Teen killed in home invasion

[Kythas]

http://www.kfvs12.com/Global/story.asp?S=10818777

KEVIL, KY (KFVS) - A man was shot and killed in McCracken County after police say he tried to break into a family's home around 2:00 a.m.

The family woke to the sound of the alarm system, indicating the door to the attached garage had been opened. The homeowner went outside to investigate, when he heard his wife inside screaming.

He ran back into the home where his wife told him the intruder, later identified as 18-year-old Andrew Caleb Barnett, was inside their attached garage attempting to get into the home through a wooden door with a window, according to police. The homeowner reportedly yelled several times that he had a gun, telling Barnett not to come inside. However, Barnett continued to make advances toward the man. Police say the homeowner fired one shot at Barnett, hitting him in the arm, and going into his chest area. Barnett apparently fell to the floor but got back up fighting the homeowner, at one point, biting him in the arm.

The fight continued through the home and eventually back into the garage. When police arrived they arrested Barnett and transported him to Western Baptist Hospital for the gunshot, but he ultimately died.

The McCracken County Police Department reports the 18-year-old was under the influence of Psilocybin Mushrooms, or "Magic Mushrooms" as they're called on the street, and thought he was inside his own home. At one point, he even called the homeowner "Dad".

Police located four people who apparently provided the drugs to Barnett and arrested them. They were identified as 19-year-old Taylor Thompson of West Paducah, 19-year-old Zachary Rodgers of Kevil, 18-year-old Ryan Bridges of West Paducah and 18-year-old Kristen Mohler of Kevil.

Additional charges are possible as the investigation continues. Charges against the homeowner are not expected.

[Keith B]

This is close to the area I grew up in. KFVS was our local TV station. Surprised it was mushrooms. This area is very heavy in meth production and use. Sad deal the kid freaked out and ended up losing his life because of the 'shrooms. I hope they push the issue with the ones that provided them to him. Homeowner did what they had to, and the right thing, but they will be dealing with the mental aftermath of the ordeal, especially with the circumstances as they were. Hopefully the kid was not a neighbor or aquaintance and known by the homeowners. That would make it all that much worse.

[WarHawk-AVG]

Police located four people who apparently provided the drugs to Barnett and arrested them. They were identified as 19-year-old Taylor Thompson of West Paducah, 19-year-old Zachary Rodgers of Kevil, 18-year-old Ryan Bridges of West Paducah and 18-year-old Kristen Mohler of Kevil.

I sure hope they charge these scum with the death of that kid!

Burn them ALL!

[Rex B]

Wow, that had to be traumatic. Shoot the kid, then fighting through the house and back.
Homeowner could probably have shot him repeatedly, but apparently elected not to.
I'd sure like to hear his story.

[KFP]

... and some try to make the case that drug use is a victimless crime...

[Drewthetexan]

This one bothers me for some reason. I guess because I have a friend who recently got into psychedelics; we don't talk so much anymore.

Man, what a bummer for everyone involved.

EDIT: speaking of victimless crime: here's a little extra on the subject. red-alerts.com (oddly enough, this turned up when I searched "what it takes to beat someone to death" regarding another post in the forum.)

[mikeintexas]

I find it hard to have any sympathy for the kid. He and his friends made the decision to do the mushrooms in the first place, then he stumbled into the wrong house wacked out of his head and fighting with the homeowner. There were bad choices made by the kid and his friends, I feel the homeowner did nothing more than defend himself, his family and their home.

[shootthesheet]

A more accurate headline would be "Drug Crazed Man Shot Dead In Home Invasion Attempt". Anyone who calls a person 18 years old a "teen" is trying to suggest the person is also a "kid" which they are neither. I would also suggest any person who chooses to do drugs and lose control of their actions is neither. The consequences of their actions are permanent and thus society’s punishment should be to the extreme in every case. I don't care if the person is 13 or 100 if they choose to do things like this they should be scorned and their consequences burned on the minds of others so maybe they won't make the same choices. I don't want to have to stop anyone for any reason. Them being temporarily impaired is even worse because I would wonder what this person could have been if they didn't make me have to defend myself. I feel much more for the homeowner than I can for the irresponsible criminal.

[Kythas]

This one bothers me for some reason. I guess because I have a friend who recently got into psychedelics; we don't talk so much anymore.

Man, what a bummer for everyone involved.

EDIT: speaking of victimless crime: here's a little extra on the subject. red-alerts.com (oddly enough, this turned up when I searched "what it takes to beat someone to death" regarding another post in the forum.)

Wow. Some of the comments by the 'shroom users were way over the top. I guess if someone breaks into my house I should just leave them be and let them do whatever they want, because they might be on 'shrooms and just want a safe place to be until they come down. Like I have some sort of sixth sense and can tell someone's intent.

[WildBill]

This is close to the area I grew up in. KFVS was our local TV station. Surprised it was mushrooms. This area is very heavy in meth production and use. Sad deal the kid freaked out and ended up losing his life because of the 'shrooms.

It probably wasn't just mushrooms that caused the "freak out." When they get the lab reports back they will probably find that the "magic mushrooms" were dosed with with meth, LSD, PCP or some other drug mixture. This is a very common practice so that drug dealers can sell cheap drugs for a higher profit.

[Drewthetexan]

This one bothers me for some reason. I guess because I have a friend who recently got into psychedelics; we don't talk so much anymore.

Man, what a bummer for everyone involved.

EDIT: speaking of victimless crime: here's a little extra on the subject. red-alerts.com (oddly enough, this turned up when I searched "what it takes to beat someone to death" regarding another post in the forum.)

Wow. Some of the comments by the 'shroom users were way over the top. I guess if someone breaks into my house I should just leave them be and let them do whatever they want, because they might be on 'shrooms and just want a safe place to be until they come down. Like I have some sort of sixth sense and can tell someone's intent.

That's how I felt. I've met people like this, including one who'd run around with drugs and her daughter in the car. I asked her what she thought her daughter would think if she got pulled over, the drugs discovered, and arrested. How would she explain that to a 4-year-old, if she was ever allowed to see her again? She said it had occurred to her, but she really didn't like it when I said her drug use was more important than her daughter. Absolutely no sense of responsibility.

I've seen people completely wig out on hallucinogens. When they get like that it's really hard to calm them down or bring them back to reality. I'd agree that the mushrooms were probably laced. Everyone I've talked to who's done them reports that there isn't a complete "trip"; the experiences were relatively mild.

[Fangs]

+1 for more than just shrooms involved in this. I've never tried them, but everyone I've ever heard talk about it says it had a much less pronounced effect than this.

Then again, my private Christian school's counselor's kid did acid once, watched House of a Thousand Corpses, freaked out, attempted to "beat the demons out of" his friend's girlfriend, and then did $5000 worth of damage to the outside of the apartment before the cops showed up. Yeah... I'll stick to alcohol...

[03Lightningrocks]

+1 for more than just shrooms involved in this. I've never tried them, but everyone I've ever heard talk about it says it had a much less pronounced effect than this.

Then again, my private Christian school's counselor's kid did acid once, watched House of a Thousand Corpses, freaked out, attempted to "beat the demons out of" his friend's girlfriend, and then did $5000 worth of damage to the outside of the apartment before the cops showed up. Yeah... I'll stick to alcohol...

From personal experience, if anyone told you they tried shrooms and didn't experience a very profound series of almost nightmare like hallucinations...they didn't get the real thing. I was a teen in the mid to late 70's and let me tell ya something..magic mushrooms could make you think you had lost your mind. The experience would cause you to visualize everything from god to your parents heads exploding on the windows. Scariest darned thing I ever tried and I tried a whole lot of different drugs as a teen. I can almost picture how mixed up this guy was. I sure as heck don't believe it excuses his idiocy...but have no doubt this would be a very possible reaction to magic mushrooms.

This whole idea of punishing the other fellers that he did the shrooms with is just pure unadulterated horse pucky. Unless they fed them to him with a steak and didn't mention what they were, there is no good purpose in trying to act like they forced this "poor innocent victim" to take shrooms. I get about 18 inches up past my neck in this new fangled policy of always trying to find a way of dismissing bad decision making by blaming others.

[Oldgringo]

Our actions have consequences and we should be held accountable for our actions - all of us.

BTW Keith. I went to the 2nd through the 6th grade across the river in Metropolis...probably a long time before you were born.

[C-dub]

This whole idea of punishing the other fellers that he did the shrooms with is just pure unadulterated horse pucky. Unless they fed them to him with a steak and didn't mention what they were, there is no good purpose in trying to act like they forced this "poor innocent victim" to take shrooms. I get about 18 inches up past my neck in this new fangled policy of always trying to find a way of dismissing bad decision making by blaming others.

I'm thinking it would be like charging a bar for serving someone too much alcohol.
Or the drug dealer that provided the illegal substance.