Former missionary guns down immigrant whose GPS sent him to the wrong driveway

[Fumesucker]

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/01/29/georgia-man-guns-down-immigrant-after-gps-sends-him-to-wrong-driveway/

A 69-year-old war veteran and former missionary was arrested over the weekend on the suspicion of killing a 22-year-old Cuban immigrant who mistakenly arrived in his driveway because of faulty GPS directions.

Gwinnett County jail records obtained by The Atlanta Journal Constitution indicated that Phillip Walker Sailors was charged on Sunday with the murder of Rodrigo Abad Diaz.

Friends who were in the car with Diaz told WSB-TV that they were trying to pick up a friend on the way to ice skating on Saturday but their GPS directed them to the wrong address. The friends said that they waited in the driveway for a few minutes before Sailors emerged from the house and fired a gun into the air.


Gandy Cardenas, who was in the car, recalled to WAGA that the homeowner made no effort to speak to the group before opening fire.

[jberryhill]

1. We have a member here who would do the same thing

I don't keep track of DU usernames, but we have someone here who was going on a while back about his absolute right to shoot people on his property.

[Blue_Tires]

2. Another Yoshihiro Hattori case?

I'm guessing this guy will get off, too...

[guardian]

12. I doubt it

I think the shooter is in big trouble. Simply pulling into a driveway or knocking on a front door is not considered a threat. Now if they had kicked in the front door, or climbed in a window that would probably be different in the eyes of the law.

[CBGLuthier]

13. Well, in the case he is mentioning the kid just knocked on the wrong door

and the racist scumbag shot him dead and fucking walked.

[Blue_Tires]

14. We'll see....

I've seen much more egregious shootings "explained" away, especially in the south...I guess it depends on how good the guy's attorney is...

[patrice]

3. So very sad.

[libodem]

4. If the trend continues as is

We can expect more of this.

[appleannie1]

5. People have gotten gun crazy. Good grief. people pull in my drive asking directions all the time.

I give them directions. I don't shoot them. And before they built an all night gas station in a nearby town I kept a gallon of gas, funnel and flashlight on my front porch. That way I could help them without opening the door.

[Blue_Tires]

8. Same here...

Ironically, when I first started driving, my parents instilled in me to NEVER pull up in a stranger's driveway unless it was absolutely necessary...And I still follow that rule today

[smokey nj]

33. I'm a pet sitter and have to go into peoples' homes every day. You don't know how many times

I've put the key in the wrong apartment door when I wasn't paying attention. If I did that with this guy, I'd be dead.

[kestrel91316]

6. Just standing his ground against a dangerous, hostile trespasser........

[Liberal_in_LA]

7. wow!

[Walk away]

9. Shouldn't we post this in the Gungeon so they can excuse this guy murdering a man...

with his legal gun????

[ManiacJoe]

15. You would be very disappointed, if that is your hope.

[Walk away]

21. I'm never disappointed with the Gungeon...just distrubed and disgusted.

You all must be on your "best" behavior these days (whatever that means).

[antigone382]

10. Gwinnett County is one of the more developed, metropolitan areas.

While it didn't start out that way, it is more or less an extension of Atlanta at this point. I spent a couple of years in high school there. I was told as a kid that way back when Atlanta was first sprawling out past its boundaries and into surrounding counties, including Gwinnett, that the county rejected MARTA (Atlanta's rail transit system) because they didn't want it to bring in "minorities." If you go to Gwinnett now you'll find an incredibly diverse place with virtually every ethnicity represented, so that didn't work out so well for the bigots. I know that when I lived there, about a decade ago, it was a very conflicted place--right at the interface of the blue, multicultural Atlanta, and the extreme conservative white outer portion of the state. I noticed that the guy was white, while his victim obviously wasn't. I would be interested to know what part of the county this is.

On edit: it's in Lilburn, pretty close to Norcross, in the Southern part of the county--not far from Atlanta at all. I don't recall spending any time there, so I can't say much about the economic or demographic characteristics as I remember them...a tragic circumstance, in any case.

[bongbong]

11. A VERY Delicate Flower

indeed, sadly for Diaz.

[alcibiades_mystery]

24. Like a precious orchid, really

The distant heat put out by a living Latino was a danger to his delicate petals.

[Freedomofspeech]

16. One more thing we have to fear...

Accidentally pulling into the wrong driveway. We are so screwed.

[tclambert]

17. Good thing that homeowner had a gun, or that driver might have been able to

turn his car around and go on his way.

[LWolf]

22. +1

[treestar]

23. Yes. And had a 22 year old white kid pulled into the driveway

miraculously, it would not have been such a "threat."

[Ilsa]

18. Sailors' neighbors may be happier

With him gone and in prison for murder. There was no excuse for this.

I guess he was all riled up by the local shooting of a burglar by a woman in her attic and the whole thing was recorded on the phone and played on TV.

[WHEN CRABS ROAR]

19. But he was on my land, bang, bang, bang.

I'm going to start saying that only cowards shoot unarmed people.
In 71 years I have never needed a gun.
But to be fair, the military has done a great job of putting people in harms way and then making them fearful for their lives.

[primavera]

20. Must not have been in Arizona

They probably would have given the guy a medal.

[aikoaiko]

25. If those are all the relevant facts, then it is murder IMO.

Sometimes these things shake out differently than first reported, but given that witnesses were present and the quick arrest, I doubt there is any justification.

[drm604]

26. "The group, which included a 15 and an 18 year old, said that Sailors held them at gunpoint

until police arrived."

What? Did he think the police were going to haul off the other kids and give him a medal? He freaking fired at them while they were trying to turn around and leave!

What goes on in people's minds that makes them do things like this? Are there people sitting around just itching for an excuse to shoot somebody? Did he think he was freaking Dirty Harry or something?

[Cali_Democrat]

27. Are there people sitting around just itching for an excuse to shoot somebody?

Yes.

[drm604]

29. And I'd like to see somebody try to convince me

that he could have just as easily done the same thing with a knife or a baseball bat.

There are people out there just itching to hurt somebody.

A gun makes it MUCH easier for them to do so. Anyone who's at all intellectually honest has to realize that.

But I suppose if those kids were packing they could have defended themselves.

[mainer]

31. According to the police chief, it was the kids who called 911.

It was the kids who wanted the police to help them. Sailors didn't call.

[drm604]

32. That makes it even weirder.

Was he planning to just hold them at gunpoint all night? What were his plans?

[mainer]

34. From the Police Chief's own mouth:

Lilburn Police Chief Bruce Hedley said two calls were placed to 911, one from a passenger in Diaz’s car and another from a neighbor who said they heard gunshots and screams.
Hedley said claims of heavy gang activity in the area are false.


http://www.ajc.com/news/news/man-69-accused-of-killing-man-who-went-to-wrong-ho/nT8xp/

[drm604]

35. Oh, I believed you.

I'm just trying to imagine what the hell Sailors was thinking. If he thought they were intruders that he needed to hold at gunpoint, you'd think that he'd call 911.

[riverwalker]

28. if you have a hammer

everything looks like a nail

[Logical]

30. Murder, no doubt about it! Long prison sentence I hope! n-t

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

36. Assholes use my yard as a toilet, I have never contemplating shooting them

And i'm sure the pissers sure look a whole lot more suspicious than these kids did.