Hempfield Teen Shot Dead With Senator's Gun

[bleedingheart]

http://www.thepittsburghchannel.com/news/9564846/detail.html

"HEMPFIELD TOWNSHIP, Pa. -- A 14-year-old Westmoreland County boy was shot to death with a gun that belongs to a local state senator, Team 4's Paul Van Osdol reported Monday.

State police investigators said Louis Farrell's body was found in the woods behind his parents' Hempfield Township home late Friday night or early Saturday morning.

The county coroner has yet to determine whether the fatal wound was self-inflicted or if somebody else shot Farrell"


Regola is a Republican State senator...

He has a son around the same age as this Farrell kid.

According to the news reports, Regola has retained a leading criminal defense attorney from our area.

Regola ran a very nasty campaign and that is how he won...anti-gay, anti-choice and pro gun ...

[Judi Lynn]

1. He should have spent some time teaching his son gun etiquette!

Pretty damned rotten event. Makes you wonder how much trouble they've had to cover up for their lad before he got to the level of knocking off other kids.



Republican Senator Regola.

[bleedingheart]

2. no one knows what happened yet...whether suicide or murder

but ...it seems really awful....

press conference at 10am tomorrow...

[astonamous]

3. It's sad no matter what happened...

...it seems that the gun's owner didn't have it safely put away. That should be a crime even if it turns out the wounds were self inflicted.

Trudy
www.pryorsplanet.com

[bleedingheart]

6. there are some really weird things about the story

the fact that Regola and his wife were not home (supposedly in the state capitol) when it happened...and that he has a kid about the victim's age...and I have met that kid...and he is a real piece of work....

anyway...it is a tragedy, but if that boy killed himself with that gun...then how the hell did Regola have it available so easily????

if the boy was murdered....well that is another matter.

[pitohui]

8. you've met the senator's kid or the kid who died?

please dish!

[bleedingheart]

9. I have met the senator's kid...

I was at the county fair and we were running the Democratic booth...this kid came up to us and took literature that he then threw it away in front of us...

He also has a mouth that needs a good washing with some soap...I would recommend lye...

His kid was really cocky and nasty.

I also stood at the polls working for the Democratic candidate and Regola was standing at the polls with me. Regola stood there as one of his campaign people treated me very very rudely....he only made him stop when I told Regola..."Is this what you call moral values?"

[hootinholler]

17. Hey where you at?

I'm from Ligonier, originally.

Moved when it was obvious I wasn't going to work in a mine or a mill.

-Hoot

[PA Democrat]

20. Regola ran a really filthy campaign funded by the national GOP

to bring out the Republicans to vote for Bush in this district. Regola ran one of the most vile smear campaigns ever seen and it was obvious that the money was coming from outside of the district and even outside of the state of PA.

Regola and his supporters consistently painted the incumbent Democrat, Alan Kukovich as "anti-gun".

Here is how one gun rights organization described Regola's win:

"One race that gives us the most satisfaction is the win by Bob Regola over the gun owner’s nemesis, Senator Alan Kukovich. Kukovich was thought to have a lock on the 39th Senatorial District."

http://www.foac-pac.org/newsletters/n2004-11.html

[RamboLiberal]

21. Don't doubt you - but at least 1 neighbor is saying the kid was nice

"He was just a very, very nice boy," recalled Mother Mary Anne, the prioress at the nearby St. Emma Monastery, which owns 115 acres of land in the area, including the dozen or more wooded acres where the boy's body was found.

Mother Mary Anne said Louis and the sons of Mr. Regola -- Bobby, 14, and John Ross, 11 -- appeared on the monastery doorstep two summers ago with an offer to help pull weeds in the property's gardens.

"We have gardens and lots of flower gardens, and this was not just a two-minute enthusiasm," she said. "They came over and weeded for an hour and a half, two hours at a time.

"It's nothing to get kids enthusiastic for five minutes. But they stuck with it, and they came back eight or nine times. And it was hot.

"And then they would see what else had to be done."

When they were finished, Mrs. Regola would pick them up.

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06206/708381-59.stm

Of course that was a couple of years ago.

[bleedingheart]

28. They offered to pull weeds the summer their dad was running for office

which makes it look very "planned"...and probably the reason they were never seen again after the father got elected.

[The Backlash Cometh]

13. Republicans are always covering up for their kin.

Look at Jeb Bush, or that kids in the midwest that sodomized camp kids.

[54anickel]

4. Ellis Paul - Autobiography Of A Pistol

I'm a pistol, a forty-five,
I just shot two men in this hot-house dive.
Now I'm smoking - burning hot barrel of metal.
Believe it or not, I was bought by this guy named Ray,
a card carrying member of the NRA,
But he left me out in his car one day,
And now the finger on my trigger hasn't seen it's sixteenth birthday.


Chorus:
Some things they never tell you when you're riding the assembly line.
Like who'll be the hands to hold you and what's their state of mind - -
Hey, I'm not much bigger than a pointed index finger.
So who am I to lay the blame?
I'm only here to cause some pain...


The sirens --
I can hear them, they're singing ...
They're singing my song,
When the sun sets, I get upset --
Darkness fills me and I want to light up the world...

Chorus


Would you believe I've seen better days?
I starred in westerns and won rave reviews.
Now I sit on a shelf, tagged for judgment day.
I've got to change the jury's point of view.
You see, guns don't kill people, it's the bullets that do.
I said guns don't kill people, bullets do.
Yeah, the bullets do...

Chorus

[TheCowsCameHome]

5. That should keep him occupied for a while.

[pitohui]

7. hmmmmm

more GOP fun and games, sounds like the senator's kid may have had something to do w. this....

[bleedingheart]

10. the fact that he has already hired a criminal defense attorney

is a sign that he knows that he is either...

1. in trouble because his gun was what was used to kill/suicide this kid.
2. someone in his family had something to do with it...

either way...it makes Mr. NRA look like a complete and utter moron for not having the damn gun locked up while he was not at home...

What I wanna know....who was home? Did he leave his kids unattended???

[Doctor Venmkan]

11. If it was his gun, then he SHOULD be in trouble any way you slice it...

If it was his kid that shot the other one, or even if the victim got ahold of it somehow and killed himself...he should be held accountable for not keeping the gun secure!

And I think he may need that lawyer...isn't it a federal crime to leave a loaded gun where a kid can get to it? Or something along those lines....

[LeftHander]

12. speculation....

HAte crime...Senator's kid shot the gay neighbor kid...after a they had a little fling.

[CornField]

14. How sad

One family grieving... perhaps two soon to be launched into grief and regret. It's just sad anyway you slice it.

[JerseygirlCT]

15. That's what I was thinking, too. Very sad. nt

[karlrschneider]

16. Wonder how big that field of hemp really is...

...

[rocktivity]

18. Are there gun storage/trigger lock laws in Pennsylvania?

Regardless of who fired the gun, the good state senator has some 'splaining to do. His gun certainly should not have been acessible to a child.

:(
rocknation

[slackmaster]

22. No

http://www.bradycampaign.org/legislation/state/viewstate.php?st=pa

But nobody should need a law to make them do the right thing WRT storage of dangerous items.

[bleedingheart]

27. you know...Regola is exactly the kind of gun owner that makes

the responsible gun owners cringe...

he has young kids himself...what a really stupid thing to not have that gun locked up.

and you are right...you shouldn't need laws to mandate common sense....

[RamboLiberal]

19. More info from Scaife's Rag - Tribune Review

<snip>

According to a search warrant affidavit filed Saturday by state police Trooper John Zalich before District Judge Mark Bilik, of Derry Township, police confiscated a personal computer from Regola's home that Louis Farrell may have used to exchange instant messages with friends shortly before his death.

Zalich wrote in the paperwork that Farrell had access to the Regola home because he was "letting the dogs out of the house and feeding them" while the family was away.

Hower would not comment on the whereabouts of Regola's three children Friday evening or Saturday morning.

Irony.{/i]

Tom Hower, a spokesman for Regola, confirmed that Regola and his wife, Janette, were in Harrisburg Friday evening until Saturday morning because the Republican was receiving the Legislator of the Year Award from the Pennsylvania Sheriffs' Association.

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/tribunereview/news/westmoreland/s_463244.html

As a gun owner I will say Regola was extremely negligent if he left a handgun unlocked and accessible when he knew a kid was coming in the house to feed and exercise his dogs! And where were Regola's kids?

[RamboLiberal]

23. DA already said no charges expected to be filed

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06206/708449-100.stm

A state senator probably won't face charges in the death of a 14-year-old boy who was shot with the lawmaker's gun while caring for the senator's dogs, a prosecutor said today.

The boy was found dead Saturday morning in the woods behind his home, which is next door to the home of state Sen. Robert Regola III, R-Westmoreland. A 9 mm handgun that belonged to Regola was found near the body.

The teenager had been caring for Regola's pets while the lawmaker and his wife were away, police said. The couple was in Harrisburg so Regola could receive the Legislator of the Year Award from the Pennsylvania Sheriffs' Association, said Tom Hower, Regola's spokesman.

The state police said forensic tests should determine whether the boy shot himself on purpose, accidentally or whether he was shot in some other manner. The tests, which are expected to take about two weeks, are also needed to confirm conclusively that the boy died from a bullet that came from the senator's gun, police said at a news conference today.

The gun did not have a trigger lock, but it was not stored haphazardly or recklessly, authorities said. It was not locked away, but also "wasn't left out in an area where anyone would normally see it," Westmoreland County District Attorney John Peck said.

I still say if you're letting someone in your home while you are gone - especially a juvenile - you need to make sure you have a trigger lock or gun is locked away. I would call this negligence.

[rocktivity]

24. Of course it's negligence

And I certainly don't think the DA should be predicting no charges being filed when the cause of death is still unknown. If the Regolas' son wasn't away with them, have his whereabouts been accounted for? And who told the police that the gun was "was not locked away, but also wasn't left out in an area where anyone would normally see it"--the victim?

:mad:
rocknation

[Blue Gardener]

25. Kind of early to make that decision

Don't you think? Seems to me you would at least wait until all of the test results are back.

[RamboLiberal]

26. Tidbit - Senator's kid came home Friday night

http://kdka.com/topstories/local_story_206090207.html

<snip>

Regola's 16-year-old son returned home Friday night, but it is unknown whether the teens saw each other.

State police say that forensic tests will take about two weeks to determine whether the boy committed suicide, accidentally shot himself or was shot some other way.

Police say that no suicide note was found at the scene.

Videos on WPXI say State Police are calling the death suspicious. They are also reporting Regola's kid came home about 10:30.

http://www.wpxi.com/news/9571786/detail.html

[PA Democrat]

30. Regola's son spoke to Louis Farrell by phone at 11:30 p.m.

Cole said Regola's oldest son, Rob Regola IV, did not accompany his family to Harrisburg, where the senator received the Legislator of the Year Award from the Pennsylvania Sheriff's Association. Cole said the 16-year-old arrived home at about 10:30 p.m. Friday and stayed there through Saturday morning.

According to a search warrant affidavit filed by investigators, Rob Regola IV, a student in the Hempfield Area School District, spoke by telephone with Louis Farrell at about 11:30 p.m. Friday.

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/tribunereview/news/westmoreland/s_463410.html

[RamboLiberal]

31. I'm wondering if it was stupid horseplay with the two kids

with the gun. Innocent until proven guilty, but reading a ton of tragic cases where a kid gets shot cause he and some friend(s) played with a family gun thinking they know what they are doing I'd be betting on that scenario. The Farrell kid would've had to have been scouring the house for the gun. The Regola kid would've known where it was at.

I hope the truth comes out and there is no cover up because of the father's status as a state senator.

[PA Democrat]

32. It's a very touchy situation.

My husband knows the father of the kid who was shot. He is a terrific person and a great dad. I can't imagine his heartbreak.

I think John Peck, the Westmoreland County DA will be extremely cautious with this case. He's a Democrat and does not want to be accused of playing politics with something as tragic as this.

[RamboLiberal]

33. Both families have to be grieving terribly

A number of years ago I went to the funeral of one of our young karate school students who had been killed accidentally by a friend with a gun. I hope I never again have to go to the funeral of a young person no matter the circumstances of the death. There is just something so tragically wrong when a parent has to bury a child.

[indie_voter]

34. Very tragic. No parent should have to bury their child. :( n/t

[pokercat999]

29. Oh boy could it be the Senator shot his

under-age lover? Just a question.


:eyes: