Tragic Event & Surprising Response

[500KV]

This was certainly a tragic event that shouldn't have happened but what struck me was one of the comments from a reader.

DECATUR, Ga. -- A 4-year-old boy was killed by a falling bullet from celebratory gunfire while attending a New Year’s Eve church service in Decatur.

It happened at the Church of God of Prophecy in the 3300 block of Covington Drive in Decatur.

DeKalb police spokesman Jason Gagnon said it appears the bullet came through the church’s roof and struck the child in the head. DeKalb police told Channel 2 Action News that they are actively working leads in the case.

Reader Comment:

This is horrible! I am a person of color myself, and I am sure this was a black on black crime. You know what they say...born in the Dec - you gonna die in the Dec. I don't think the government needs to control guns. This was just some silly fool thug out bustin' a cap with his HiPoint in da hood. They don't need to keep tabs on guns - they need to keep tabs on us colored folks!


Jan. 2, 2010 2:20pm EST | from JamalBrown

[PaiN]

A tragedy. I've often had the thought of "where the bullets go" when I've seen people aimlessly firing into the air in celebration.


I won't comment on the rest of what's written

[Dietrich]

I don`t know what color the moron was who fired the shot and I don`t care.Stupidity doesn`t seem to discriminate against any race,sex,color or creed. It is truly an equal opportunity entity.What a waste. :(

[jocko]

I watched one evening awhile back those two fellas on (mythbusters, I think) kinda dispute a bullet shot in the air etc and if it would do any real damage. and now one actually going through a roof of a place and killing this kid kinds shoots their theory square in the ass.

I would like to think their is more to this story than we are being told. a shame no less..

[Bawanna]

Except for the comment, "I don't think the government needs to control guns" that reader comment sounds like a message from the pres. Truely sad that a kid or anyone for that matter gets hit. Stupid, stupid, stupid. "Bustin a cap from his Hi POINT in da hood. What kind of fool talk is that. Maybe stupid does play favorites.
Oops, gotta go, the PC police are pounding at the door.:crazy:

[kahr360]

From the way I understand it a bullet shot “straight” up would just continue up until it ran our of momentum and tumble back to earth.

But if it was shot at an angle (not sure of the exact angle) it could arc and still have most of its energy when it hits the ground.

[tv_racin_fan]

I watched one evening awhile back those two fellas on (mythbusters, I think) kinda dispute a bullet shot in the air etc and if it would do any real damage. and now one actually going through a roof of a place and killing this kid kinds shoots their theory square in the ass.

You must not have paid much attention to the show then. Shoot a bullet straight enough into the air it will lose velocity until it stops then fall to the ground. I forget what the numbers are but when it falls to the ground it has very little energy. It might hurt or even kill someone IF it hit them in the head just right, but it wouldn't have the energy to go thru a roof and do it noir even thru a pane of glass and do it. They proved this in that show. They even had to adjust their aim a couple of degress to account for the wind so it doesn't have to be exactly straight up but anything more than just a few degrees and you get a very large arc and plenty of speed and energy to do damage when it hits the ground again.

In any event it always amazes me when I hear of hunters shooting squirrels out of a tree with a 22 rifle (even the lowly 22 will travel a couple of miles and have quite a bit of energy when it hits the ground) or fools shooting into the air in celebration.

[medezyner]

Yup, the media is not delivering all the details here. Hey, there's a surprise! tv racin fan is 100% correct; very little energy remains on the way down. An army ordnance expert did a little test and shot a .30 straight up with a special rig. The bullet maximum speed on the way down was 300 ft/sec. which computed to only to 30 ft pounds. Not enough to do any harm and not enough to go through a roof.
BUT
Experiments done on cadavers found that a .38 bullet will break the skin and lodge in the tissue at 191 ft/sec and 000 buck will do the same at 213 ft/sec. It has to do with an equation relating mass and bullet diameter. I’m not an engineer, but it sounds like it’s a bit more complicated than saying it can/cannot produce a disabling wound. Ever get hit with a good size hail stone? I don’t think I want to find out what a chunk of lead is going to feel like.

[Raoul]

MythBusters Episode 50: Bullets Fired Up (http://mythbustersresults.com/episode50)