# I Took a Wild Guess about Why Some Psycho Fatally Shot an Eight Year Old Girl...AND I WAS RIGHT! **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [August 7, 2023, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-took-a-wild-guess-about-why-some-psycho-fatally-shot-an-eight-year-old-girl-and-i-was-right/988204 "2023-08-07T19:30:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Two\_Many\_Cats2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/779978/32.png) [@Two\_Many\_Cats2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_Many_Cats2)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2023, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-took-a-wild-guess-about-why-some-psycho-fatally-shot-an-eight-year-old-girl-and-i-was-right/988204/81 "2023-08-09T04:43:20Z")
Because simply posting the link with a comment of “Oh, how horrible,” would be extremely boring. It is a horrible thing, of course. But we all know that. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2023, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-took-a-wild-guess-about-why-some-psycho-fatally-shot-an-eight-year-old-girl-and-i-was-right/988204/82 "2023-08-09T04:49:41Z")
> [@Two\_Many\_Cats2](#): > > Because simply posting the link with a comment of “Oh, how horrible,” would be extremely boring. > > It is a horrible thing, of course. But we all know that You basically posted: I get it! I don’t like screaming kids, either! > I Took a Wild Guess about Why Some Psycho Fatally Shot an Eight Year Old Girl…AND I WAS RIGHT! ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2023, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-took-a-wild-guess-about-why-some-psycho-fatally-shot-an-eight-year-old-girl-and-i-was-right/988204/83 "2023-08-09T05:16:13Z")
I’d like “people who don’t get dark humour” for $300, Alex. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2023, 6:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-took-a-wild-guess-about-why-some-psycho-fatally-shot-an-eight-year-old-girl-and-i-was-right/988204/84 "2023-08-09T06:11:42Z")
I must be dense. Please point out the “humour/humor”. ---
**Author:** ![Mops](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mops/32/16494_2.png) [@Mops](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mops)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2023, 6:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-took-a-wild-guess-about-why-some-psycho-fatally-shot-an-eight-year-old-girl-and-i-was-right/988204/85 "2023-08-09T06:14:40Z")
> [@TruCelt](#): > > … My suspicion is that the annoyed folk are those who can’t tell the difference between “I’m happy” screech and “I’ve broken my arm” screech. I suppose they can be quite similar, and also child specific. But it never took me long to differentiate the local kids’ melodies and frequencies. … That‘s exactly what‘s stressful to strangers when children are shrieky and shouty, and what the parents of those children just don‘t get because their perception got calibrated specifically to their kids. Sitting on our balcony reading I often got the signal ALERT ALERT SMALL HUMAN IN DANGER ALERT ALERT, with the adrenaline rush attending receipt of that signal, urgently looked down and saw the mother calmly chatting with another mother on the playground‘s bench when their child shrieked their head off - the mother got habituated to the way their child expressed themself, but could (on being spoken to, occasionally) just not understand why that was stressful to strangers not that attuned to her child. That was one of the reasons that both a friend of ours, and my wife and I, moved to other apartments in other towns, not overlooking a playground. We overlook a road now, that is on average more noisy than a playground, but the difference is that car noises don‘t decode as a distress signal of a small human, so they are less stressful. We have a three year old girl in our current condo house who occasionally bawls in the stairwell when she does not want to leave for daycare just now, but thankfully that bawl is distinct from a danger signal even for us strangers. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2023, 6:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-took-a-wild-guess-about-why-some-psycho-fatally-shot-an-eight-year-old-girl-and-i-was-right/988204/86 "2023-08-09T06:20:21Z")
> [@Two\_Many\_Cats2](#): > > And I’ve been awarded “Popular Link”!!🤩 A perfect opportunity for me to derail the thread again, this time to complain about the “Badges” feature of this platform. Nothing personal, @Two_Many_Cats2. But my immediate reaction to the post above is 🙄 ---
**Author:** ![purplehorseshoe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/purplehorseshoe/32/2996_2.png) [@purplehorseshoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehorseshoe)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2023, 6:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-took-a-wild-guess-about-why-some-psycho-fatally-shot-an-eight-year-old-girl-and-i-was-right/988204/87 "2023-08-09T06:20:59Z")
> [@bobot](#): > > her mother was shot and killed a few years ago, so it was just her and her dad. Oh, my god, that poor man - losing both of the females in his life to guns. My heart absolutely aches for him. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2023, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-took-a-wild-guess-about-why-some-psycho-fatally-shot-an-eight-year-old-girl-and-i-was-right/988204/88 "2023-08-09T13:36:42Z")
> [@Dr.Winston\_OBoogie](#): > > I’m sitting here gob-smacked. What the hell? What ever happened to proportional response? In what universe is the proper response to “kids screaming too loud” to shoot the kid in the face? It’s not. But at the same time, being aware of/understanding someone’s motivation for what they do, doesn’t condone it. I mean, I can see how someone who’s selfish and has poor impulse control might well become violent with a child. They can be _super_ annoying sometimes- loud, persistent, messy, etc… But that doesn’t mean it’s ok either- that’s a sort of victim blaming I think. > [@Atamasama](#): > > I’m generally not one to gripe when kids are being noisy in the appropriate time and place. Like, say, a yard in the middle of the day during Summer. Or a park. Because I’m not a crotchety asshole. (Well, yet, I still have time.) I agree. I used to have neighbors who were grandparents to a couple of 3-5 year old kids. Most of the time it was actually pleasant to hear them playing in their backyard (which my room overlooked) But when their parents would drop them off at like 7:30 am on a Saturday morning, and those screeching hellions would go out and make all sorts of racket, I was NOT a fan of theirs or their grandparents. It’s all about time and place. Kids making a bunch of racket in a family friendly restaurant? Great- I even empathize with the parents. Kids making a bunch of racket at a fine dining place? That’s going to piss me off mightily. ---
**Author:** ![Digger11](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/838e76/32.png) [@Digger11](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Digger11)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2023, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-took-a-wild-guess-about-why-some-psycho-fatally-shot-an-eight-year-old-girl-and-i-was-right/988204/89 "2023-08-09T13:43:05Z")
> [@purplehorseshoe](#): > > Oh, my god, that poor man - losing both of the females in his life to guns. My heart absolutely aches for him. Is that somehow more tragic than losing both females to car accidents, or losing them to cancer? ---
**Author:** ![excavating\_for\_a\_mind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e8c25b/32.png) [@excavating\_for\_a\_mind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/excavating_for_a_mind)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2023, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-took-a-wild-guess-about-why-some-psycho-fatally-shot-an-eight-year-old-girl-and-i-was-right/988204/90 "2023-08-09T14:31:20Z")
> [@Digger11](#): > > Is that somehow more tragic than losing both females to car accidents, or losing them to cancer? I have no idea, as this tragedy has not happened to me. I am not even sure how to categorize such tragedies. However, with car accidents, there is a certain risk we all accept as part of society to be able to travel quickly and comfortably. Similarly, with cancer, I get a sense of inevitability about the disease. It’s not like car accidents, but it most certainly a risk we all sign up for when we are born as part of being alive. With gun violence, though, there is a big difference. With car accidents, there are effective measures we, as a society, have found that will reduce their severity and prevalence. Some of these measures are rather expensive and all impact the freedoms we enjoy to one extent or another. But over the past 50-100 years, the frequency and severity of car accidents has dropped amazingly. Same thing with cancer, in both the prevention and treatment. With guns, however, over the same time period, they have only become more lethal, more prevalent, and their use for their designed purpose in civil society has increased. As a society, we don’t seem to be able to do anything about it. So, is it more tragic? I am not sure there is any way to tell. I do know that it is very tragic and that we, as a society, really should look at what we can do to reduce the number of deaths from firearms, automobiles, and disease. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2023, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-took-a-wild-guess-about-why-some-psycho-fatally-shot-an-eight-year-old-girl-and-i-was-right/988204/91 "2023-08-09T14:46:36Z")
> [@needscoffee](#): > > Please point out the “humour/humor”. Serious attempt to explain, since you asked: For me, the idea of shooting a fictional child because said child is too noisy is so over-the-top ludicrous that it’s funny: an extreme overreaction. It starts in the common experience of annoyance. It can be funny because, for a sane person, _ **it’s not real** _. This particular story features a case where it was real. That’s not funny, of course: a child lost her life because an adult murdered her. My reaction to that is anger: how dare someone kill a child, and how dare society enable that by placing effective murder weapons within such easy reach. Still, the fact that one child died doesn’t make me change my worldview that this is a ridiculous, over-the-top idea, and I can still find the fictional idea funny, now with the added benefit of helping me cope with the fact that these tragedies occur. One of the things dark humour does. You don’t have to find it funny, of course, but maybe the problem is WHAT other people find funny about it. I don’t think anyone is laughing at the real death, but similar fictional scenarios can be funny. As long as we all understand that actually harming kids is a non-starter—we do too much of that already with the world we’re giving them. ---
**Author:** ![Tibby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tibby/32/17030_2.png) [@Tibby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tibby)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2023, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-took-a-wild-guess-about-why-some-psycho-fatally-shot-an-eight-year-old-girl-and-i-was-right/988204/92 "2023-08-09T14:50:09Z")
I agree with your assessment. All premature deaths (i.e. before living a normal lifespan, and ending from natural causes) are tragic, but when they are due to man’s inhumanity to man, they carry an extra layer of despair. If I lost loved ones due to murder, it would certainly adversely affect me psychologically to a greater degree than due to an accident or disease. ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2023, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-took-a-wild-guess-about-why-some-psycho-fatally-shot-an-eight-year-old-girl-and-i-was-right/988204/93 "2023-08-09T15:02:07Z")
It’s like Archie Bunker! “Would you rather they was pushed out of windows?” Ha ha! ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2023, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-took-a-wild-guess-about-why-some-psycho-fatally-shot-an-eight-year-old-girl-and-i-was-right/988204/94 "2023-08-09T15:14:27Z")
> [@Beckdawrek](#): > > I disagree with girls not shrieking after age 6. My girls are 20 somethings and a 32 yo and the screech can get out of hand still. > > Besides my own kids and grandkids a teen girls volleyball game will kill any hearing you have left. > > The grandsons fight, call names, chase through the house and fart alot. > > None has ever really bothered me to a point I want to hurt some kid. I imagine I did my share when I was young. It’s just how it is. > Kids be noisy. Quoted for truth. I imagine I might be making a mistake trying positivity here in the Pit, but I have found that it was possible to adjust my point of view so that the squealing of kids is something that triggers happiness; it’s children doing what children do when they are having fun. Having fun is good. Hearing children having fun means the world is a little bit good. It’s a good sound. You can choose to receive it as a good sound. I’d not want it right into my earhole at very close range, certainly, but I wouldn’t want to experience melodic birdsong in that context either. ---
**Author:** ![chela](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chela/32/21582_2.png) [@chela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chela)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2023, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-took-a-wild-guess-about-why-some-psycho-fatally-shot-an-eight-year-old-girl-and-i-was-right/988204/95 "2023-08-09T15:32:09Z")
Kids play using their imagination, and sometimes that play also mimics fears, danger and scary stuff and their emotions get big and loud. Someone chasing you pretending to be the boogeyman may elicit shouts and shrieks that can’t be held back. Does it matter that the chase ends in a collapse of relief and giggles now that the danger is over. Let them play, but shrieking to see who can do it the loudest should be discouraged. Saw this [bit](https://nypost.com/2023/04/20/the-baby-mute-product-that-left-parents-horrified/)about a prank product to muffle screaming babies, ha ha just a joke it doesn’t exist. Or so they claim. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2023, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-took-a-wild-guess-about-why-some-psycho-fatally-shot-an-eight-year-old-girl-and-i-was-right/988204/96 "2023-08-09T15:37:45Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > You can choose to receive it as a good sound. I don’t know that that is true for all brains. I’m exceptionally sensitive to noise, and have been since I was an infant. The dog next door has a lovely bark: he can bark all day and it doesn’t bother me. The ones across the street are higher pitched, and even short barking spurts are bothersome. I’m happy that the children are happy, and I don’t want them to be anything other, but I also can’t filter their squeals into the background. Each one yanks me out of whatever I’m doing. I don’t get the adrenaline reaction described above, because I know it’s a happy squeal, but I can’t just “receive it as a good sound.” What I can do, and do do, is block it out. Price of living in society and all that. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2023, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-took-a-wild-guess-about-why-some-psycho-fatally-shot-an-eight-year-old-girl-and-i-was-right/988204/97 "2023-08-09T15:48:52Z")
> [@Dr.Drake](#): > > I don’t know that that is true for all brains. You may be right. I suspect however it’s true for a larger number of brains than the number of brains that try it. > [@Dr.Drake](#): > > **I’m happy that the children are happy, and I don’t want them to be anything other** , but I also can’t filter their squeals into the background. Each one yanks me out of whatever I’m doing. I don’t get the adrenaline reaction described above, **because I know it’s a happy squeal** , but I can’t just “receive it as a good sound.” That’s not actually a million miles away from what I meant as ‘receiving it as a good sound’ ---
**Author:** ![filmore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/7993a0/32.png) [@filmore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/filmore)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2023, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-took-a-wild-guess-about-why-some-psycho-fatally-shot-an-eight-year-old-girl-and-i-was-right/988204/98 "2023-08-09T16:06:02Z")
Any sound above a certain loudness is going to bother some people regardless of the sound. It doesn’t matter if it’s a typically happy sound or not. Ideally, everyone in a neighborhood would understand that loud noises are going to be part of a neighborhood and they’ll have to deal with them from time-to-time. In addition, everyone in a neighborhood would be considerate of their neighbors and try to minimize the effects of their own loud noises in a reasonable way. So a dog barking occasionally is just going to be part of living in a neighborhood and neighbors should just deal with the sound. But a dog barking from 9-5 every day is a problem that the dog’s owner should take care of. It doesn’t matter if the barking is from play, boredom, or aggression. It’s too loud for too long. The same with other sounds like driveway basketball, music, kids playing, etc. If kids are playing, they’re going to be loud from time to time. But if they are loud all the time, the parents should work with them so that they play without being loud. Obviously what happened in this thread is not at all reasonable, but that doesn’t mean that kids should be allowed to yell constantly when they are playing. Loud play is still loud noise. My hated neighborhood sound is wind chimes. How neighbors think it’s appropriate to hang something that goes “ting-ting-bong-bong” all night is something I don’t understand. I’m a light sleeper. On windy nights, I end up sleeping in another bedroom because the neighbor on my bedroom side has wind chimes. I’ve certainly fantasized about doing terrible things to those wind chimes at 3am, but I realize it’s just part of the “fun” of living near other people. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2023, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-took-a-wild-guess-about-why-some-psycho-fatally-shot-an-eight-year-old-girl-and-i-was-right/988204/99 "2023-08-09T16:17:04Z")
> [@filmore](#): > > it’s just part of the “fun” of living near other people. And that’s why I love living without anyone within earshot. Then again, a “neighbor” who is a ten minute walk through the woods away from us died two weeks ago. He was doing some work on his property on his tractor, which he rolled. He died but was not discovered for 48 hours. I don’t know if his death was instantaneous or if he was alive but in agony for awhile, nor do I want to know. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2023, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-took-a-wild-guess-about-why-some-psycho-fatally-shot-an-eight-year-old-girl-and-i-was-right/988204/100 "2023-08-09T16:22:08Z")
Same. I live out in the woods because I’d rather have nature noise than neighbor noise. One problem living out is if you’re alone and something bad happens you can holler til doomsday no one is gonna hear. We all got our trials and tribulations. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-took-a-wild-guess-about-why-some-psycho-fatally-shot-an-eight-year-old-girl-and-i-was-right/988204.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-took-a-wild-guess-about-why-some-psycho-fatally-shot-an-eight-year-old-girl-and-i-was-right/988204.md?page=6)