9 Year-Old Shot After Being Mistaken For A Skunk

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**Seaward**

From the "why I'm never moving to Pennsylvania" file...

Police say a costumed 9-year-old girl was accidentally shot outside a western Pennsylvania home during a Halloween party by a relative who thought she was a skunk.

New Sewickley Township police say the girl was over a hillside and wearing a black costume and a black hat with a white tassel. Chief Ronald Leindecker says a male relative mistook her for a skunk and fired a shotgun, hitting her in the shoulder Saturday night.

I'm no Sherlock Holmes, but I suspect alcohol may have been involved.

**Kanluwen**

And this is why guns need to be regulated better.

Any moron who mistakes a child wearing a costume for a skunk does not need a firearm. In fact, they shouldn't even be allowed to have scissors.

**hotsauceman1**

This is why we need to ban night time, to many people make to many mistakes.

**Seaward**

Kanluwen wrote:
And this is why guns need to be regulated better.

Any moron who mistakes a child wearing a costume for a skunk does not need a firearm. In fact, they shouldn't even be allowed to have scissors.

What test would you propose to determine if someone is going to shoot at a small child dressed in colors that happen to resemble the distinctive pattern of a small woodland creature, out of curiosity?

**Grey Templar**

Seaward wrote:
Kanluwen wrote:
And this is why guns need to be regulated better.

Any moron who mistakes a child wearing a costume for a skunk does not need a firearm. In fact, they shouldn't even be allowed to have scissors.

What test would you propose to determine if someone is going to shoot at a small child dressed in colors that happen to resemble the distinctive pattern of a small woodland creature, out of curiosity?

This is not a gun problem. Its a stupid problem.

**Kanluwen**

...

I think your response says it all for you.

**LordofHats**

Wait, what? How can anyone mistake a human child for a skunk... Is there some kind of Skunk-People problem I'm unaware of?

**hotsauceman1**

Well they both stink and are hard to get rid of when you get them.

**Seaward**

LordofHats wrote:
Wait, what? How can anyone mistake a human child for a skunk... Is there some kind of Skunk-People problem I'm unaware of?

Apparently she was on the other side of a hill, wearing a black hat with a white tassle. Presumably only her head or the upper part of her body was visible. Captain Mossberg saw movement, saw a small black-and-white object, and, if my speculation is correct, his co-pilot Jim Beam determined that the target was a skunk.

**Do_I_Not_Like_That**

Poor kid, hope she makes it.

Never having seen a skunk in real life, do they really stink and are they a nuisance?

**daedalus**

Seaward wrote:
his co-pilot Jim Beam determined that the target was a skunk.

To his credit, Jim Beam hadn't been wrong before.

**Grey Templar**

Do_I_Not_Like_That wrote:
Poor kid, hope she makes it.

Never having seen a skunk in real life, do they really stink and are they a nuisance?

Yes and Yes.

Although just being near one isn't the full effect. In very weak concentrations its just another odor. When you've been directly sprayed its instant gag reflex and it won't go away.

Oddly enough, some people's sense of smell doesn't detect it. Its a rare occurance but it does happen.

**Do_I_Not_Like_That**

In that case, blast away!

Say what you want about Jim Beam and Jack Daniels, they're always there for you.

**Mattman154**

Kanluwen wrote:
And this is why guns need to be regulated better.

Your idea for a test?

**Seaward**

Honestly, if a sitting vice president can shoot a human being he knows well due to mistaking it for a quadruped, I see no reason why your average citizen shouldn't be entitled to the same.

I thought a dude with long hair was a chick once in a dark bar. Sometimes we all aim at things we shouldn't.

**AustonT**

LordofHats wrote:Wait, what? How can anyone mistake a human child for a skunk... Is there some kind of Skunk-People problem I'm unaware of?

If she was actually wearing a skunk costume I might consider blaming the victim.

**LordofHats**

Skunk-People! I knew it! They said I was crazy. That the mole-people were the real threat but I knew!

*prepares shotgun*

Down with the skunkish overlords!

**AustonT**

Seaward wrote:
Honestly, if a sitting vice president can shoot a human being he knows well due to mistaking it for a quadruped, I see no reason why your average citizen shouldn't be entitled to the same.

Technically it wasn't a quadruped, they were on a quail hunt. I've read the account of the incident, and honestly its not surprising. People get shot (well generally peppered)at quail and dove hunts all the time. Is Cheney dead yet?

**LordofHats**

So what happened then exactly? There was a party going on in one place, and some relatives of the girl were quail hunting nearby and thought they saw a skunk?

The image I had from the blurb up there was just of some guys on a porch watching the party and thought "oh look a skunk." The first scenario is much less insane XD

**Seaward**

AustonT wrote:
Technically it wasn't a quadruped, they were on a quail hunt. I've read the account of the incident, and honestly its not surprising. People get shot (well generally peppered)at quail and dove hunts all the time. Is Cheney dead yet?

Yup. My maternal grandfather shot one of my uncles - in the throat, no less - while hunting pheasant.

**Yojiro**

I think quail hunting should be outlawed... juuuust sayin'

**Grey Templar**

Why?

They're darn tasty

**Ensis Ferrae**

Kanluwen wrote:
And this is why guns need to be regulated better.

Any moron who mistakes a child wearing a costume for a skunk does not need a firearm. In fact, they shouldn't even be allowed to have scissors.

No no, you have it all backwards. This is 'Murica, and because this happened, we need to regulate small woodland creatures better... Or, we need to put more legislation on what costumes are available at stores, or are "acceptable" for halloween costumes

**AustonT**

Yojiro wrote:
I think quail hunting should be outlawed... juuuust sayin'

Do not return

I'm kidding.....mostly.

Automatically Appended Next Post:

LordofHats wrote:
just of some guys on a porch watching the party and thought "oh look a skunk."

Most likely this.
You can't fix stupid bro.

**yeri**

My question is what possessed the person to shoot the what they believed was a skunk at a range that they couldn't clearly identify it as a person in a costume? if you can't make out the general shape and size of it you're definitely out of spray range. thus why would you shoot a poor critter that isn't hurting you and you're not going to eat it. makes no sense to me.

**Ensis Ferrae**

yeri wrote:
My question is what possessed the person to shoot the what they believed was a skunk at a range that they couldn't clearly identify it as a person in a costume? if you can't make out the general shape and size of it you're definitely out of spray range. thus why would you shoot a poor critter that isn't hurting you and you're not going to eat it. makes no sense to me.

obviously, they love the smell of voided skunk, and thought they'd liven the party up with new aromas.

**Grey Templar**

yeri wrote:
My question is what possessed the person to shoot the what they believed was a skunk at a range that they couldn't clearly identify it as a person in a costume? if you can't make out the general shape and size of it you're definitely out of spray range. thus why would you shoot a poor critter that isn't hurting you and you're not going to eat it. makes no sense to me.

Well in the country, especially if you have chickens or other small livestock, you will almost always shoot a predator like a skunk, possum, or raccoon on sight. It keeps them away from your property as a deterrent.

**AustonT**

Grey Templar wrote:
yeri wrote:
My question is what possessed the person to shoot the what they believed was a skunk at a range that they couldn't clearly identify it as a person in a costume? if you can't make out the general shape and size of it you're definitely out of spray range. thus why would you shoot a poor critter that isn't hurting you and you're not going to eat it. makes no sense to me.

Well in the country, especially if you have chickens or other small livestock, you will almost always shoot a predator like a skunk, possum, or raccoon on sight. It keeps them away from your property as a deterrent.

Except when you have company you don't shoot in the dark, it's common sense.

**yeri**

Grey Templar wrote:
yeri wrote:
My question is what possessed the person to shoot the what they believed was a skunk at a range that they couldn't clearly identify it as a person in a costume? if you can't make out the general shape and size of it you're definitely out of spray range. thus why would you shoot a poor critter that isn't hurting you and you're not going to eat it. makes no sense to me.

Well in the country, especially if you have chickens or other small livestock, you will almost always shoot a predator like a skunk, possum, or raccoon on sight. It keeps them away from your property as a deterrent.

Ah, that clears it up for a city boy like me. Thank you.

**Grey Templar**

AustonT wrote:
Grey Templar wrote:
yeri wrote:
My question is what possessed the person to shoot the what they believed was a skunk at a range that they couldn't clearly identify it as a person in a costume? if you can't make out the general shape and size of it you're definitely out of spray range. thus why would you shoot a poor critter that isn't hurting you and you're not going to eat it. makes no sense to me.

Well in the country, especially if you have chickens or other small livestock, you will almost always shoot a predator like a skunk, possum, or raccoon on sight. It keeps them away from your property as a deterrent.
Except when you have company you don't shoot in the dark, it's common sense.

True, hence why I said this was stupidity causing the problem.