Family tragedy: Teen shoots brother dead in fight over clothes, then takes his own life

[DonViejo]

Source: Raw Story

Police in Miami are investigating the shooting deaths of two teenage brothers that occurred late Sunday night.

Family members told CBS4 News that 14-year-old Stephen Odeus shot his brother, 16-year-old Stanley Blanc, after the two fought over who could wear each other’s clothes.

After realizing what he had done — and before anyone could stop him — Stephen ran across the apartment complex and used the same gun to take his own life.

The teenagers’ older brother, Marc Blanc, told CBS4 News that it “started off as a small petty argument, but escalated into a fight.”

Kedner Louis, a friend of the family who was present at the scene, said that “Stanley wanted to wear Stephen’s clothes, Stephen didn’t want him to.”

He says family members separated the pair inside the apartment, but the fight spilled over into the grounds outside, where Stephen Odeus shot his brother Stanley.

“Right before my eyes, my brother just shot my other brother,” Blanc said. He saw Stephen run away, and shortly thereafter, heard another gunshot.

“I heard my second brother die, because he shot himself. In my mind, I think [Stephen] didn’t really mean to [shoot Stanley],” Blanc continued. “Nobody, that’s blood nobody wants to kill their own brother. At the same time, I’ve got mixed feelings about a lot of stuff right now. I really don’t know how to feel.”

At this time, police do not know who owned the gun Stephen used to kill himself and his brother, or whether it was purchased legally.

Watch a report on the tragedy via CBS4 News Miami below.

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/05/26/family-tragedy-teen-shoots-brother-dead-in-fight-over-clothes-then-takes-his-own-life/

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Posted with permission

Read more: http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/05/26/family-tragedy-teen-shoots-brother-dead-in-fight-over-clothes-then-takes-his-own-life/

[valerief]

1. If only they had MORE guns, this never would have happened.--Gungeoneer logic. nt

[Plucketeer]

12. Yeah - tell us Wayne (LaPierre)

Tell us how this would turned out better if Stanley had been packin'!

[Mnemosyne]

2. The horror never ends, does it... nt

[jaysunb]

8. +1 n/t

[monmouth3]

3. The gun situation in this country is totally out of control...n/t

[billh58]

4. Once again the State of Florida

takes its toll on a family in order to uphold the sacred Second Amendment as promoted by the right-wing NRA and its gun lobby. Brothers have always fought with each other, but now that guns are so plentiful and easy to access, the Cain and Abel parable is becoming all too realistic and familiar.

[SheilaT]

5. Oh, yawn.

So long as guns are so readily available we can't pretend to be surprised at any of these events. Not this one, not the one the other day, not Sandy Hook, not any single gun death we can name.

Keep in mind that even without mass shootings which tend to make national news, around 30,000 people die in this country each year from guns. The happy part of the statistics is that about 60 percent of those deaths are suicides, so only about 11,000 or so are killed by someone else. Nonetheless, at least thirty people each and every day are killed by a gun someone else fired. Thirty.

I'm so sick of the phony breast-beating and hand-wringing and pretense at not understanding how these things happen coming from the gun apologists.

If guns weren't available things like this story wouldn't happen. Period.

[Demobrat]

6. What's 30 people a day

compared to the right of every Tom, Dick, and Crazy Al out there to own an arsenal? We just have to accept that 30 a day is a small price to pay for freedom, and stop acting like we're shocked.

[MillennialDem]

31. Interesting... 30 people per day killed by guns. Less than 1 per day is in

self defense or stopping a felony:

http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/ucr/crime-in-the-u.s/2010/crime-in-the-u.s.-2010/tables/10shrtbl15.xls


Only the insane think 30:1 is a good bet.

But then again the lottery sells quite well so...

EDIT: And it's nearly 100:1 when you count suicides.

[mikeysnot]

35. Gun nuts are not good at math...

Last edited Tue May 27, 2014, 10:24 AM - Edit history (1)

[JackInGreen]

37. I beg your pardon

I'm quite fond of Gin, and i can MATH like a motherf**ker.

[mikeysnot]

40. hilarious!

spell check mikey, spell check...

[dionysus]

38. neither are gun nuts...

[mikeysnot]

41. Fixed...

[dionysus]

46. aw man you ruined my joke :P

[Helen Borg]

33. More than thirty 9/11s

Every year...

[demigoddess]

49. we could just tell

the republicans that it is retroactive abortion. Maybe that would get them to act.

[JackRiddler]

9. I agree with you and yet...

Canadians own more guns per capita!

So something in addition is going on in this violent society of ours.

[Plucketeer]

11. Yeah but

what kinds of guns do Canadians own more of?

[valerief]

28. The kind they don't kill tons of people with. nt

[muriel_volestrangler]

32. Is that actually true?

The rate of gun ownership in the US is much higher than most comparable countries, with approximately 42.8% of American household owning firearms, including 17.6% owning handguns in 2005. ... In Canada, 15.5% of households own firearms, with 2.9% owning handguns.

http://guncontrol.ca/overview-gun-control-us-canada-global/

The estimated rate of private gun ownership (both licit and illicit) in Canada is 23.8 firearms per 100 people

http://www.gunpolicy.org/firearms/region/canada

The estimated rate of private gun ownership (both licit and illicit) in the United States is 101.05 firearms per 100 people

http://www.gunpolicy.org/firearms/region/united-states

[JackRiddler]

36. I stand corrected!

Fell for Michael Moore, or probably just my misreading of him.

[Fiendish Thingy]

42. Do you have a link for that claim?

I don't think that's an accurate claim about Canada.

[JackRiddler]

44. See # 32 & 36.

[thucythucy]

10. "The happy part of the statistics..."

is that more than half are suicides? You consider that "happy"?

What an incredibly hurtful thing to say. I know two people whose lives were devastated by suicide. One lost her husband--she found his body. The entire family was shell-shocked for years. Shit like that affects people for decades, if not the rest of their lives.

Suicide does lots more than kill one person. It rips the heart out of everyone who loves that person. There's nothing "happy" about it.

But I agree with the rest of your post--the fact that we now have tens of millions of loose guns sloshing around this society is sheer lunacy. God damn the NRA and all who sail with it.

[Demobrat]

14. I suspect she was being sarcastic.

At least I took it that way, based on the tone of the rest of her post.

[SheilaT]

15. Yes, I was being sarcastic,

and I sincerely regret that my thoughtless choice of words has caused pain.

What I meant, and again this is with a degree of sarcasm, is that at least someone who uses a gun to kill him or her self (although it's almost always him) doesn't kill anyone else. I am, clearly, ignoring the genuine grief and guilt felt by those left behind. But again, if the guns weren't so easily at hand, they wouldn't be able to use them. Some would kill themselves by other means, but it would be vastly fewer.

I have not personally been touched by suicide, but I've known of any number of them: friends of friends, or some friend had a cousin who did that. My sister-in-law (brother's wife) had an uncle who hanged himself, and she found his body. She was, I think a teen when this happened. She has never mentioned it to me, I only know of it third hand from other sources.

[thucythucy]

17. Sorry to jump down your throat like that

but it's a very sore point for me, and generally when I hear that line it isn't sarcasm at all---it's somebody from the Gungeon arguing that the gun death statistics aren't THAT bad because.... So I went off on you.

I think we're in agreement here. Guns guns guns. This society has a serious problem dealing with reality, on a whole number of issues. Lots of days I'm afraid to look at the headlines.

Best wishes.

[SheilaT]

27. No apology needed.

I did not make my sarcasm sufficiently clear, and you also made me recognize that in some cases even something clearly labelled as sarcasm can still be offensive.

[Skittles]

20. I think she is reflecting the sentiment of gun humpers

in their minds, suicides or anything gang-related simply do not count

[Stevepol]

43. Suicides?

From the post: " The happy part of the statistics is that about 60 percent of those deaths are suicides, so only about 11,000 or so are killed by someone else."

Of the ways to commit suicide, using a gun is one of the most successful and irreversible. Overdoses, etc. are not nearly so successful the first time around. So I wouldn't see that as a "happy part of the statistics." It's just another way that having guns so plentiful and easily available is a rotten idea.

Here are some statistics for 2010, according to the Violence Policy Center. Of those killed by a gun that year:

19,392 were gun suicides (68%)
8,275 were gun homicides (29%)
606 were accidents, unintended deaths (2%)
230 were justifiable homicides (1%)

So what are the odds of the gun once it's bought being used to kill another human to defend oneself or others? About 1% Of course it could be that having the gun might deter some criminal from trying to rob you or kill you. Who knows? And there are numberless other mostly specious arguments that can be used to defend and promote gun ownership. Who knows if they are true or not? The facts are there in plain sight.

What man in his right mind would take those kind of odds in Las Vegas? Or anywhere? Only the insane it seems to me or those in situations where the gun is required and who are trained to use it, etc.

[Jefferson23]

7. Surreal.

At the same time, I’ve got mixed feelings about a lot of stuff right now. I really don’t know how to feel.”

We're disintegrating...more dead kids, more traumatized family members left to sort out senseless acts.

Guns R Us

[onehandle]

13. Guns fulfilling their main purpose. Killing the innocent.

But if basement dwellers are getting their impotent jollies through their poorly interpreted Second Amendment, 100% worth it.

[blkmusclmachine]

16. Hope the gun owners are jailed. For a long, long time.

[sueh]

18. Oh my god, this is so fucking tragic.

I am just sick right now.

[phazed]

19. Not to be a gun apologist but something deeper is wrong with society

when a 14 and 16 year old kid thinks that a gun is needed to resolve a petty issue. What leads to this type of train of thought? To me, that is the question we should be asking ourselves as pragmatists. This should not lead to "banning guns" as our train of thought because it does nothing to fix the social problems that lead to these extreme events. Maybe, just maybe if we (The US) had a decent school system, an economy that doesn't depress it's middle and lower class citizens and a government that actually worked for the people instead of the rich few we could turn the tides on HOMICIDE, not just firearm homicide.

Not to mention, how in the hell did a 14 year old get hold of a gun? Where are the parents!? Back to the social issues, again.

Now, not to be an apologist again, but the amount of gun related deaths in this country (not homicide) pales in comparison to the amount of deaths in totality. Being a pragmatist, if you want to save lives there are better ways to do it than simply focusing on guns. I suspect guns get the biggest bad wrap because that is what is reported and hyped on the news. Here, take a look at Table 18 at the CDC's Vital Statistics report for 2010 - out of 180,811 unnatural deaths per year (All causes), 16,259 are homicides and out of those homicides 11,078 are death by guns. Guns are very effective which makes them the go-to weapon.. but in the whole scheme of things were talking about 6% of deaths here which could be lessened, I believe, by stricter firearm obtainment laws, gun safety training and gun storage requirements. Simple things that people just seem to neglect.

[RufusTFirefly]

24. Totally agree

I believe in stricter gun control, and I don't support the bizarre interpretation of the Second Amendment that magically transforms every Tom, Dick, and Sally into an individual "well-regulated militia."

That said, I think this is symptomatic of a much deeper systemic disease. We're a sick society. Guns just guarantee the disease is fatal and that some of us will never have a chance at recovery.

Here's my take from another thread on some of the systemic issues:
From the top down, we send out a very clear message: Got a problem? Solve it with violence.

[Le Taz Hot]

21. And without easy access to guns

both of these CHILDREN would still be alive.

I hate guns. I truly, thoroughly hate gun!

[uppityperson]

22. ok, that does it, news and du moratorium for a bit.

catch you all later, too much.

[RufusTFirefly]

23. Do gun sales actually go up after these incidents?

That's my hunch, but it's sheer speculation.

A few reasons.

1. It gets people thinking about guns, which is usually good for business.
2. Ironically, it causes a threat response, which in some people may lead them to buy "protection."
3. It leads a certain segment of the population to worry that guns are going to be more tightly regulated. The result is sort of like panic shopping before a hurricane.

Anyone have actual statistics regarding the relationship between gun incidents and gun sales?

[Grown2Hate]

25. Is it sad that I see a story like this and think, "Oh, OK." (answer: Yes, it is.) At some point

it's just depressing because it appears that NOTHING will ever be done about ANY of it. Whether it's something like Sandy Hook, Ft. Hood, Trayvon Martin... nothing ever gets done; nothing happens (legislatively). That depression turns to apathy. Hmmm.

[napi21]

26. It's very difficult to explain Americans to someone who is from elsewhere.

My son lost his job in Sicily after 13 years there and he returned here (Georgia) with his wife who is from Romania. They are staying with us until he finds another job. We have a habit of listening to the 11PM news, but after they've been here for about 6 weeks, and stories of what seems like dozens of shootings, his wife asked me tonight, "What's the matter with Americans?" The story from the above post of the 14 yo shooting his brother was followed by the story of the young guy who went on a shooting rampage in Calif. trying to shoot the sorority girls because they wouldn't date him. WHAT can I say to her? At first blush, she thinks we live too well and don't know how to handle a situation when we don't get what we want. As I think about it, she may have a point.

[defacto7]

29. Sometimes the non-prejudiced

simple view is the most profound and likely correct. She seems to be Occam's razor personified.

[tofuandbeer]

30. Sad. This is very sad. I hate guns. Period.

[CBGLuthier]

34. America loves guns more than children. Prove me wrong.

[randome]

39. But guns don't kill people, people...never mind. You know how it goes.

[hr][font color="blue"][center]Aspire to inspire.[/center][/font][hr]

[sinkingfeeling]

45. I can remember when brothers settled disagreements with fists instead of guns.

I guess I'm just old-fashioned in believing having more guns in homes makes people less safe.

[eppur_se_muova]

47. If only there had been a good guy with a gun there ! He could have ...

um ....

Well, he could have made the second death a mercy killing instead of a suicide !

There, all fixed.

[Martin Eden]

48. If only the GOOD brother had a gun to stop the BAD brother. n/t