Man Shot Dead After Trying to Surprise Father-in-Law

[Demovictory9]

A Norwegian man was killed Tuesday night after trying to give his father-in-law—an armed Florida homeowner—a birthday surprise. Police say 37-year-old Christopher Bergan flew in from Norway to surprise Richard Dennis on his 61st birthday. He knocked on Dennis' back door in the Pensacola suburb of Gulf Breeze at around 11:30pm then jumped out from bushes to surprise him, the Pensacola News Journal reports. Dennis, however, had earlier argued with a relative who banged on the front door and answered his back door armed with a .380 semi-automatic firearm. Police say he fired at Bergan when he jumped out, instantly killing his son-in-law with a shot to the heart.


Authorities say the shooting of Bergan, who is married to Dennis' daughter, was a tragic accident and Dennis will not be charged. "I'm not going to second guess Mr. Dennis for what he did. Here he is, he had just had a confrontation at the front of his house," says Santa Rosa County Sheriff Bob Johnson. "Couple hours later, someone is banging on his back door, and it’s a fenced yard. And then someone jumps out of the bushes," the sheriff says. "You can’t really say anything against Mr. Dennis for doing what he did." The sheriff says anybody who is religious should "pray for this family," the New York Daily News reports. "I can't imagine what they're going through," he says. "It's horrible."


https://www.newser.com/story/281283/man-shoots-son-in-law-after-birthday-surprise.html?utm_source=part&utm_medium=uol&utm_campaign=rss_top

[tblue37]

1. People should never, ever surprise anyone in our over-armed country. Someone from a

country with sane gun laws wouldn't realize that.

Unfortunately, even in the US some people don't realize that and thus end up getting shot by friends or family members, like the college student who was recently shot by her mother when she came home to surprise her one weekend.

[Catherine Vincent]

2. That's horrible what happened. nt

[jberryhill]

4. Dangerous people with guns are dangerous

[JonLP24]

22. Would they be dangerous if they didn't have a gun?

I remember when I was a teen I was staying the night somewhere but unexpectedly came home earlier it was nighttime I crawled thru doggy door and startled the dogs and my mom didn't know who I was at first she said she would have shot me if she had a gun thankfully she didn't.

[lagomorph777]

24. Less dangerous with no gun - somebody with a knife would have a few more seconds to

think and react in a measured way.

[JonLP24]

25. I wasn't stabbed when I freightened her coming home in the middle of the night

Shehasnt harmed anyone but on that night if she had a gun she probably would have shot me since she didn't recognize me at first.

[lagomorph777]

31. Perfect example!

Thanks for sharing.

[jberryhill]

3. It's a mystery why dangerous people like this are not charged or locked up

I don't give a shit how bad he feels.

Yeah, it feels bad to be a danger to your community, and to have your irresponsible behavior come to fruition.

This guy thought someone was outside harassing him, so he went out with a gun to shoot that person.

Why we give people like him a free pass to shoot members of their families is something I will never understand. On top of the fact that these people are a demonstrated menace to society, you don't really know without a full investigation if he had an inkling of who it was and some non-apparent reason for wanting to shoot him.

[CrispyQ]

5. I totally agree.

It said he'd had an argument with a relative earlier. A relative! And he went & armed himself. Did he feel the relative had gone & armed themselves, too? Or is he just an angry white man looking for an excuse to shoot his gun at someone. Yes, it should be investigated & he should be charged.

[jberryhill]

8. I don't know what makes this any different from Amber Guyger

Guy went out to kill someone and did so. It is "tragic" due to a mistake of fact, but that's what happens when people go about looking to shoot people.

[Mariana]

28. It's hard to believe he truly felt threatened

if he didn't call the police, before he went outside to confront whoever was out there.

[unblock]

6. indeed. really, a very strong burden should be on the shooter to get it right.

the current de facto standard seems to be that if a shooter (particularly if the shooter is white and especially police, and/or if the victim is a person of color) feels the slightest momentary twinge of fear, then they have every right to shoot to kill.

really, though, killing someone else should "obviously" be a last resort, only after you've exhausted all other reasonable alternatives, and even then, only when you actually were in grave danger. not just that you momentarily *thought* you were in danger, but that you actually *were* in grave danger.

shooting someone holding a snickers bar or a cell phone just because you were a-scared it might be a gun isn't good enough to justify taking someone else's life.

the person who *brings* the gun into the situation should be held to a much higher standard than what they are currently held to.


this should not really be controversial. most gun-owners are responsible, and they proudly declare that. fine. they should have no problem being held to a standard that doesn't put their own momentary fear above the live of everyone around them.

evidently, even loved ones.

[Jedi Guy]

19. Your point about thinking one is in danger vs. being in danger relies on hindsight, though.

There was an instance where a man who'd been acting erratically assumed a "shooter's stance" and pointed a metallic object at police officers with both hands. Not surprisingly, they opened fire and he was killed. The metallic object turned out to be an e-cigarette.

Sure, they weren't in any real danger, but they had no way of knowing it was an e-cigarette and not a gun when it was pointed at them.

Sometimes an objective measure of danger can't be established until after the fact. That's why there's the "reasonable person" concept in law. Based on what was known at that moment, is the action reasonable?

In this case, rather than going out to confront a supposed relative with gun in hand, he could have called the police and remained indoors. It might've turned out to be the kind of wacky misunderstanding they'd laugh about years later.

[unblock]

34. i agree that my brief summary doesn't capture all scenarios

but the standard has to be significantly higher than "oops! my momentary fear entitles me to snuff your entire life!"

my point is that a person *who brings a gun into a situation* has a higher burden in terms of regard for other people's lives.

it's not good enough to say a reasonable person would be afraid. a person who brings a gun into the situation has a responsibility to take extra care to safeguard the people around him, who are in greater danger due to the presence of that gun.


a better standard might be that the shooting is justified if a reasonable man in the *victim's* position would have known that his actions might lead a reasonable man in the shooter's position to fear for his life, and to shoot if they had a gun.

so a victim reaching for a wallet can't be shot.
a victim taking out an inhaler or a snickers bar can't be shot.
a victim who adopts a shooting position and says "i have a gun", ok, that person can be shot, even if it was actually an e-cig.

shoot first and ask questions later leads to a lot of pointlessly dead bodies.

people need to check their facts first, announce they have a gun, call the police, call for backup, try to head for cover first, try to use non-lethal force first, etc.


i don't think it's right that someone can insert themselves and a gun into a situation where they then fear for their lives and leave themselves with no alternative other than to kill someone else. anyone carrying a gun has a responsibility to take extra precautions that that gun is used only as a last resort.

particularly in your own home. if you feel the need to carry a gun when you open the door, then invest in a security camera or a peephole or check out the window first. ask who it is through the door. yell that you have a gun. or just stay inside and call the police, depending on the situation.

you should take reasonable steps other than shooting before shooting.


this should be obvious, but so many people in america lust after the righteous kill, and so many innocent people die....

[sinkingfeeling]

14. Agree. Carrying a loaded gun around is crazy and an excuse to

maim or kill.

[LuckyLib]

7. And if Mr. Dennis were black? Handcuffed and escorted to a squad car, with

prosecution to follow.

[struggle4progress]

9. The gun lobby talked a lot of state legislatures into dropping

the "any reasonable person would have been afraid" test in favor of the "any paranoid armed wacko would say he felt afraid" test

It was a mistake, and it should be undone

[yortsed snacilbuper]

10. "The sheriff says anybody who is religious should "pray"

religion kills.

[ExciteBike66]

11. Gun humpers gonna hump...

Only cure is to confiscate them all, though this tool would probably have tried to stab his son-in-law anyway...

[Coventina]

12. No, it was NOT a "tragic accident" it was absolutely ON PURPOSE!

And yes, I absolutely can say something against Mr. Dennis - YOU KILLED YOUR DAUGHTER'S HUSBAND YOU STUPID ASS!

[tblue37]

18. And the son-in-law must have had a fond relationship with his FIL, since he went

to so much trouble and expense to surprise him and he with him on his birthday.

[Hermit-The-Prog]

20. Thanksgiving in that house -- "Thank you Jesus for mah guns"

[Act_of_Reparation]

13. Since when are accidents exempt from prosecution?

If I accidentally killed someone with my car, I'd be going to jail. What the fuck difference does intentionality make? Asshole should have identified his target before pulling the trigger.

[jberryhill]

23. It's not an accident if you go outside with a gun intending to shoot someone

This is not even as much of an "accident" as your car, since your purpose in getting into your car was not to run someone over, but you simply ran over the wrong person.

This guy went out looking to shoot someone and did what he intended to do. No different from Amber Guyger.

[defacto7]

15. and if he hadn't had a gun? What? A happy surprise.

Instead death and life long tragedy.

[Mariana]

27. Even having a gun, he should have stayed his ass inside

and called the police. That's what a normal person does, if they're inside and feel threatened by someone who is outside the house. I think he was hoping for a chance to shoot someone and not go to prison for it, and that's exactly what happened.

[Initech]

16. Hooray guns!!

[Neema]

17. "You can't really say anything against Mr. Dennis for doing what he did." Really?!

Wow, somehow I feel like I can say an AWFUL LOT about what he did. How about calling the police? How about yelling out the door that you've called the police and you are armed? Seems like opening the door and shooting without looking or asking questions is the VERY LAST RESORT before which there are a WHOLE FUCKING LOT of options that don't involve killing an innocent man.

Why is he not being charged with manslaughter?

[milestogo]

29. AGREED.

He could have stayed in his house and called the police.

[Blecht]

26. Best just to stay out of Florida

And all the other states ruled by gun humpers.

[Phoenix61]

30. There are days I am embarrassed to admit

I live in that part of the country. It seems he meant to shoot a relative. He just shot the wrong one.

[bigbrother05]

32. In his state of mind, would he have shot his SIL at the front door without the surprise?

If you open your backdoor at 11:30 pm with a gun in your hand, would he have acted much differently had it been the front door?

He was expecting trouble from someone he knew well, so would the cops have passed it off as a tragic accident if he killed someone coming to the front door? I'm thinking of the poor girl that had car trouble and was shot for ringing someone's doorbell.

[I_have_had_enough]

33. Guns

There are too many guns.
Freaks me out how many people carry around firearms.
Europe feels safer...