cbs2chicago.com: Stepson Defends Actions Of Woman Who Shot Boy

[Destino]

http://cbs2chicago.com/local/elderly.woman.shoots.2.1936778.html

A shooting on the city's Southeast Side has people telling two entirely different stories.

Neighbors said an elderly woman was fed up with constant harassment from a 12-year-old boy, so she took a gun and shot the child after he and his friends threw bricks into her home.

Now, the boy is charged with a crime, while the 68-year-old woman is not.

The boy who was shot, along with another boy, 13, are cited in juvenile delinquency petitions with one count each of misdemeanor aggravated assault to a senior citizen, according to police.

The woman, Margaret Matthews, was released from police custody without being charged, on the grounds that she acted in self defense, police said.

The boy who was shot was out of the hospital as of Wednesday morning, and was released to his parents, police said.

How in the world did she not get charged with a crime?! The article doesn't seem to detail the shooting very well.

and how did a 12 year old throwing rocks and lighting fires terrorize a neighborhood? The amount of respect children receive from adults in the US is shocking to me.

[China]

They were thug kids that got their comeuppance.

Woman who shot 12-year-old: 'I was terrified'

A thin woman with silver hair and dark-rimmed glasses stood Wednesday evening on her front steps, shattered glass at her feet and crowds of neighbors milling around the block and speaking of her in heroic terms.

Margaret Matthews, 68, said she had been harassed for more than a year by a pair of boys in her South Shore neighborhood. On Tuesday, the boys stood on a shed in her front yard hurling bricks at her. Matthews, exasperated and uncertain whether police would respond, pulled out a gun and shot at them.

"There is no explanation for how I felt," she told the Tribune. "I was terrified."

Her shot hit one of the boys -- a 12-year-old -- in the shoulder. The boy was treated at a hospital and released, and Matthews said she's thankful he's alive but doesn't regret her action.

"The young man hit me in the chest with a brick," she said. "After a year of harassment, that was the straw that broke the camel's back."

In this rough South Side neighborhood where residents often observe a code of silence, voices rose up in unison Wednesday to support Matthews, affectionately known as "Miss Margaret."

"I think she did right," said Jimmie Johnson, echoing a sentiment heard over and over on Matthews' block. "She was just protecting her property."

Tnoila McCoy, 54, a neighbor and decades-long friend of Matthews', said the two boys had been causing problems for months.

"They've been terrible to her for over a year. They burned up her barbecue pit and her flower bed," McCoy said. "She was protecting herself. These kids came to her yard, jumped her fence and started terrorizing her. She didn't just shoot a kid."

The 12-year-old and his companion, 13, were charged with aggravated assault. Police said Matthews would not be charged.

Click on the link for the full article

[China]

http://cbs2chicago.com/local/elderly.woman.shoots.2.1936778.html

The amount of respect children receive from adults in the US is shocking to me.

And how is throwing bricks and breaking windows in an old lady's house showing respect for adults? Or the law for that matter.

[Destino]

And how is throwing bricks and breaking windows in an old lady's house showing respect for adults? Or the law for that matter.

Never said it was. I'm just shocked that a child terrorized a neighborhood and no adult grabbed the little **** by the neck and went on to have words with what pass for his parents. It just seems like the legal system in the US demands that you let the police handle it or shoot someone.

[China]

Never said it was. I'm just shocked that a child terrorized a neighborhood and no adult grabbed the little **** by the neck and went on to have words with what pass for his parents. It just seems like the legal system in the US demands that you let the police handle it or shoot someone.

Unfortunately, people aren't good neighbors anymore. They don't talk to each other. They're afraid to confront the kid or the parents.

I'm glad I live in a neighborhood where I talk to my neighbors and we get to know each other.

[endzone_dave]

Unfortunately, people aren't good neighbors anymore. They don't talk to each other. They're afraid to confront the kid or the parents.

I'm glad I live in a neighborhood where I talk to my neighbors and we get to know each other.

If the parents of these kids let them do that kind of stuff for that long, they probably weren't worth talking to. The police were probably too busy eating donuts. When parents don't care and the authorities don't care, this is what happens.

[10fttall]

and how did a 12 year old throwing rocks and lighting fires terrorize a neighborhood?

So you'd be cool with people throwing rocks at you, breaking stuff in your yard, and damaging your house repeatedly- as long as they're only 12?

I'm just shocked that a child terrorized a neighborhood and no adult grabbed the little **** by the neck and went on to have words with what pass for his parents.

In your article it says they were habitual offenders. It states they made multiple visits to the police station and were returned to their homes, only to do it again. Calling the cops is the only viable "grabbing by the neck" anyone can do these days. So their parents were well aware of the problem. Do you think that anyone, let alone an old lady, would be wise to go talk to the "parents" of people like this? I don't. It would be just asking for trouble as those kind of people would probably cuss you up one side and down the other- at best.

This lady deserves a medal.

[Unforgiven]

So, these two punks harass her for a year (neighbors confirm this), destroying her property and verbally assaulting her. Then one day she goes to the grocery store, comes back and find windows in her windows broken and sees the two boys fleeing. She calls the police and goes to put her groceries away while she waits for them, meanwhile they return and begin to throw bricks at her (not at some inanimate object, but actually at her...in an attempt to injure or kill her), she calls the cops for a second time (I really wouldn't have bothered again, but she's trying to get help as she is an elderly and frail lady) and gets her gun to defend herself and fires the weapon at them.

I'm sure glad they didn't charge this poor woman, not only do the kids need to be charged (as they are) but their worthless parents need to charged with something also.

[twa]

.

I'm sure glad they didn't charge this poor woman, not only do the kids need to be charged (as they are) but their worthless parents need to charged with something also.

QFT

I don't think some of ya'll know just how bad some of these 'kids' are.

[NavyDave]

Bet these little street urchins will think twice about throwing bricks at her house now.

[Ryman of the North]

wow, if I ever did anything like that I would have been hoping to get shot, 1st the neighbours would have beaten me silly, then when I got home another beating would have been waiting. these kids really needed a beating.

[thebluefood]

So, these two punks harass her for a year (neighbors confirm this), destroying her property and verbally assaulting her. Then one day she goes to the grocery store, comes back and find windows in her windows broken and sees the two boys fleeing. She calls the police and goes to put her groceries away while she waits for them, meanwhile they return and begin to throw bricks at her (not at some inanimate object, but actually at her...in an attempt to injure or kill her), she calls the cops for a second time (I really wouldn't have bothered again, but she's trying to get help as she is an elderly and frail lady) and gets her gun to defend herself and fires the weapon at them.

I'm sure glad they didn't charge this poor woman, not only do the kids need to be charged (as they are) but their worthless parents need to charged with something also.

This.

Though I do not advocate shooting people, I gotta say, these little punks had it coming.

[Destino]

So you'd be cool with people throwing rocks at you, breaking stuff in your yard, and damaging your house repeatedly- as long as they're only 12?

Not at all in fact I seem to have the same opinion you do. I don't see why kids are so damn untouchable. No adult should have to suffer repeated assaults at the hands of a child. I'd certainly be arrested if I was in that ladies shoes because if some kid tried to light my house on fire and threw bricks in my window I'd punt the little **** down the street. Eggs and toilet paper is one thing... but when people do things that could cost me my life I'm far less forgiving.

In your article it says they were habitual offenders. It states they made multiple visits to the police station and were returned to their homes, only to do it again. Calling the cops is the only viable "grabbing by the neck" anyone can do these days. So their parents were well aware of the problem. Do you think that anyone, let alone an old lady, would be wise to go talk to the "parents" of people like this? I don't. It would be just asking for trouble as those kind of people would probably cuss you up one side and down the other- at best.

I would speak to their parents and I sure as hell wouldn't be telling them just what their kid did... I'd be hand delivering a bill with my lawyers card clipped to it. I'm sure once the parents felt the pinch of their childs actions they'd be more inclined to steer them clear of my home. If the parents were indeed scum I'd call child services. Once you know where the adults are hiding the legal system seems to work a little more smoothly.