Posted on 09/27/2007 3:01:39 PM PDT by Stoat
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Michael Ruschak, 22, and Tiffany Barwick, 19, met twice with Seminole County sheriff's deputies on Monday, telling investigators that they feared for their lives because Barwick's ex-boyfriend, Andrew Allred, 21, sent them a threatening text message. Barwick was told to seek a restraining order.
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Late Monday night, she and Rushack were shot and killed by Allred, according to officials.
The Seminole County Sheriff's Office said there was nothing the could have done to prevent the shootings because they did not witness or hear the threat. Meanwhile, Allred confessed to shooting the two and injuring another person shortly after his arrest. He also asked police about the condition of the victims, according to Seminole County authorities.
Allred was being held on Wednesday without bail at John Polk Correctional Facility in Sanford. He has been charged with homicide, attempted homicide and armed burglary. Allred told detectives he went to Ruschak's house on Monday with the intention of crashing a car belonging to his ex-girlfriend, who was at Ruschak's house, a sheriff's report said. Allred entered the home by shooting out a sliding glass door.
Eric Thomas Roberts suffered a gunshot wound to the leg while trying to take the gun from Allred after the other two were shot, the report said. Allred was arrested at his home a short time later. The gun believed to be used in the shootings was recovered.
Such a needless waste, particularly in Florida which has such highly-publicized and victim-friendly self defense laws.
How many people will have to die before it's recognized that restraining orders don't work against a determined aggressor?
How many people will have to die before it's recognized that the police will normally arrive AFTER the crime?
Amazingly enough, no restraining order has ever stopped a bullet or a knife...these people should be locked away! :*(
Ping
The boyfriend should have grown a sack and bought his own gun in order to defend himself.
police too busy tasering invalids, I gather.
I agree. Restraining orders have zero stopping power with determined individuals, and the Police always shows up after the crime has taken place.
It’s completely analogous to the “one free bite” rule for dogs. Police can only protect you from the “second bite” after the perp is known to be bad (along with handling the daily task of being a big source of revenue).
Aren't there logs kept of sent text messages at the phone company?
If so, would this not constitute evidence in such a matter?
shoulda bought a gun... unless things have changed, your drivers license was also your pistol permit in fla.
A restraining order is just a piece of paper to someone who doesn’t CARE about the consequences.
Well, it's not really subcontracting, is it, when you're forced to. "Subcontracting" presumes you do something voluntarily. "Subjugating" is more like it.
“The Seminole County Sheriff’s Office said there was nothing the could have done to prevent the shootings because they did not witness or hear the threat.”
You people keep telling yourselves that. The truth is you could have done something about it. Now 2 innocent people are dead.
True on both counts. The courts and police can't do anything until something happens. That's why it's a good idea to own a gun and know how to use it.
I'm sure that the same is true for most of us here.
There is NO reason for these people to NOT have a firearm for their protection
No VALID reason, absolutely. The most likely invalid reason is that they were sissified, pantywaist liberals who thought that guns are evil and should only be used by the police.
Yes, but evidence for what exactly? How long can the police hold someone for sending a single threatening text message? Not long, I suspect.
When my son-in-law went off the deep end on a meth rage, beat my daughter and then upon release from jail threatened to kill her and take my grandson to Mexico we took my daughter to get a restraining order, and got one. We also had my daughter and grandson stay under our roof, and had a heavily armed camp at our home. We contacted SILs family and told them point blank if he showed up and attempted to carry out his threats against my daughter we would blow his head off- and if that concerned them they needed to gather him up for his own protection. His family did gather him up, SIL went to rehab, they divorced and he has never made any type of threats to her since. Restraining orders are necessary; but should not be the only step taken when someone is threatened.
Gonzales vs Castle Rock summation: Police are not there to prevent specific crime. Police serve as a broad spectrum deterrent and to clean up after the crime has actually been committed.
Short version: Don’t expect police to help you, buy a gun.
Horrible story.
A restraining/protection order is only good for getting the nut on the cop’s radar. Important to do but not enough.
If either one of the victims had a criminal prosecution, they would not have been allowed to have a gun.
And, as the Feds & states criminalize more & more behavior, it wont be long before most folks cannot own a firearm. When hate-speech laws become the norm, most of us here at FR will be criminals, unable to protect ourselves.
There is more than one way to disarm America.
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