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Posted: 1/10/2006 5:55:46 AM EDT
http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/01/10/wrong.apartment.ap/index.html
RANCHO CUCAMONGA, California (AP) -- An intoxicated man who was shot to death last week in an apartment mistook a neighbor's unit for his own and broke in when his key wouldn't work, authorities said.

Hector Soto, 21, had recently moved to the apartment complex and had been out celebrating his upcoming graduation from a trade school, his stepfather, Robert Ward, said Monday.

Soto was "fairly well intoxicated" when his friends drove him home early Friday, said San Bernardino County Sheriff's Sgt. Tom Bradford. All the buildings in the complex look the same, he said.

Soto got into the wrong apartment through an open front window and headed to the bathroom, where he encountered the resident, a 65-year-old state prison counselor, authorities said.

They scuffled and the resident, thinking Soto was an intruder, shot him once. The shooter will not be charged, Bradford said.

"It's tragic. A real mess," he said. "I don't believe Soto intended to hurt anybody."
Link Posted: 1/10/2006 5:58:03 AM EDT
[#1]

Quoted:

They scuffled and the resident, thinking Soto was an intruder, shot him once.





he was the intruder

ETA:  some friends that guy has.  if he's to drunk to find his apartment, his "friends" should have helped him inside.  i mean, if he's that drunk, they'd have to know he' have problems...
Link Posted: 1/10/2006 6:00:21 AM EDT
[#2]
I've found it's easier to carry a set of keys than to plan on using the front window for ingress.
Link Posted: 1/10/2006 6:01:23 AM EDT
[#3]
This really isn't funny at all.


Back in the 70s for a while I lived in an apartment complex and stumbled home truly plastered one night.

My next door neighbor had her door unlocked and I stumbled in and passed out on the couch.

She had a sense of humor* and threw a blanket over me and let me sleep it off.

That was back when the world had a sense of humor.


*She also fixed me up with a GF of hers once, but that's another story.
Link Posted: 1/10/2006 6:02:19 AM EDT
[#4]
I guess that drinking and kicking in doors in go hand in hand with getting shot. See, alcohol DOES make you do stupid things.
Link Posted: 1/10/2006 6:04:46 AM EDT
[#5]

Quoted:
This really isn't funny at all.


Back in the 70s for a while I lived in an apartment complex and stumbled home truly plastered one night.

My next door neighbor had her door unlocked and I stumbled in and passed out on the couch.

She had a sense of humor* and threw a blanket over me and let me sleep it off.

That was back when the world had a sense of humor.


*She also fixed me up with a GF of hers once, but that's another story.

she probably knew you.  the guy in this story was new to the complex, so as far as his neigbor knew, it was some random crackhead breaking into his place.

i don't want to condemn the dead guy either...  i've done my share of drunken stumbling, but my friends were usually there to make sure i was allright.  this is just one big clusterfuck...
Link Posted: 1/10/2006 6:07:08 AM EDT
[#6]

Quoted:
he was the intruder



I am glad someone besides me noticed that little tidbit of information.

Drunk guy in your house struggling with you = intruder every time.


Link Posted: 1/10/2006 6:13:47 AM EDT
[#7]

Quoted:

Quoted:
he was the intruder



I am glad someone besides me noticed that little tidbit of information.

Drunk guy in your house struggling with you = intruder every time.





Yep.  Despite some recent comments otherwise I can't read minds and don't pretend to so I have no idea why you have broken into my house and are wandering around and fighting with me so......

Make sure your friends get you to the right door in your new apartment complex when you are shitfaced out of your mind.
Link Posted: 1/10/2006 6:19:51 AM EDT
[#8]
Well the guy suffered from shitty friends.  That's all.  If his friends cared then he would not be dead today.

Max
Link Posted: 1/10/2006 6:31:06 AM EDT
[#9]
BoomBoom...Boom    "Um hello? Police? Can ya'll send an ambulance over her to pick this dead guy up off my floor?"




There's a reason I don't get blind, staggering drunk. If your drunkeness causes you to be an asshat and attack someone in their own home, I don't give a shit what you were thinking, you're gonna get shot.
Link Posted: 1/10/2006 6:39:30 AM EDT
[#10]
"Life is tough.  It's tougher if you're stupid."
Link Posted: 1/10/2006 6:42:21 AM EDT
[#11]

Quoted:
Well the guy suffered from shitty friends.  That's all.  If his friends cared then he would not be dead today.

Max



Whatever happened to personal responsibility???
Link Posted: 1/10/2006 6:44:08 AM EDT
[#12]
Sometimes stupid can be VERY expensive.  I feel sorry for the shooter....his world will be a mess for a long time to come.  I predict legal and emotional problems in the future for this guy.  From the sparse information looks like a good shoot.
Link Posted: 1/10/2006 6:46:57 AM EDT
[#13]

Quoted:

Quoted:
Well the guy suffered from shitty friends.  That's all.  If his friends cared then he would not be dead today.

Max



Whatever happened to personal responsibility???



Nothing.  Still shitty of your friends to drop you off in new complex hammered so bad you can't think straight and not make sure you get to your door ok.  Doesn't change the fact he got drunk and sometimes when you get drunk bad stuff happens to you.  
Link Posted: 1/10/2006 6:59:18 AM EDT
[#14]

Quoted:
"Life is tough.  It's tougher if you're stupid."



Sometimes stupid hurts....sometimes stupid gets killed.
Link Posted: 1/10/2006 12:15:56 PM EDT
[#15]

Quoted:

Quoted:

They scuffled and the resident, thinking Soto was an intruder, shot him once.





he was the intruder

ETA:  some friends that guy has.  if he's to drunk to find his apartment, his "friends" should have helped him inside.  i mean, if he's that drunk, they'd have to know he' have problems...



a big +1, but you have to figure the friends were probably drunk as well.


Quoted:
I've found it's easier to carry a set of keys than to plan on using the front window for ingress.



Well, the post did say he broke in after his keys didn't work...not that he didn't have his keys.

No Expert
Link Posted: 1/10/2006 12:18:00 PM EDT
[#16]
Life is hard.

Its harder if yer stupid.

Link Posted: 1/10/2006 12:19:37 PM EDT
[#17]

Quoted:

Soto got into the wrong apartment through an open front window and headed to the bathroom, where he encountered the resident, a 65-year-old state prison counselor, authorities said.

They scuffled and the resident, thinking Soto was an intruder, shot him once. The shooter will not be charged, Bradford said.



The whole thing...I can't help but smile at it.




"It's tragic. A real mess," he said. "I don't believe Soto intended to hurt anybody."



Personal responsibility, folks.

Link Posted: 1/10/2006 12:21:22 PM EDT
[#18]
Definate Darwin Award nominee.
Link Posted: 1/10/2006 12:22:18 PM EDT
[#19]
We have a problem with drunk hispanics doing this at the various apartment complexes around here. Usually they dont gain entry and we find them just down the street all cut to pieces from teh broken glass.
Link Posted: 1/10/2006 12:22:30 PM EDT
[#20]
Reason number 376 why I only drink at home...
Link Posted: 1/10/2006 12:36:07 PM EDT
[#21]

Quoted:
This really isn't funny at all.


Back in the 70s for a while I lived in an apartment complex and stumbled home truly plastered one night.

My next door neighbor had her door unlocked and I stumbled in and passed out on the couch.

She had a sense of humor* and threw a blanket over me and let me sleep it off.

That was back when the world had a sense of humor.


*She also fixed me up with a GF of hers once, but that's another story.



Completely different circumstances. Finding a drunk passed out on the couch is very, very different from being confronted by and attacked by the same drunk. Might have turned out very different had she not known you. You got lucky.

Let's see. Really drunk, new place, keys "don't work", WTF? Right, I'll just crawl through the window without checking to see if I'm at the right apartment. Nice friends to just dump someone falling down drunk off and not make sure he made it home okay. Yep, real bunch of buddies there.
Link Posted: 1/10/2006 12:36:10 PM EDT
[#22]

Quoted:
Reason number 376 why I only drink at home...



Reason number 376 why I hardly drink at all-home or otherwise. How well would any of us fare in a home invasion scenario if we are blind drunk?

Nick
Link Posted: 1/10/2006 12:38:23 PM EDT
[#23]
It is not uncommon for drunks to go to the wrong house. it is unusual for it to end in a shooting though.
Link Posted: 1/10/2006 12:38:49 PM EDT
[#24]

Quoted:

Quoted:
Reason number 376 why I only drink at home...



Reason number 376 why I hardly drink at all-home or otherwise. How well would any of us fare in a home invasion scenario if we are blind drunk?

Nick



+1


Not much Situation awerness when your to drunk to stand up
Link Posted: 1/10/2006 12:44:04 PM EDT
[#25]
The San Bernardino County Sheriff's Office regrets to inform you that your son is dead because he was stupid.
Link Posted: 1/10/2006 12:49:55 PM EDT
[#26]
stupid hurts
Link Posted: 1/10/2006 1:35:18 PM EDT
[#27]

Quoted:

Quoted:
Reason number 376 why I only drink at home...



Reason number 376 why I hardly drink at all-home or otherwise. How well would any of us fare in a home invasion scenario if we are blind drunk?

Nick



That's why shotguns are recommended for home defense.  It has nothing to do with loads or overpenetration of pistol rounds... Its for the drunks!
Link Posted: 1/10/2006 1:39:36 PM EDT
[#28]

Quoted:
It is not uncommon for drunks to go to the wrong house. it is unusual for it to end in a shooting though.


Agreed.  Usually the drunks make so much noise that the entire neighborhood knows they're there and that they're drunk.z
Link Posted: 1/10/2006 1:47:24 PM EDT
[#29]
I guess if I lived in a complex or something, i could see this happening.. but I've been to the point of falling asleep on my front porch before I have ever gone to the wrong house..  
Link Posted: 1/10/2006 1:49:38 PM EDT
[#30]

Quoted:
"Life is tough.  It's tougher shorter if you're stupid."



Link Posted: 1/10/2006 1:49:50 PM EDT
[#31]
Apparantly this happens quite a bit. The LEO that taught my CCW class had answered a few break-in calls that turned out to be a drunk thinking it was their place.
Link Posted: 1/10/2006 1:56:31 PM EDT
[#32]
if you can't hold your alcohol then you deserve what you get....
Link Posted: 1/10/2006 2:24:15 PM EDT
[#33]

Quoted:
http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/01/10/wrong.apartment.ap/index.html
RANCHO CUCAMONGA, California (AP) -- An intoxicated man who was shot to death last week in an apartment mistook a neighbor's unit for his own and broke in when his key wouldn't work, authorities said.

Hector Soto, 21, had recently moved to the apartment complex and had been out celebrating his upcoming graduation from a trade school, his stepfather, Robert Ward, said Monday.

Soto was "fairly well intoxicated" when his friends drove him home early Friday, said San Bernardino County Sheriff's Sgt. Tom Bradford. All the buildings in the complex look the same, he said.

Soto got into the wrong apartment through an open front window and headed to the bathroom, where he encountered the resident, a 65-year-old state prison counselor, authorities said.

They scuffled and the resident, thinking Soto was an intruder, shot him once. The shooter will not be charged, Bradford said.

"It's tragic. A real mess," he said. "I don't believe Soto intended to hurt anybody."



Hmm probably thought it was one of his former pupils who didn't like the counseling he got????  The common view of prison counselors as fuzzy headded liberals doesn't hold apparently in this case.  Or if he is a fuzzy headed liberal he's at least sane enough to know that a gun might be handy in his line of work.  Probably has a ccw too,  Doing what he does and running into a client where the client isn't supposed to be is like wearing a shoot me first t-shirt
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