Posted on 08/24/2006 1:56:20 PM PDT by staytrue
Teens throughout Worthington had heard the stories about the home by the cemetery, hidden in a tangle of trees, bushes and weeds, with trails snaking out from the door and around the house. "It’s haunted," some said. "Crazy people live there." And one of the favorites: "They’re witches."
Police learned only yesterday of those stories and the youthful dares of teens driving to the house at 141 Sharon Springs Dr.
But none of those tales involved a man with a gun.
Late Tuesday night, the homegrown scary tale turned to real horror. Five thrill-seeking girls set to begin their senior year at Thomas Worthington High School on Friday ran afoul of an armed resident of the home, leaving 17-year-old Rachel Barezinsky critically injured by gunfire, police said.
Allen S. Davis, a 40-year-old man who lives at the house with his mother, said during a jailhouse interview that he was defending his home.
He admitted opening fire from his first-floor bedroom window after hearing the girls outside around 10 p.m. He said he repeatedly fired shots from a .22-caliber rifle.
"Did they threaten me?" he said. "No.
"I didn’t know what their weaponry was, what their intentions were," he said. "In a situation like that, you assume the worst-case scenario if you’re going to protect your family from a possible home invasion and murder."
Police said the girls were mischievous, but they weren’t even close to the house and hadn’t harassed Davis or his mother, Sondra, when he opened fire.
"It’s just a kid thing," said Worthington Police Lt. J. Douglas Francis. "Unfortunately, this time it had some bad ramifications."
Barezinsky was struck twice, in the upper body and head, police said. She remained in critical condition at Ohio State University Medical Center, where she had surgery yesterday to reduce brain swelling.
The other girls with her, Margaret Hester, Tessa Acker, Rachel Breen and Una Hrnjak, weren’t hurt.
Davis, who police said had no criminal record, is charged with five counts of felonious assault. He was being held in the Franklin County jail pending an appearance in Municipal Court this morning.
Last night, several hundred of Barezinsky’s friends and family filled the football field of the high school, where they signed posters wishing her well and lighted candles.
Barezinsky’s mother, Amy Barezinsky, came directly from the hospital to talk to the crowd.
"She’s doing really well for someone who had that kind of trauma," said her mom, who is a nurse. "I’m going to have to get on my knees and pray. Maybe you guys could do that, too."
Doctors have told the family that they are "cautiously optimistic" about Rachel’s recovery. She has squeezed her aunt’s hand and responded to doctors’ requests to wiggle her toes.
"It’s just so senseless," said her aunt, Tina Wedebrook, who attended the vigil. "We need to focus our energy on healing Rachel. She is such a fighter, so full of energy."
Some of the girls who were in the car with Barezinsky also attended. Una Hrnjak broke down in tears after talking to the assembled crowd. "This is so hard to do," Hrnjak said. "She’s fighting so hard for all of us and for herself."
Lt. Francis gave this account of what happened Tuesday night:
The girls had gone to the Walnut Grove Cemetery for "ghosting," which amounts to teens trying to scare one another. The girls told police that the Davis house, right across the street, is known among local kids as the "spooky house."
"They dare each other to walk into the property," Francis said, saying this week was the first police had heard of the practice because the Davises had never filed a complaint.
Two of the girls stayed in the car while the other three started up the concrete walk to the Davis home. They didn’t get far before turning around.
"One of the girls honked the horn to scare them," Francis said.
After they all were back in the car, the girls heard what they thought were firecrackers, but was gunfire instead. They made the mistake of circling the block, Francis said.
Davis said he fired again as they returned.
"To the best of my knowledge, that did the trick," he said. His mother, he said, was asleep upstairs, and he didn’t learn he’d hit someone until police arrived later.
Police said no one got out of the car the second time the girls drove past. They discovered that Barezinsky, in the front passenger seat, was shot as they drove off. The panicked girls headed for N. High Street, where they found police.
When Rachel Breen called saying, "Mom, I’m all right but ..." Kathy Breen assumed she had wrecked the car.
"Instead, she said Rachel got shot," said Mrs. Breen, of Worthington. "I thought, ‘This can’t be. This is Worthington. Those things don’t happen here.’
"All the kids talked about an old lady — a witch — living there," she said. "They’re good kids. They didn’t ring the doorbell or knock on the window. They had just taken a few steps on the property when they ran back to the car."
Sam Steiner, a friend, called Barezinsky the "typical, upbeat, lots of fun, always-smiling cheerleader-type." Indeed, she’s a member of the Cardinals cheerleading squad.
Davis, who said he is a selfemployed writer, said he and his mother had put up with mischief for months. Teens would bang on their windows and doors, shout and cause a ruckus, he said.
"The main goal was to drive these people off and to teach them to stop coming and harassing and trespassing," he said of shooting out of his window.
"I regret that (Barezinsky was shot)," he said. "However, I would ask, why was that teenage girl engaging in delinquent behavior?"
He said he and his mother didn’t notify police of the ongoing harassment because of their poor relationship with the city.
Worthington officials have responded repeatedly to complaints about the property over the years, most recently when a picket fence collapsed and neighbors complained of overgrown shrubs. "They did the absolute minimum," said Don Phillips, the city’s chief building inspector.
Diana Gilmore and her husband lived next door to the Davises for 18 years, until moving in April.
She said the few times Allen Davis came out to tend to the mass of vegetation growing around the house, "He’d swing that sickle like he was killing it."
Her 33-year-old daughter, Melissa, said that even when she was a teen, she joked with her siblings that the grayhaired Sondra Davis was a witch. The large black caldron Davis used as a planter in the front yard, made the story perfect, she said.
The caldron is still on the property, obscured by brush but visible to anyone who heads up the winding dirt trail that leads to Davis’ front door.
One sign on the trail warns, "Enter at your own risk. Falling walnuts." Posted on the front door is another that reads, "Armed response." But the door, along with most of the house, can’t be seen from the street.
Sondra Davis remained in her home yesterday but would not comment.
From jail, her son laughed at the legend that had brought five girls to his home.
"Wow, a haunted house, huh?
"Wow."
You recommend crying "Emergency! Save Me!" MSG?
We'd have to get a look at his den.
"I'm shocked that it took 155 posts for someone to FINALLY state the f****** obvious. :^)"
Many of us assumed that as a possibility of course, but the more I read his statements I came to think it was not premature to state it out right.
He does look like he wandered out of a horror movie.
Oh! Look how pretty the cheerleader is, and how dorky the guy looks!
Evidence? We don't need no stinkin' evidence! Case closed!</sarcasm>
DSL Dyke and Cable Cojones.
Unfortunately, audio technology that's practical for a home can't portray gunfire realistically.
He lives with his mama who must also be his barber
. . . and that to me is almost always the issue in any story. I read this story as being at least 90% determined by the two pictures posted in reply #1.Pretty girl, dorky looking guy. Therefore the girl was all right in the reporter's book, and the guy was not. It just makes a better story that way; the characters in the story are cast according to their appearance as surely as characters in a movie would be.
Does that mean that the dork was in the right? No. It means that we don't know, and we may never know.
Look, it's a different thing in a way, but in a way it is not. I was driving my daughter and her friend to college in a snowstorm back (ahem!) a couple of years, and she wanted to drive. And I was reluctant, but like a fool I relented.
As we passed a couple of cars which had spun out and plowed off the road, my daughter gets the fabulous idea to lock eyes with her friend in a knowing look at how stupid those other driver were. In less time than it takes to tell it, we were in exactly the same fix.
Completely different, except that it is exactly the same in its cause. You turn a bunch of teenagers loose with a car and they might as well be drunk, even if their BAC is zero. No realizing sense whatsoever, all too commonly. And that is why this happened, and that is why that poor mother is suffering. On top of all the grief inherent in having a daughter in ICU, she knows perfectly well that what I just wrote is the truth.
I hate to break this to you, but looks do matter.
I make sure I dress and look very nice when I go to the dentist or doctor because I want them to think I'm a productive member of society (which I am).
Besides, do you really want to shoot this cheerleader ?
go here for a follow up story
http://columbusdispatch.com/news-story.php?story=207567
Allen Davis was harassed constantly by other children, she said.
"He was always taunted and teased and picked on, and it never ended," she said. "He's not a monster."
Another childhood friend remembered Davis as intelligent but awkward.
"His head was constantly down; he would not look at anyone in the eye," said the 42-year-old man, who refused to give his name. "He blended in so well, it was like he almost wasn't even there. He'd wear 'floods' (pants that were too short) — very much the nerd-type of look."
Friends couldn't recall ever seeing Davis' father. Neighbors said he grew up with his mother and grandmother.
Davis went to Ohio State University and graduated with a bachelor's degree in economics in 1987. Little is known about Davis' life after college.
A neighbor, who refused to give her name because she feared retribution for speaking out, called the shooting a tragedy for everyone.
"I feel terrible for the high-school student. I feel bad for Allen and his mother."
> She did not deserve a bullet in the brain for what she did.
I'm with you, reagan_fanatic.
Some father's little girl got shot, nearly killed, for doing a "dumb kids thing". Most fathers worry about their daughter getting pregnant too young to some loser who doesn't love her. But this scenario is infinitely worse.
Call 9-11 if teenagers are bugging you. Getting out the artillery is WAY OVER THE TOP unless they are kicking in your door. Even in Ohio.
If they are trigger-happy in *Texas* -- as Spktyr suggests -- to the point where this outcome should be expected and applauded and protected by law, then it is time to take away a few guns until their owners can behave in an adult, responsible manner and attitudes change. The right to bear arms is absolute and should apply to all responsible adults. But it should not extend to trigger-happy morons: this kind of tragedy makes all responsible gun owners look bad.
If that girl dies, I say "Hang 'im."
"You recommend crying "Emergency! Save Me!" MSG?"
I recommend obeying the law as far as possible. I own several weapons in my house. There are a bunch of kids in the neighborhood, some of them a bit rowdy. I haven't shot one yet.
Yeah, life is so unfair to the ugly looking putzes of the world, isn't it?
After all five highschool cuties terrorizing a man in his own home can be enough to frighten him to the point of fearing for his very life! Even though these she-devils had left the property after their terror-spree, any man so terrorized has the right to shoot them while they are in their car. The clueless, wicked police, assisted by the press, simply fail to understand the exigent circumstances - he had been mercilessly teased all his life after all.
This is the original article in the Columbus Dispatch and Davis's first statments which are interesting......
Resident of ‘haunted’ house critically wounds teen
By Theodore Decker, Kevin Kidder and Encarnacion Pyle
The Columbus Dispatch
Thursday, August 24, 2006
JAMES D. DeCAMP | DISPATCH
Three of the four friends of Rachel Barezinsky who were in the car with her when she was shot comfort each other at a vigil last night at Thomas Worthington High School.
Teens throughout Worthington had heard the stories about the home by the cemetery, hidden in a tangle of trees, bushes and weeds, with trails snaking out from the door and around the house.
"It's haunted," some said.
"Crazy people live there."
And one of the favorites: "They're witches."
Police learned only yesterday of those stories and the youthful dares of teens driving to the house at 141 Sharon Springs Dr.
But none of those tales involved a man with a gun.
Late Tuesday night, the homegrown scary tale turned to real horror. Five thrill-seeking girls set to begin their senior year at Thomas Worthington High School on Friday ran afoul of an armed resident of the home, leaving 17-year-old Rachel Barezinsky critically injured by gunfire, police said.
Allen S. Davis, a 40-year-old man who lives at the house with his mother, said during a jailhouse interview that he was defending his home.
He admitted opening fire from his first-floor bedroom window after hearing the girls outside around 10 p.m. He said he repeatedly fired shots from a .22-caliber rifle.
"Did they threaten me?" he said. "No.
"I didn't know what their weaponry was, what their intentions were," he said. "In a situation like that, you assume the worst-case scenario if you're going to protect your family from a possible home invasion and murder."
Police said the girls were mischievous, but they weren't even close to the house and hadn't harassed Davis or his mother, Sondra, when he opened fire.
"It's just a kid thing," said Worthington Police Lt. J. Douglas Francis. "Unfortunately, this time it had some bad ramifications."
Barezinsky was struck twice, in the upper body and head, police said. She remained in critical condition at Ohio State University Medical Center, where she had surgery yesterday to reduce brain swelling.
The other girls with her, Margaret Hester, Tessa Acker, Rachel Breen and Una Hrnjak, weren't hurt.
Davis, who police said had no criminal record, is charged with five counts of felonious assault. He was being held in the Franklin County jail pending an appearance in Municipal Court this morning.
Last night, several hundred of Barezinsky's friends and family filled the football field of the high school, where they signed posters wishing her well and lighted candles.
Barezinsky's mother, Amy Barezinsky, came directly from the hospital to talk to the crowd.
"She's doing really well for someone who had that kind of trauma," said her mom, who is a nurse. "I'm going to have to get on my knees and pray. Maybe you guys could do that, too."
Doctors have told the family that they are "cautiously optimistic" about Rachel's recovery. She has squeezed her aunt's hand and responded to doctors' requests to wiggle her toes.
"It's just so senseless," said her aunt, Tina Wedebrook, who attended the vigil. "We need to focus our energy on healing Rachel. She is such a fighter, so full of energy."
Some of the girls who were in the car with Barezinsky also attended. Una Hrnjak broke down in tears after talking to the assembled crowd. "This is so hard to do," Hrnjak said. "She's fighting so hard for all of us and for herself."
Lt. Francis gave this account of what happened Tuesday night:
The girls had gone to the Walnut Grove Cemetery for "ghosting," which amounts to teens trying to scare one another. The girls told police that the Davis house, right across the street, is known among local kids as the "spooky house."
"They dare each other to walk into the property," Francis said, saying this week was the first police had heard of the practice because the Davises had never filed a complaint.
Two of the girls stayed in the car while the other three started up the concrete walk to the Davis home. They didn't get far before turning around.
"One of the girls honked the horn to scare them," Francis said.
After they all were back in the car, the girls heard what they thought were firecrackers, but was gunfire instead. They made the mistake of circling the block, Francis said.
Davis said he fired again as they returned.
"To the best of my knowledge, that did the trick," he said. His mother, he said, was asleep upstairs, and he didn't learn he'd hit someone until police arrived later.
Police said no one got out of the car the second time the girls drove past. They discovered that Barezinsky, in the front passenger seat, was shot as they drove off. The panicked girls headed for N. High Street, where they found police.
When Rachel Breen called saying, "Mom, I'm all right but ..." Kathy Breen assumed she had wrecked the car.
"Instead, she said Rachel got shot," said Mrs. Breen, of Worthington. "I thought, 'This can't be. This is Worthington. Those things don't happen here.'
"All the kids talked about an old lady — a witch — living there," she said. "They're good kids. They didn't ring the doorbell or knock on the window. They had just taken a few steps on the property when they ran back to the car."
Sam Steiner, a friend, called Barezinsky the "typical, upbeat, lots of fun, always-smiling cheerleader-type." Indeed, she's a member of the Cardinals cheerleading squad.
Davis, who said he is a self-employed writer, said he and his mother had put up with mischief for months. Teens would bang on their windows and doors, shout and cause a ruckus, he said.
"The main goal was to drive these people off and to teach them to stop coming and harassing and trespassing," he said of shooting out of his window.
"I regret that (Barezinsky was shot)," he said. "However, I would ask, why was that teenage girl engaging in delinquent behavior?"
He said he and his mother didn't notify police of the ongoing harassment because of their poor relationship with the city.
Worthington officials have responded repeatedly to complaints about the property over the years, most recently when a picket fence collapsed and neighbors complained of overgrown shrubs. "They did the absolute minimum," said Don Phillips, the city's chief building inspector.
Diana Gilmore and her husband lived next door to the Davises for 18 years, until moving in April.
She said the few times Allen Davis came out to tend to the mass of vegetation growing around the house, "He'd swing that sickle like he was killing it."
Her 33-year-old daughter, Melissa, said that even when she was a teen, she joked with her siblings that the gray-haired Sondra Davis was a witch. The large black caldron Davis used as a planter in the front yard, made the story perfect, she said.
The caldron is still on the property, obscured by brush but visible to anyone who heads up the winding dirt trail that leads to Davis' front door.
One sign on the trail warns, "Enter at your own risk. Falling walnuts." Posted on the front door is another that reads, "Armed response." But the door, along with most of the house, can't be seen from the street.
Sondra Davis remained in her home yesterday but would not comment.
From jail, her son laughed at the legend that had brought five girls to his home.
"Wow, a haunted house, huh?
"Wow."
That sums it up, and concisely. His actions do not appear to be reasonable, neither during or after the event. Moreover, his reactions don't appear to be, either.
If the follow up in the story is anywhere near true, he does not seem to be at all upset about this, which indicates a near-sociopathic lack of empathy which I find troubling. I mean, if I had shot a teenage girl, I would be very badly shaken, regardless of the circumstances.
But then, I don't know how accurate the story is. I'm sorry to say that I have grown increasingly cynical about news coverage.
You know, wars have started for less than that.
Sorry, in RL cases, the police video shows, it sounds like real gunfire. BAP! BAP! BAP! In the movies or teledramas, it goes POOCHAWWW!!!
I stumbled upon this forum after doing a search for Allen Davis, but I have to chime in and set everyone straight. I went to school with Allen since the 4th grade. He is actually quite intelligent, but has had social issues since he was a kid. The articles from the Columbus Dispatch only scratch the surface, but are nonetheless accurate when it comes to his past. As long as I have known him (more like known of him), he has always been anti-social and bazzar. His mother walked him to school all the way through high school. He never spoke, not even to teachers, until 9th grade, and then only when called on. Until then, and maybe even after, he would stand in the middle of the school playground at recess and stand like a statue, in the same place, day in and day out, and just stand there and turn his head from side-to-side. Kids were relentless with teasing and name calling, which sounds like it carried over into his adulthood (thus the "ghosting" and haunted house dealings he has put up with in recent years). In my opinion, it is a classic case of a guy that finally snapped. What is surprising to me, as well as my old high school friends, is it actually took this long! The guy obviuosly has had something traumatic happen in his childhood, maybe even chemically, that caused this history of behavior. His mother has always seemed to me very controlling, which didn't help, and she herself also has similar issues as her son. My god, when Allen's grandmother died, his mother wouldn't let the paramedics take the body out of the home becuase she feared that the grandmother would suddenly wake and try to bang her way out of the funeral home's refridgerated locker! This is documented in the Worthington police records.
I could go on with the stories, but suffice to say this situation is about 30+ years in the making. I equate this to a Columbine, but on a 30 year delay. The fact that it was a teenager, noless a cheerleader, makes it sadly ironic. This is an intelligent but insane guy who took a lot of harrasement for over 3 decades and finally decided he had enough. Did the girl deserve it? Of course not, but you may be able to see now why he may have done what he did. She and her friends unfortunately chose the wrong house that night.
Thanks for your input.
Freaky guy; controlling mother.
Sounds like another Ed Gein in the making -- the real life "Norman Bates".
Ed really lost it when his mother died. That's when he began his grave robbing and killing. If Allen's only attachment is his mother and she controls every aspect of his life, he might really fall apart when she passes.
I'm afraid it's only going to get worse for him (and the community that he lives in), unless someone can help him.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.