This is my first post here so I thought I'd make it a memorable one. Here's a little tale that I heard from a fellow EMS friend. I have my opinions, but I'd like to hear yours. Some of you have probably heard it before, and I have tweaked it just a little to my liking, but I hope to start an insightful conversation... Enjoy.
On March 23, 1994 a medical examiner looked at the body of Ronald Opus after which he concluded the cause of death was a shotgun wound to the head, although Ronald had initially jumped from the top of a 10-story building with the intention of committing suicide.
Murder, suicide, or manslaughter?
Ronald had left a note behind before he jumped confessing to his intentions of suicide. But as Ronald stood atop the building he grew fearful of death, and decided it was not what he wanted. He chose to step from the ledge but was on his shoelace. He slipped and fell anyways. Unknown to everyone, a safety net had been put up just below the eighth floor for some window washers later that day. Which means even if Ronald had intentionally jumped, Ronald would never have been able to kill himself at all. However, as he fell, a bullet was fired through the 9th floor window, killing him instantly. Usually, when someone succeeds at committing suicide, regardless of changing circumstances, their death is still defined as suicide. But because Ronald was shot during his suicide attempt that probably would not have been successful due to the safety net. The medical examiner was unsure how to classify it.
Murder, suicide, or manslaughter?
Upon further investigation it was learned that an old man and his wife lived on the ninth floor where the gun had been fired. The man had been violently threatening his wife with the gun during an argument. Which apparently happened all the time, but always resulted as empty threats. The Old man never kept the gun loaded and actually never intended to shoot his wife. But he was so mad… and as he neared the end of his rant he climatically pulled the trigger. To everyone’s surprise the shotgun fired, but missed his wife and careened through the window instead. Perfectly timed to hit and kill the suicidal Ronald. The man and his wife insisted they thought the gun was unloaded. Since it was a habit to threaten his wife with the gun and he had no intention of murdering her. The gun was accidentally loaded, and thus the killing was an accident. Right? You tell me…
Murder, suicide, or manslaughter?
Even FURTHER investigating turned up a witness who saw the couple's son load the shotgun several weeks before the accident. Apparently, the old lady had cut off her son's flow of money. So the son, in his cold bitterness, who knew about his father’s habit of threatening his mother with the gun, discretely loaded the gun so his dad would shoot her.
Murder, suicide, or manslaughter?
But here’s the final twist…
The son who had loaded the shotgun was actually Ronald Opus himself. He had grown depressed because he was in debt with some bad people and his attempt to cause his mom's murder wasn't working the way he had planned. And when Ronald Opus accidentally went through with his suicide from the top of that 10-story building, the bullet Ronald himself discretely loaded to kill his mother, was accidentally fired through intentional means and just so happened to strike him in the head during a suicide attempt that was bound to fail from the beginning, and thus killed him instantly.
So I will ask again… Murder, suicide, or manslaughter?
On March 23, 1994 a medical examiner looked at the body of Ronald Opus after which he concluded the cause of death was a shotgun wound to the head, although Ronald had initially jumped from the top of a 10-story building with the intention of committing suicide.
Murder, suicide, or manslaughter?
Ronald had left a note behind before he jumped confessing to his intentions of suicide. But as Ronald stood atop the building he grew fearful of death, and decided it was not what he wanted. He chose to step from the ledge but was on his shoelace. He slipped and fell anyways. Unknown to everyone, a safety net had been put up just below the eighth floor for some window washers later that day. Which means even if Ronald had intentionally jumped, Ronald would never have been able to kill himself at all. However, as he fell, a bullet was fired through the 9th floor window, killing him instantly. Usually, when someone succeeds at committing suicide, regardless of changing circumstances, their death is still defined as suicide. But because Ronald was shot during his suicide attempt that probably would not have been successful due to the safety net. The medical examiner was unsure how to classify it.
Murder, suicide, or manslaughter?
Upon further investigation it was learned that an old man and his wife lived on the ninth floor where the gun had been fired. The man had been violently threatening his wife with the gun during an argument. Which apparently happened all the time, but always resulted as empty threats. The Old man never kept the gun loaded and actually never intended to shoot his wife. But he was so mad… and as he neared the end of his rant he climatically pulled the trigger. To everyone’s surprise the shotgun fired, but missed his wife and careened through the window instead. Perfectly timed to hit and kill the suicidal Ronald. The man and his wife insisted they thought the gun was unloaded. Since it was a habit to threaten his wife with the gun and he had no intention of murdering her. The gun was accidentally loaded, and thus the killing was an accident. Right? You tell me…
Murder, suicide, or manslaughter?
Even FURTHER investigating turned up a witness who saw the couple's son load the shotgun several weeks before the accident. Apparently, the old lady had cut off her son's flow of money. So the son, in his cold bitterness, who knew about his father’s habit of threatening his mother with the gun, discretely loaded the gun so his dad would shoot her.
Murder, suicide, or manslaughter?
But here’s the final twist…
The son who had loaded the shotgun was actually Ronald Opus himself. He had grown depressed because he was in debt with some bad people and his attempt to cause his mom's murder wasn't working the way he had planned. And when Ronald Opus accidentally went through with his suicide from the top of that 10-story building, the bullet Ronald himself discretely loaded to kill his mother, was accidentally fired through intentional means and just so happened to strike him in the head during a suicide attempt that was bound to fail from the beginning, and thus killed him instantly.
So I will ask again… Murder, suicide, or manslaughter?
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