Man shoots at noisy teenagers, killing one

Police: Man shoots at noisy teenagers, killing one

Saturday, November 29, 2003 Posted: 10:11 AM EST (1511 GMT)

CASAR, North Carolina (AP) -- A man
who said he was angered by his son's
teenage friends driving up and down his
road, spinning their wheels and honking
the horn, is charged with fatally shooting
one the boys and wounding another,
authorities said.

The shooting happened early Friday when
Jonathan Perry Beck, 16, Paul Allen, 15, and
Allen's 11-year-old brother, stopped at the
house of Ricky Van Mellon, officials with the
sheriff's department said.

Cleveland County Sheriff Raymond Hamrick
said Mellon was angry because the boys had
been making noise.

Mellon, 44, fired three shots from a 9mm
pistol, hitting Beck in the head. The car rolled
200 yards from the house and into an
embankment.

Allen was in serious condition at a hospital
late Friday after emergency surgery to remove
a bullet from his ear canal.

"Speeding up and down a road caused one of
(the boys) to lose their life," said Capt. Bobby
Steen of the sheriff's office said. "There are a
lot of questions that have to be answered.
Something had to have happened. Maybe he
just wanted to scare them."

Mellon, 44, reported the shooting, Steen said.
He was charged with murder, assault with a
deadly weapon inflicting serious injury,
assault with a deadly weapon and discharging
a weapon into occupied property.

He was held in jail without bond.
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http://www.cnn.com/2003/LAW/11/29/te....ap/index.html

....
Police: Man shoots at noisy teenagers, killing one

Saturday, November 29, 2003 Posted: 10:11 AM EST (1511 GMT)

CASAR, North Carolina (AP) -- A man
who said he was angered by his son's
teenage friends driving up and down his
road, spinning their wheels and honking
the horn, is charged with fatally shooting
one the boys and wounding another,
authorities said.

The shooting happened early Friday when
Jonathan Perry Beck, 16, Paul Allen, 15, and
Allen's 11-year-old brother, stopped at the
house of Ricky Van Mellon, officials with the
sheriff's department said.

Cleveland County Sheriff Raymond Hamrick
said Mellon was angry because the boys had
been making noise.

Mellon, 44, fired three shots from a 9mm
pistol, hitting Beck in the head. The car rolled
200 yards from the house and into an
embankment.

Allen was in serious condition at a hospital
late Friday after emergency surgery to remove
a bullet from his ear canal.

"Speeding up and down a road caused one of
(the boys) to lose their life," said Capt. Bobby
Steen of the sheriff's office said. "There are a

(snip)

Uh-Oh . . . I can see it coming now. This will be counted as a speeding
related death. Oh, and people will want to ban hand guns because a criminal
named Mellon used one. -Dave

Carol Saxton wrote:


"Speeding up and down a road caused one of
(the boys) to lose their life," said Capt. Bobby
Steen of the sheriff's office said.

I love this comment.

I'd say that boy lost his life due to the actions of a 44 year old adult
who was so angry about something, that he did not stop and think before
taking action. Had he paused a moment before pulling the trigger, he
might have thought "what I'm about to do could end someone's life, ****
I better not do it, I'll call the cops, or get their rego number instead".

The cause of the death was not "speeding", it was yet another irrational
person using and abusing their right to own a gun in the US.

AlexT wrote in message ...

I'd say that boy lost his life due to the actions of a 44 year old adult
who was so angry about something, that he did not stop and think before
taking action. Had he paused a moment before pulling the trigger, he
might have thought "what I'm about to do could end someone's life, ****
I better not do it, I'll call the cops, or get their rego number instead".

What planet are you living on? I'm not saying that he should have
killed the kid, or used his gun, but calling the cops or "asking"
nicely often backfires when the ones who got their rists slapped by
the cops escalate, and start doing it at 3am, and running before the
cops can get there.

We don't know the whole story. Maybe this had been going on for
months, at all hours of the day, and they were doing it to torment
him.

The cause of the death was not "speeding", it was yet another irrational
person using and abusing their right to own a gun in the US.

And you are another irrational person who uses a tragedy like this to
take away the right to own a gun. Guns kill far less kids per year
than many, many other means, and I don't see many crusades against
those means.

Cathy Weeks
Mommy to Kivi Alexis 12/01

In article , Cathy Weeks
says...

AlexT wrote in message
...

I'd say that boy lost his life due to the actions of a 44 year old adult
who was so angry about something, that he did not stop and think before
taking action. Had he paused a moment before pulling the trigger, he
might have thought "what I'm about to do could end someone's life, ****
I better not do it, I'll call the cops, or get their rego number instead".

What planet are you living on? I'm not saying that he should have
killed the kid, or used his gun, but calling the cops or "asking"
nicely often backfires when the ones who got their rists slapped by
the cops escalate, and start doing it at 3am, and running before the
cops can get there.

We don't know the whole story. Maybe this had been going on for
months, at all hours of the day, and they were doing it to torment
him.


Oh, pulllleeze.

The best you can argue is that this isn't murder one. This is a good-old
fashioned case of stupidly killing someone in anger. The man who shoots his
wife caught en-flagrante is still a murderer, the gang member who shoots another
banger because 'he was in my face' is still a murderer. Bernie Getz was a
murderer. There really aren't that many murders which are truly cold and
unprovoked. This is like blaming road rage on traffic.

We're responsible for our actions, including reactions - there's little
difference in practice between the two anyway. If it were a problem - he should
have taken it to the authorities. And it's completely possible that, if you're
anxious to blame things on who has irritated whom, the man had irritated the
teens by previously registering trivial complaints and yelling at them for more
normal car activities. Which doesn't excuse the teens either, but I put
disturbing the peace and murder on whole different planes of evil. I'm
wondering if certain respondants here really find them comparable. Do you??

Although I'm with you that we needn't be blaming this on guns, though it suits
some folk's agenda nicely to do that.

Banty

Banty wrote in message ...

And it's completely possible that, if you're
anxious to blame things on who has irritated whom, the man had irritated the
teens by previously registering trivial complaints and yelling at them for more
normal car activities. Which doesn't excuse the teens either, but I put
disturbing the peace and murder on whole different planes of evil. I'm
wondering if certain respondants here really find them comparable. Do you??

Who is to say he hadn't called the cops about it before, and had the
cops done nothing? But.... point taken. I suppose the fact that I've
had too many experiences with jerks who turn the music *up* when you
ask nicely to turn it down made me make some assumptions that I don't
have.

However, I can just see someone getting sick of drag racing outside
their home happening once too many times and taking matters into their
own hands. I'm not condoning it, as I said in my original note. Just
saying that I sympathize just a bit. And I do feel sorry for the kid.

Cathy Weeks
Mommy to Kivi Alexis 12/01

Banty wrote in message ...

The best you can argue is that this isn't murder one. This is a good-old
fashioned case of stupidly killing someone in anger. The man who shoots his
wife caught en-flagrante is still a murderer, the gang member who shoots another
banger because 'he was in my face' is still a murderer. Bernie Getz was a
murderer. There really aren't that many murders which are truly cold and
unprovoked. This is like blaming road rage on traffic.

OK. Point taken. BUT, I did fall into my own personal rut when it
comes to assuming he was provoked. I've had too many people turn the
volume *up* when I asked it to be turned down. But I also said, and
it's true, that we don't know all the details. He could just be some
idiot with anger issues who murdered someone in cold blood, or he
could be someone who had tried many times - using the appropriate
channels - to get the kids to quit drag racing on his street.

As memory serves, Bernard Goetz though those guys were going to mug
him. Likely the situation wasn't as dangerous as he might have
thought (the average mugging doesn't usually result in death), but he
thought he was protecting himself. Calling him a murderer seems a bit
unfair. I am NOT addressing the issue of him possibly being a racist
(don't know if he was or wasn't).

On the other two examples - agreed. Those people are still murderers.

We're responsible for our actions, including reactions - there's little
difference in practice between the two anyway. If it were a problem - he should
have taken it to the authorities.

And we don't know that he didn't. I doubt the police department would
be anxious to share that information.

And it's completely possible that, if you're
anxious to blame things on who has irritated whom, the man had irritated the
teens by previously registering trivial complaints and yelling at them for more
normal car activities. Which doesn't excuse the teens either, but I put
disturbing the peace and murder on whole different planes of evil. I'm
wondering if certain respondants here really find them comparable. Do you??

Of course not. But until the full results of the investigation are
released (if ever) we cannot really understand what happened, or
assign ANY justifiability or lack thereof.

Cathy Weeks
Mommy to Kivi Alexis 12/01

In article , Cathy Weeks
says...

Banty wrote in message
...

The best you can argue is that this isn't murder one. This is a good-old
fashioned case of stupidly killing someone in anger. The man who shoots his
wife caught en-flagrante is still a murderer, the gang member who shoots another
banger because 'he was in my face' is still a murderer. Bernie Getz was a
murderer. There really aren't that many murders which are truly cold and
unprovoked. This is like blaming road rage on traffic.

OK. Point taken. BUT, I did fall into my own personal rut when it
comes to assuming he was provoked. I've had too many people turn the
volume *up* when I asked it to be turned down.

Let's say you encountered a real asshole who really cranked it up. Everytime he
saw you. I understand the frustration about that, but do you see shooting
anywhere in that picture?

I'm certainly willing to grant that the situation up to the shooting could have
been very obnoxious. (But I'm not ready to assume it was - I've seen people go
off the deep end both ways about wanting their way exactly.) But deadly action
to solve it is in a different category of a question. That's rather clear-cut.

He coudl have done anything up to kicking his son out of the house if he was old
enough (after all - this wasn't random drag-racing - they were actually guests
of a household member!) to moving from what may have been a bad location for him
to live in. Even if all other channels were exhausted - completely unresponsive
police, unresponsive parents, unresponsive son.

You don't kill people over something like that.

Banty

In article ,
Banty wrote:

The best you can argue is that this isn't murder one. This is a good-old
fashioned case of stupidly killing someone in anger. The man who shoots his
wife caught en-flagrante is still a murderer, the gang member who shoots another
banger because 'he was in my face' is still a murderer. Bernie Getz was a
murderer.

Bernie Goetz was acquitted of murder and manslaughter.
--
Matthew T. Russotto
"Extremism in defense of liberty is no vice, and moderation in pursuit
of justice is no virtue." But extreme restriction of liberty in pursuit of
a modicum of security is a very expensive vice.

(Cathy Weeks) wrote in message . com...

And you are another irrational person who uses a tragedy like this to
take away the right to own a gun. Guns kill far less kids per year
than many, many other means, and I don't see many crusades against
those means.

Cathy Weeks
Mommy to Kivi Alexis 12/01

Never heard of DARE? Never heard of MADD? Apparently, you spend too
much time at those NRA conventions. Have you clowns figured out how
to control what a moron like this shooter did? Didn't think so ...
--
C.R. Krieger
"Never drink anything stronger than gin before breakfast." - W.C.
Fields