Miami - It was your standard New Years Eve celebration outside an Opa-locka apratment complex. At around 11:30 pm, there was drinking, 11-year-olds out playing hide-and-seek and residents shooting guns. A few minutes before the New Year, Zenon Fernandez, 49, decided to unload a semi-automatic weapon into an abandoned couch that had been left on the street.
Shortly after, 11-year-old Joshua Arroliga’s family could not locate him and began searching the apartment complex for him. They eventually found him behind the couch Fernandez had shot into. Arroliga had been using the couch as a hiding spot. He had been shot several times,including one to the head
‘I saw my brother,” Marvin said. When Marvin picked him up, he saw a wound in his head. ”Then the bullet fell out of his mouth,” Marvin said.
Fernandez fled the scene but later turned himself in to North Miami police and was charged with one count of manslaughter.
10 responses so far ↓
1
Rosie
Jan 2, 2008 at 11:23 am -Oh my God, the little boy was hiding behind the couch - and was probably afraid of all the gunfire that was going off. I hate guns!!! I think I heard gun shots being fired around midnight New Years Eve, at first it was fireworks and then I think I heard gun shots and wondered why - why shoot guns to celebrate???? I really fucking hate guns!
2
Kathy
Jan 2, 2008 at 11:28 am -I never understood the gun thing on New Year’s Eve either. But every year, it happens and every year, some innocent person gets killed. What idiots.
3
Rosie
Jan 2, 2008 at 11:45 am -Oh Kathy, I love your “picture”, where did you get it?
4
solange822001
Jan 2, 2008 at 12:00 pm -Ugh, too close to home for comfort. When will people ever learn. For the love of god
5
Kathy
Jan 2, 2008 at 12:01 pm -That is an actual photo of me. I am a pissed off cartoon.
Just google avatar and whole bunch of sites will come up. You can pick from there and you too can be a pissed off cartoon.
6
WryBread
Jan 2, 2008 at 4:24 pm -Stupid macho shit-heads. I wonder if they have an orgasm when they shoot their big guns on New Year’s Eve.
7
WryBread
Jan 2, 2008 at 4:34 pm -Well, rats. I wanted to edit my post above, but can’t figure out the way to do it. Got too foul-mouthed. You see, this issue makes me furious. I have spent New Year’s Eve sitting around inside, unable to drive home until the gunfire has died down. A couple of hundred people die each year in the L.A. area, I read once, from this stupid custom that I have never heard of anywhere but in Los Angeles and now Miami.
Anyway, I apologize for my foul outburst. I would vote it as a “not helpful” comment myself.
8
solange822001
Jan 2, 2008 at 4:39 pm -Wrybread, it seems to be a Hispanic tradition. It needs to be stopped, as of yesterday! This is just another reason why I believe we need less guns on the streets…. This asshole didn’t just shoot into the air, he actually shot at a couch in the middle of the street???? I mean, the chances of someone getting hit by a bullet are so high, even this idiot had to have known it wasnt a great idea.
9
WryBread
Jan 2, 2008 at 5:02 pm -I was thinking that it was a custom that Latinos brought to us. This is something that needs to be shed in the melting pot! There are billboards in L.A. that beg people not to do this because innocents always die. One was of a little girl, just three or four years old. A bullet fell from the sky and hit her in the head — no new year for that little one.
Part of the problem, too, is that as the drunks spray their bullets into the air, they tend to stagger backwards and unknowingly lower the gun, or their arms get tired and they lower the gun. That means they are no longer shooting in the air!
I live in the middle of gun country now, but we use our guns to hunt food. And occasionally to kill family members, too, I admit. But I never have the fear that people are just ramming around aching to shoot guns, which is the impression I get from a lot of gangsta wanna-be stories and stuff like this New Year’s Eve tradition.
10
Angel
Feb 28, 2008 at 2:29 am -Why? Guns don’t kill people, people kill people. I believe there should be mandatory gun safety classes for anyone who buys or owns guns. We keep guns in the house, and I have a concealed carry permit, which I take full advantage of. I have taken a gun safety class, as have my two oldest children. I take my 9mm to the range to practice, and I (and my husband) have taught them how to handle the different firearms in our house. If someone were to break into the house, and managed to sneak up on both me and my husband (unlikely in itself, but possible I guess), my daughter has the ability and skill to employ whatever force necessary to protect herself and the younger children. And that gives me a great sense of peace. I thank God every day that we live in a country where it is legal for citizens to own firearms with which to protect themselves. Being prepared has saved my ass (and that of my children) twice in my life. Once when I was accosted as I sat in my suburban, with three of my children in the back seat. The guy pulled a knife and demanded money, but when I reached into my purse to get what I guess he expected to be a wallet, I came up with my baby glock instead. (I guess looking young and innocent worked to my advantage in that case - he sure as hell didn’t expect THAT!) He ran so fast, he actually dropped his knife. It is now a part of my collection as well. The second time was when my husband was on orders with his unit for a few days, and I was home alone with two small children and pregnant with my third. Someone broke into my house and was headed for the door leading to the downstairs foyer, in order to gain access to the stairs leading to the second floor. I went to the edge of the upstairs railing with a loaded 44, and racked a shell into the chamber of my shotgun loudly enough for the echo to carry downstairs in the silent house (it was 1:00am), and informed the intruder that the first moving part I was lucky enough to get a clear shot at, would remain in my house whether he left or not. He decided not to test his luck. Which is a good thing, as I am a good shot, and load my handguns with hollow-points. The shotgun, well, if you even wave it in the general direction of what you want to hit, the spray will do enough damage to deter most. Why didn’t I call the cops? Because I live in a rural area, that didn’t even have 911 at the time (it was just put into effect about 3 years ago, here), and by the time the cops arrived, we would probably have all been dead anyway. Proactive initiative. I have never actually shot anyone, and hope I never have to, but I would in a heartbeat to protect my family or friends.
Yes, there are stupid people who should never even think of touching a gun - these are, incidentally, also the ones who shouldn’t be permitted to have a driver’s license. If they are going to use one potentially deadly weapon while they are too drunk to hold themselves up, they’ll probably think nothing of getting behind the wheel of an auto in the same condition. Both actions call for a special breed of stupid, in my opinion.
Good grief, somebody stop me! I seem to be on a rant roll here lately. It’s because of those voices….they won’t shut up……SHUT UP! SHUT UP!…….Aaiiieeeeee……. *putting a gag in my mouth now*
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