railtrail shooting. I went down to that trail and looked. It was a deathtrap. No where to run, and assailants on bikes, but the Monkey County Sheriff not only wanted him arrested and convicted, he said that guns were prohibited on that trail. This despite PA’s pretty strong pre-emption law.
Luckily the Montgomery County DA made it clear to the cops that they were not to hassle lawful carriers.
But will the deceased get a candle?
From the NGAC Facebook page:
The paranoia of the gun owner is breathtaking, especially when the reality is that due to the element of surprise, it is virtually impossible for the gun carrier to protect themselves with their carried gun.
Not “NRA extremists.” Not “gun nuts.” Not even “gun owners.” Just “the gun owner.” A monolithic enemy. Of course, this story refutes the final clause of the sentence, but who cares? They have the media.
Any of you have a sneaking suspicion that Andrew Goddard is actually a little thrilled by every rape and murder of an unarmed victim? “Stick it to the man, brother! Don’t worry, we’ll take care of the ‘preventing them from fighting back’ part.”
Press conf today at 3pm where the DA will announce his explain his decision on why the shooting was justified. Looks like the victim is in the clear on this on. More details will be on readingeagle.com and wfmz.com
For those of you not from Reading or who haven’t seen it the updated story here
Because of Pa.’s recent (last June) Castle Doctrine/Stand Your Ground legislation and common sense from Adams the gentleman will not be charged. God bless him.
That area may be well lit but that doesn’t mean much. Reading is a cesspool of drugs violence and parents who don’t give a shit about what their kids are doing or where they are.
So why should prosecutors give a shit when these “children” deservedly get themselves shot?