Cops: Man kills fiancee day before wedding

[onehandle]

Source: MSNBC

WINTER SPRINGS, Fla. - A man who thought there was an intruder in his house shot and killed his fiancee the day before they were to be married, police said Friday.

"Right now everything points to a tragic accident," Police Chief Kevin Brunelle told The Associated Press, adding investigators were awaiting forensic results.

John Tabutt, 62, told investigators he got his gun when he thought he heard an intruder, then fired at a figure in the hallway, according to Brunelle. It was Tabutt's live-in fiancee, 62-year-old Nancy Dinsmore, who family members say he was going to marry Saturday. Tabutt told authorities he thought she was next to him in bed the whole time.

Read more: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33251920/ns/us_news-life/

---

People who die by the gun at home are dead by their own hand or a family member's hand.

Gun lovers who love to taut 'successful' home intrusion 'fight' stories are on the fringe.

[imdjh]

1. The wages of sin

[sakabatou]

2. Sad

[ZombieHorde]

27. Very sad. nt

[MineralMan]

3. That is a very sad story...and has a point.

Having a firearm in your home for self-defense isn't a panacea. You also have to have a well-considered plan for situations where you might have to use it. Rule 1 is to know where the residents in the house are before firing. Rule 2 is to know what you're shooting at before pulling the trigger. Rule 3 is knowing what's behind the target.

This guy didn't follow either Rule 1 or Rule 2.

A firearm won't protect you. It requires someone with a brain and a plan holding it.

Sadly "accidental" shootings like this one are far too common.

[tqla]

4. Exactly

Perfectly stated MineralMan. I agree 100%.

[ejbr]

5. Welcome TQLA

:hi:

[tqla]

6. Thank you.

I am a reader here of around 3 months. Finally decided to chime in.

[ZombieHorde]

28. Welcome to DU.

[Altoid_Cyclist]

7. Sad example that tragically proves your point.

You might remember this story but if anyone hasn't seen it, no words to describe......

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/s_353343.html

:cry:

[pundaint]

12. Perhaps we should start calling them "Negligent Shootings" as a training aid.

It might make people more apt to review their own practices, and would put the proper onus on the trigger man.

[aquart]

19. That's a good framing.

[Better Today]

25. Yes, excellent point! It should be sent to all media producers.

[Butch350]

17. I agree 100% MineralMan. Sad.

[targetpractice]

8. "Gun lovers who love to taut 'successful' home intrusion 'fight' stories are on the fringe."

That's an excellent point... I'm sure it's true.

Anyone know of studies or statistics that support that contention?

[Are_grits_groceries]

9. "he thought she was next to him in bed the whole time"

He didn't have a clue about that when he got up. I would think he would check to make sure she was okay before he got the gun and played "High Noon". After all, looking beside you in the bed isn't that hard. If she slept in another room, then this would make some sense.

Fishy.

[Demobrat]

11. Extremely fishy.

Especially since all he had to do was yell "who's there" before he fired.

[left coaster]

16. Yeah, that was my first thought as well..

Perhaps the authorities are already checking to see if the eager groom had any life insurance on his bride to be.. just sayin'.

[GreenStormCloud]

45. The insurance company wouldn't pay to him if he did.

There are laws that govern that sort of thing, even if it is an "accident".

[Demobrat]

10. The best way to protect yourself

is to absolutely refuse to have guns or people who feel the need for guns in your life. No, it won't keep you entirely safe. But it's a helluva start, and not hard.

[armueller2001]

44. Hope you never

have to call the police. I'm sure they will bring guns.

[Plucketeer]

13. Aw Geez...........

If only she'd been "packin heat" herself. She'd probably be alive. :crazy: :sarcasm:

[liquid diamond]

37. Always one of these in a gun thread.

"If only the victim had a gun...." You people are so predictable.

[X_Digger]

40. I assume by the above *sarcasm* tag that yes, sarcasm was intended,, n/t

[Plucketeer]

50. Your assumption is correct.

I was just trying to get the jump on the 2nd amendment crowd. They're SO insecure - but then, I guess that would explain alot! :crazy:

[jus_the_facts]

14. A man here shot and killed his 16 yr. old daughter as an intruder too....

....it was deemed a tragic accident as well....he never did a day in jail and claimed he'd have done it again in defense of his home. :crazy:

[billh58]

15. But, this is

the price we must pay for our freedoms, especially the 2nd Amendment.

[Fastcars]

18. As A Gun Owner...

I cannot comprehend anyone shooting a person accidently in this manner.

I can understand the desire to protect one's home, but to shoot someon that you went to bed with? Heck, I can't understand the need to shoot someone you can't positively identify as an intruder. And not all intruders need to be shot. The risk of shooting someone I know would outweigh any fear for my own well being that would drive me to shoot someone without verifying that me or my family was in danger.

Makes me question my support of gun ownership rights. But stories about the misuse of automobiles makes me question the rights of everyone to own cars as well. And car ownership has testing and licensing.

[niceypoo]

20. Just the facts maam

Keeping a handgun in the home for self-defense places a gun owner and his/her family in great jeopardy. Research indicates that residents of homes where a gun is present are five times more likely to experience a suicide and three times more likely to experience a homicide than residents of homes without guns. Additionally, a gun kept in the home is 43 times more likely to kill a member of the household, or friend, than an intruder

In 1995, there were 1,225 unintentional shooting fatalities. Of these, 181 fatalities were children 14 years of age and younger

In 1996, more than 1300 children aged 10-19 committed suicide with firearms. Unlike suicide attempts using other methods, suicide attempts with gun are nearly always fatal, meaning a temporarily depressed teenager will never get a second chance at life. Two-thirds of all completed teenage suicides involve a firearm

New England Journal of Medicine
In the week after buying a handgun, the purchaser was 57 times more likely than the general population to commit suicide, according to a study of California handgun buyers published in Thursday's New England Journal of Medicine. The study, which followed 238,292 people who bought a handgun in California in 1991, found that men were four times more likely to commit suicide in the year after they purchased a handgun than men in general. Women, who bought just 12 percent of guns in California, faced a suicide risk 16 times higher than the rest of the female population during the first year of gun ownership, the study found. The report found that higher suicide risk persists for at least six years after a gun is bought.

When the study looked at the risk of being murdered, they found that female gun owners were twice as likely as the rest of the population to be killed by a gun. ``It may be that many women purchase handguns for protection against violence from an intimate partner and that these handguns are used by the partners against them,''

[Orrex]

32. Regarding the "suicide following a firearm purchase"

I wonder if the study takes into account the number of people who purchased a firearm with the specific intent to commit suicide with it.

It's still an important statistic, but that would seem a markedly different situation from someone buying a firearm and then deciding to kill himself a few weeks later.

[Fire_Medic_Dave]

21. never miss an opportunity to turn someone's tragedy into your personal political soapbox.

[Paladin]

22. Because Gun Militants Never EVER Do Such Things, Right?

(Sarcasm alert, for those perpetually in need of one.....)

[Fire_Medic_Dave]

26. I don't consider criminals shot while victimizing innocent people a tragedy.

[Paladin]

29. No, You Seem To Regard Such Shootings As Religious Experiences..... (n/t)

[Fire_Medic_Dave]

30. So citizens prevailing over those wishing to rob, rape and murder them bothers you?

[Gman2]

39. What if they broke in, to steal a loaf of bread? Dead?

There is a HUGE spans between scaring someone off, with your brandished weapon, or holding them at bay, till the cops arrive, and using that law you can. Would you immediately go for body mass? When a foot or such would do? There are a few cops itchen to off someone, and there are average citizens, that want to off someone. Many that signed up for Iraq, stated a desire to off someone. Minimum force necessary is always the law, and the moral path. And all those that opt, for the harsh path, are bringing that path to themselves. As well as JUST ptotecting themselves. Nothing wrong with a gun. Something wrong with a lot of peoples brains.

[X_Digger]

42. Les Miserable analogies aside..

.. have you patented that mind control device that lets you know if the intruder breaking into your house at 3am is after bread or your life?

[Fire_Medic_Dave]

46. As if that's what most home invasions are about, just needing a loaf of bread. LOL.

[divideandconquer]

41. 200 justifiable homicides a year vs 30,000 gun deaths a year+damage to the general US community

Not a very good trade off but then the gun huggers just don't care. BTW, Neal Boortz does the same town crier of gunfire you do Dave, hope you're proud to be in such company.

[armueller2001]

43. A gun doesn't

need to kill an assailant to be effective.

Most (over 90%) of gun defenses don't involve a shot being fired. The perp is held at gunpoint until police arrive or they run away and stop the attack.

BUT I'M SURE YOU ALREADY KNEW THAT!

[Fire_Medic_Dave]

48. Gun grabbers never let the facts get in the way of a passionate, irrational argument.

[Fire_Medic_Dave]

47. Your numbers are very inaccurate.

The vast majority of those gun deaths are in fact suicides. Of the roughly 10,000 or so gun homicides each year the overwhleming majority of those are committed by convicted felons in illegal possession of firearms. Your justifiable homicide numbers are wrong and most people that defend themselves with firearms do not kill their attackers.

[frog92969]

23. Identify your target!

That's the golden rule!

Dumbasses like this get responsible gun owners demonized.

[Altoid_Cyclist]

49. Very good point.

There are far too many Darth Cheney imitators out there.
After Cheney shot his friend, I asked the most knowledgable hunter that I know (my Dentist), which of them was to blame. He said that there is no gray area, if you aren't 100% sure of what or whom you're firing at, don't pull the trigger.

Cheney, the groom to be and the father that I linked to earlier, either didn't have the proper training and/or experience or else they aren't bright enough to have a gun in their hands.

This area has had too many incidents of children being killed by siblings or friends because the parents didn't practice responsible gun safety procedures.

[Oldtimeralso]

24. Duplicate Post

See http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x6744090

Thanks

[AngryAmish]

31. Florida...

[DesertDiamond]

33. This is so like the movie American Gun... Chuck Coburn confiscates a gun from his granddaughter's

purse, that's why he has it in the house. His daughter sneaks into the house in the middle of the night, all excited about surprising them with a Christmas tree. He panics, thinking it's an intruder, and he shoots her dead.

[greiner3]

34. He had just found out the dowry wasn't enough!

[KillCapitalism]

35. Could have been avoided.

If you keep a handgun in your home to defend yourself from intruders at night, attach a damn tac. light to it and use the thing before you pull the trigger.

[liquid diamond]

36. Another tragedy to be pimped by anti-gun freaks.

[Gman2]

38. I know I'm gonna hate myself for even saying this but, what if it was a freudian sqeeze?

cold feet. Jitters. Subconciously, he didnt want to be hitched?