In case someone missed it, a Mexican was shot in Shelbyville yesterday on his own property by the local po-po. Seems he was having a barbecue & gave some guys a quick tour of his 10-15 acres. In Mexican tradition (their words, not mine), he was firing off a few rds from his .45 "into the ground".

Neighbors called the po-po & they saw several guys emerge from the woods, one holding a handgun. The guy with the gun had his back to the po-po & turned to them when they called to him. Seems the po-po then shot him w/o telling him to "drop the gun".

Hard to say what happened w/o being there, but seems like there's a good bit of blame to go all around, IMO.

First of all, this AIN'T MEXICO!!!!! We don't give a good GD HOW you did it back home!!!

Secondly, seems like the po-po would've been behind cover had they saw the guy with the gun emerge from the woods with his back to them??? Not to mention telling him to "drop the gun"????

The sad part is, the guy who was shot & killed was a store owner & seemed to be a good person.

Full story can be found on the Tennessean's web site.

I'm confused here. Isn't it legal to shoot on your own property in TN? If the cops came out every time I blasted they would be quite busy.

One down and only a few hundred thousand to go.  

Quoted: I'm confused here. Isn't it legal to shoot on your own property in TN? If the cops came out every time I blasted they would be quite busy.

Well it is here in Fayette County, anyway. We had some rich folks from Memphis join us out here. This one lady calls the Sheriffs dept every time she heard a gun shoot. FINALLY Sheriff Kelly came out here himself and tells her,

“Lady this is NOT Memphis. Every time you hear a gunshot it does not mean someone just got shot. People hunt out here, hell people just like to shoot. If you do not see blood, PLEASE do not call us again....”

This one of the few places left where you can call the Sheriff's office and ask to speak to Sheriff Kelly and you will get him on the phone, no questions asked.

Quoted: “Lady this is NOT Memphis. Every time you hear a gunshot it does not mean someone just got shot. People hunt out here, hell people just like to shoot. If you do not see blood, PLEASE do not call us again....”

Well when people call us (in Memphis) all night about shots fired we tell them: Every time you here a gunshot it does not mean someone just got shot. If you dont see blood, or hear alot of screaming, PLEASE dont call us again.  

Not trying to start a flame war here but there seems to be a recurring theme here.......

Not "dissing" the police, but if they were wrong, somebody needs to swing. I don't care who or what it is "back shooting" is murder. I give the police the highest respect. That being said, they need to be held to a much higher standard than "ordinary folks" and compensated accordingly. Hard to say what went down with out being there.

JMHO & YMMV

Hessian-1

Re-read the original post & corrected my statement. I hope everything was on the up & up and the officer acted correctly. I concur with the "Mexican custom BS" call. (See "red" text.)

Damn.....

Quoted: I'm confused here. Isn't it legal to shoot on your own property in TN?

Not quite as simple as that, IMO. It would depend on how close the houses are, etc.

For those who do not know, Shelbyville is a HUGE horse breeding/training area. There's been a occassion or two where someone had their expensive horse shot, so I can't blame them too much for calling the po-po if they heard a shot when perhaps they usually do not.

As an aside, I think the "Mexican custom" thing is BS, as Mexico has stringent gun control down there!