Would someone please help me out on the Carl Rowan, Sr. shooting a few years back? I'm claiming he never got arrested, never spent a night in jail, never even got charged with anything.

This was when he shot the black teen for swimming in his pool with (gasp!) an unlicensed .22 semi handgun in DC; a no-no, as we all know.

A poster in another forum is claiming he did get arrested, did spend a night in jail, did have some sort of charges filed against him. She also said his son (a FBI agent) was living with him at the time?

She doesn't deny Rowan had a hatred for the NRA & loved any version of gun control that came down the pike but claims he wasn't a hypocrite with the shooting..................        

Thanks in advance!!!!!!!!!

Bob,

Here's what I found.  Check the link for other links that may help you.

HH

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en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Rowan


Rowan gained public notoriety on June 14, 1988, when he shot a teenage tresspasser, Neil Smith, who was taking a dip in Rowan's swimming pool in Washington, D.C.. Rowan used an unregistered .22 LR pistol. Critics charged hypocrisy, since Rowan was a strict gun control advocate. In a 1981 column, he advocated " a law that says anyone found in possession of a handgun except a legitimate officer of the law goes to jail -- period." In 1985, he called for "A complete and universal federal ban on the sale, manufacture, importation and possession of handguns (except for authorized police and military personnel)." [2] [3]

Immediately after the shooting, Rowan offered several conflicting accounts about where he got the handgun. He first said that he had purchased the gun himself in response to threats on his life (which he later claimed had been made by the Ku Klux Klan). He also initially claimed that the gun had been properly registered. However, when District of Columbia police disclosed that the gun had not been registered, Rowan changed his story, claiming that the gun belonged to his son, who "was an FBI agent and did not have to register it [because it was] properly registered federally." Police officials pointed out that under D.C. law, all guns must be registered locally; failure to do so was punishable by up to a year in prison and a $1,000 fine.

Rowan was tried but the jury was deadlocked, the judge declared a mistrial and he was never retried. In his autobiography, Rowan said he still favors gun control, but admits being vulnerable to a charge of hypocrisy [4].

"All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others."
- --GEORGE ORWELL, Animal Farm

Thanks, Houstonhusker, that's exactly what I needed!!!!    

I was at College in DC when that happened.  I recall seeing lots of funny cartoons.  

The weird thing was there was no evidence that the kid did anything but swim in Carl's pool.