# So... have you killed anybody? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 5, 2010, 7:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-have-you-killed-anybody/563021 "2010-12-05T07:33:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Arrendajo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Arrendajo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arrendajo)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2010, 8:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-have-you-killed-anybody/563021/41 "2010-12-06T08:20:59Z")
> [@USCDiver](#): > > I voted other; I have taken patients off life support multiple times leading to their death. All in accordance with the family and/or patient’s wishes of course. My situation too, although I might have been responsible for a death or two due to lack of professional expertise. But hey, practice makes perfect! ---
**Author:** ![Arrendajo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Arrendajo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arrendajo)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2010, 8:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-have-you-killed-anybody/563021/42 "2010-12-06T08:27:58Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > Once when I was in Reno. There was loser, and I just wanted to see someone croak. Did your mother not advise you against such a course of action? ---
**Author:** ![dzero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/5f9b8f/32.png) [@dzero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dzero)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2010, 8:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-have-you-killed-anybody/563021/43 "2010-12-06T08:51:23Z")
Cast a spell. But it was probably just a coincidence. ---
**Author:** ![USCDiver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/uscdiver/32/354_2.png) [@USCDiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/USCDiver)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2010, 8:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-have-you-killed-anybody/563021/44 "2010-12-06T08:54:23Z")
> [@Arrendajo](#): > > My situation too, although I might have been responsible for a death or two due to lack of professional expertise. But hey, practice makes perfect! I always think to myself that those people were going to die anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2010, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-have-you-killed-anybody/563021/45 "2010-12-06T13:35:34Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > Once when I was in Reno. There was loser, and I just wanted to see someone croak. > [@Arrendajo](#): > > Did your mother not advise you against such a course of action? I imagine that when you hear that audible locomotive warning, you lower your noggin and commence weeping. mmm ---
**Author:** ![Agent\_Foxtrot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc29f/32.png) [@Agent\_Foxtrot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Agent_Foxtrot)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2010, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-have-you-killed-anybody/563021/46 "2010-12-06T14:28:04Z")
> [@Arrendajo](#): > > Did your mother not advise you against such a course of action? And did she not advise you of this when you were an infant in your formative years? ---
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2010, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-have-you-killed-anybody/563021/47 "2010-12-06T14:39:18Z")
No, but not for lack of trying. Good luck (mine) prevailed. At a rough count, including both combat veterans and criminals, I must know upwards of 30 people who killed another person. Some of them, like a former BIL who served with distinction in Vietnam, killed more than once. None of them seem to have been improved by the experience. ---
**Author:** ![MeanOldLady](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/meanoldlady/32/10737_2.png) [@MeanOldLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeanOldLady)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2010, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-have-you-killed-anybody/563021/48 "2010-12-06T15:00:32Z")
I like that two people claimed to have murdered someone for recreation. ---
**Author:** ![Randy\_Seltzer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ee7513/32.png) [@Randy\_Seltzer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Randy_Seltzer)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2010, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-have-you-killed-anybody/563021/49 "2010-12-06T15:08:59Z")
I’ve certainly tried: I worked on a capital case back in law school, though it’s still in appeals now. My brother-in-law killed a bunch of [dudes](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moro_Islamic_Liberation_Front) in the Philippines in the late '90s and early '00s as a US Marine captain, both personally (i.e. with an M-16) and indirectly (e.g. by calling in missiles). Earned a bronze star with a valor device. ---
**Author:** ![BMalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2010, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-have-you-killed-anybody/563021/50 "2010-12-06T16:21:38Z")
I was onstage at the Comedy Store in LaJolla California. There were around 150-200 people in the audience. I killed 'em. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2010, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-have-you-killed-anybody/563021/51 "2010-12-06T18:14:12Z")
I once shot a man in Reno and then I didn’t even bother to stay and watch him die. ---
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanub/32/132_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUB)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2010, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-have-you-killed-anybody/563021/52 "2010-12-06T21:00:35Z")
An ex of mine is in jail for two premeditated murders as I write this. For anyone in the Tampa Bay area, I’m talking about the six people in Ruskin that were shot on Thanksgiving while playing cards on their front porch. My ex the perp (band name!) is the icecream vendor that was shot during a robbery last January. Will check back in when someone starts a “do you know anyone on death row?” thread. ---
**Author:** ![Nars\_Glinley](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nars_glinley/32/8177_2.png) [@Nars\_Glinley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nars_Glinley)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2010, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-have-you-killed-anybody/563021/53 "2010-12-06T21:48:25Z")
I sold a gun to a guy that went home and killed himself with it. I didn’t personally kill him but I made his job a lot easier. ---
**Author:** ![Barkis\_is\_Willin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a183cd/32.png) [@Barkis\_is\_Willin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barkis_is_Willin)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2010, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-have-you-killed-anybody/563021/54 "2010-12-06T21:51:43Z")
I knew a girl who killed her father in high school. Shotgun blast to the chest. Premeditated. My sister is friends with a relative of David Berkowitz. He shares the last name, too. ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2010, 10:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-have-you-killed-anybody/563021/55 "2010-12-07T10:50:21Z")
> [@Barkis\_is\_Willin](#): > > I knew a girl who killed her father in high school. Shotgun blast to the chest. Premeditated. > My sister is friends with a relative of David Berkowitz. He shares the last name, too. Janie got a gun. mmm ---
**Author:** ![Paranoid\_Randroid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/paranoid_randroid/32/18_2.png) [@Paranoid\_Randroid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paranoid_Randroid)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2010, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-have-you-killed-anybody/563021/56 "2010-12-07T12:44:26Z")
I’ve met [a murderer](http://www.enquirer.com/editions/2004/05/25/loc_shrout25prison.html) – his family went to our church – although I recall that he had stopped coming a while before. Quite a shock. Oh, I suppose I’m roommates with at least two known murderers. (One has killed a rabbit and a bird; the other has killed numerous rodents and birds. They show no remorse and I should probably fear for my life.) ---
**Author:** ![Uber\_the\_Goober](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/58956e/32.png) [@Uber\_the\_Goober](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uber_the_Goober)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2010, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-have-you-killed-anybody/563021/57 "2010-12-07T13:47:34Z")
A guy I worked with on a cooking line was a general insufferable tool. Annoying, arrogant, bad at his job. One night he was being a super-tool, and I was extra angry at him for it. He made the wrong comment at the wrong time and I smashed a plastic hotel pan on his stove and screamed in a violent voice “If you don’t shut your mouth I will fu#$ing kill you!”. The entire dining room heard it, all the staff, management, everyone. He stopped talking for a while…but resumed as normal later. After he left work that night he died in a car wreck. Kinda weird. Wasn’t me though. Most people did leave me alone after that…I wonder if they suspected me. ---
**Author:** ![Count\_Blucher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Count\_Blucher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Blucher)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2010, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-have-you-killed-anybody/563021/58 "2010-12-07T14:21:01Z")
My father was pretty upset with me and my life the week before he had the stroke that killed him. I know strokes run in our family, but its a pretty big coincidence. ---
**Author:** ![IaMoDiNaRy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/cc9497/32.png) [@IaMoDiNaRy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IaMoDiNaRy)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2010, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-have-you-killed-anybody/563021/59 "2010-12-07T23:44:35Z")
> [@Paranoid\_Randroid](#): > > Oh, I suppose I’m roommates with at least two known murderers. (One has killed a rabbit and a bird; the other has killed numerous rodents and birds. They show no remorse and I should probably fear for my life.) I, too, have a roommate like that… She’s the most beautiful girl you’ll ever meet and has the softest, kindest brown eyes… but she’s a cold-blooded killer. She’s so sweet and quiet that I honestly have to say I was shocked the first time I witnessed her expert killing technique. With no hesitation, she butchered an entire nest of baby birds before I even realized what was happening. Same thing happened with several baby squirrels that had the misfortune to fall out of the trees during a storm. It was the saddest thing - puncture marks all over their little tummies… so sad. She’s a Mini Schnauzer killing machine with the eyes of an angel. And no, I don’t know anyone that’s killed a human being except military and police personnel. I do know someone that was murdered, though. One of my college teachers and his wife were killed by their adopted son (14). Shot 'em in the head with a shotgun while they were sleeping. My teacher was a great guy and everyone that knew them had only good things to say. The son, however, was a trouble maker. He said he killed them because they wouldn’t let him stay out late on school nights. ---
**Author:** ![Paranoid\_Randroid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/paranoid_randroid/32/18_2.png) [@Paranoid\_Randroid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paranoid_Randroid)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2010, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-have-you-killed-anybody/563021/60 "2010-12-08T15:52:58Z")
> [@IaMoDiNaRy](#): > > She’s so sweet and quiet that I honestly have to say I was shocked the first time I witnessed her expert killing technique. With no hesitation, she butchered an entire nest of baby birds before I even realized what was happening. Yep. My dog is half chow, but temperamentally she proceeds from her lab side – very, very sweet, very affectionate, usually pretty calm. She gets along well with my cats and the giant rabbit (if “exhibiting near complete ignorance of” counts as “well”). So I was taken aback when she spotted a wild rabbit in the backyard and actually _caught and killed_ the thing. Disturbing. But it may not be quite right to say I was surprised … I mean, I know what she is, I know how it works. But dogs can be so easy to anthropomorphize that it’s easy to forget that stuff. When my eldest cat was an outdoor cat, on the other hand, it was much more natural to commend her on her mouse and bird killing mad skillz. (Even though I’m way too sensitive and feel quite inordinately bad about that sort of thing.) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-have-you-killed-anybody/563021.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-have-you-killed-anybody/563021.md?page=4)