Cherokee County teen shot by police sniper, parents speak out

kluang · 10-28-2012, 12:25 PM

http://www.cbsatlanta.com/story/1991...s-atlanta-news

Quote:

CHEROKEE COUNTY, GA (CBS ATLANTA) -

The parents of a 16-year-old suicidal boy spoke only with CBS Atlanta News' Wendy Saltzman after their son was gunned down by a police sniper in Cherokee County.

Lisa and Nick Messina said their son was killed at the hands of the officers they called for help.

According to his parents, Andrew Messina had a bad day at school and the pressure was so overwhelming, he grabbed a gun and threatened to kill himself.

Lisa Messina called the cops in desperation, hoping an officer would come talk to him. But what arrived was an army of deputies, an armored tank and a sniper.

"We would still be sitting there today if it weren't for that very, very aggressive act that he made of ramming the gun and a pistol straight through a glass door at our officers," said Cherokee County Sheriff Roger Garrison, on the day after the shooting.

Garrison painted a picture of a dangerous gunman taking aim at his officers, and defended his sniper's fire.

"Had that officer not taken the action, there is a good chance one of those negotiators that was there who also has a family, also would not be going home today," Garrison said.

But the other side of this story has never been told before, a story about a boy described as a pacifist who some say was needlessly killed.

"Would you have ever called the police if you had known this could have happened?" Chief Investigative Reporter Wendy Saltzman asked Lisa Messina.

"That's the one thing I would have done different today. I would not have called 911," she said.

Andrew Messina's parents are speaking out for the first time to tell what they say really happened to their son on May 1, 2012. They say their son had just gotten a bad grade at school.

"He just got sad and kind of down on himself and talked about running away. And that discussion turned to ending his life. And I wasn't home," Nick Messina said.

"It just happened so fast, and then he went upstairs. He has the gun in his hand, and he had bullets in the other hand," Lisa Messina continued.

Andrew Messina picked up the phone and called 911.

"I need you to get away from him if you think he is going to shoot you," the 911 operator said on the call.

"I think he is going to shoot himself," Lisa Messina replied.

The operator told her to get out of the home, and Lisa Messina asked, "How many cars are coming? Just one, right?"

"I'm not sure," the operator replied.

But next thing they knew a slew of officers arrived.

"They brought an army to take out a 16-year-old boy. To kill a 16-year-old boy," Nick Messina said.

The teen was inside his home alone with no hostages. He had a 357 Magnum in his hand and was drinking and threatening to kill himself. He took a video of the events inside the home, including this conversation speaking to his father on the phone just minutes before he died.

"You can't find anything worth living for with me?" Nick Messina asked his son.

"I don't know," Andrew Messina replied.

"Really?" Nick Messina asked.

"I do know personally I really don't want to live. So you should just let this happen if you really love me," his son said.

Law enforcement negotiators soon cut off that call and put their negotiator on the phone with the teen.

"They are still standing out there," Andrew said. "Go away or do something, the tension is killing me."

Deputies in combat gear surrounded the home, with the frightened teen inside.

"We thought that they would (be) experts in being able to diffuse the situation. And that was not what happened. Instead of the fire being put out, they brought gasoline," Nick Messina said.

On the negotiation call, Andrew Messina said he wasn't involved in a riot, rather he was angry.

"Is that a riot shield? Yeah, that's a riot shield," he said. "This isn't a riot, this is one person who is pissed off."

On the call, Andrew Messina also begged negotiators several times to speak with his father.

"Hey, where's my dad? Isn't he supposed to be here?" he said.

At the time, Lisa and Nick Messina were down the street, just a few feet away.

"That just bothers me more to think that my son was in here, by himself, minutes before his death, asking for me," Nick Messina said, crying.

About 15 minutes before the fatal shot, Andrew Messina's parents saw sniper Jason Yarbrough walk past them in camouflage, with his riffle over his shoulder.

"I couldn't believe the gun he had," Lisa Messina said. "I said, 'Whoa, where is he going with that gun?'"

Yarbrough set up across the street in a neighbor's yard, which he estimated to be 65 yards from his target. The sniper scope, focused on the front door, helped him to see clearly as if he was holding a gun from just five feet away.

"A minute later we heard this horrendous cannon shot and he was dead," Nick Messina said.

"It was absolute shock and numbness, like no, there is no way they shot him. But they did," Lisa Messina continued.

The sheriff said the teen made an "aggressive gesture" that caused a sniper to fire his weapon to protect law enforcement officers.

But new evidence presented only to CBS Atlanta News by the Nick and Lisa Messina's attorney may tell a different story.

"We have not been able to find any justification whatsoever for that Cherokee County Sheriff sniper to shoot Andrew Messina. Zero," said attorney Chuck Pekor.

Pekor is a former federal prosecutor and a former cop who has been scouring through the case to uncover evidence that Andrew Messina didn't need to die.

"There is nobody in there with him. There is nobody at risk except himself. You just give it time, just wait," Pekor said.

The standoff had gone on a little more than an hour when Andrew Messina was killed. The sheriff justified the fatal shot, saying the teen threatened his officers.

Andrew Messina was inside the house holding the gun, and hit the top pane of glass with the gun. Negotiators were standing outside the house behind a wall around the corner from the door.

In the Georgia Bureau of Investigation report, Yarbrough said he heard a "pop" that sounded like a gunshot and he observed Messina through his riffle scope pointing the pistol at deputies.

"Not a single officer out there, not a one, ever saw the gun come through the hole where the break was," Pekor said, citing the GBI report.

Pekor argues that any trained law enforcement officer would know the difference between breaking glass and a 357 Magnum being fired. And not a single shot was ever fired from Andrew Messina's weapon.

And Pekor says there's another problem.

"He pretty much had his back to the negotiation team when he was shot. How could he possibly have been threatening them?" Pekor questioned.

The bullet came through the door while Andrew Messina was inside the home. The autopsy report says Andrew was shot in the right side of his abdomen, and the bullet exited the left side. According to that description, the teen was facing the opposite direction from where negotiators were outside the home.

Yarbrough was on the scene less than 20 minutes before he pulled the trigger and admitted he didn't even know if there was a hostage inside.

Pekor and others are concerned the sniper acted in haste, without being properly briefed that Andrew Messina was a suicidal teen, not a hardened criminal.

"Obviously it was an act of aggression against him. And my perception of the situation was that he was not, himself, being aggressive," said Susan Ehtesham, one of Andrew Messina's former teachers.

"Would this make you hesitate to call the police?" Saltzman asked neighbor Leeanna Tucker.

"I would never call them for help now," she replied.

An internal investigation by the Cherokee County Sheriff's Office and the district attorney both found there was no criminal wrongdoing by Yarbrough.

Saltzman made numerous attempts to interview the sheriff, the sniper and the commander on the scene, but the sheriff's office refused, saying "The case is closed."

But it's far from closed for the family who has filed notice of their intent to file a lawsuit against the Cherokee County Sheriff's Office.

jekyl_hyde · 10-28-2012, 04:43 PM

Maybe I'm a hardass when it comes to things like this, but there was more going on with this kid.... if he's going to have a gun and ammo, all because of a bad grade.... the world would have ate this dude up if that is all there is.

kluang · 10-29-2012, 12:08 AM

Quote:

hoping an officer would come talk to him. But what arrived was an army of deputies, an armored tank and a sniper.

They even send M1-Abraham.

ask me anything · 10-29-2012, 12:25 AM

I can't say I feel bad for this kid. Fucking crybaby weebo. I'd bet by own testicles this kid was instigating shit with the police.

Quote:

"They are still standing out there," Andrew said. "Go away or do something, the tension is killing me."

Wut? This kid really thought he could just make the cops leave? What an idiot. Like that has ever worked...ever. Like some dude could rob a bank and when the cops show up be all like "Oh hai guyz, Imma gonna give the money back m'kay...truce?"

Where exactly did this kid get a gun anyway? And another thing, his moms out there acting like her son was just some innocent victim that wouldn't hurt a fly, and yet she got her ass out of that house in a hurry didn't she.

**Mal** · 10-29-2012, 04:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ask me anything

Where exactly did this kid get a gun anyway?

'MURICA.

I have no sympathy for this kid, depressed or not, at 16 you should damn well know that you don't fuck around with the cops if you are holding a weapon.

kael03 · 10-29-2012, 06:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mal

at 16 you should damn well know that you don't fuck around with the cops if you are holding a weapon.

You are seriously underestimating the decline in intelligence for the younger people of America. Seriously, this is the group that follows "YOLO".

kluang · 10-29-2012, 09:18 AM

How or When the hell the phrase You Only Live Once become an excuse for young people to do dumb shit?

ask me anything · 10-29-2012, 09:20 AM

According to the story, the kid ran upstairs and came back down with a gun. So I take it he got the gun from somewhere inside the house itself. So either he had a gun stashed in his room or he got it from his PARENTS. Somehow the thought of some little dumbass weebo teeny baby that waves guns around and tells cops to get lost, doesn't seem like he could get a gun through legitimate means. He may have gotten it from friends, but thy would have the same issue getting the gun as him, unless they got it from their PARENTS. Or they bought it through illegal means.

I'm going to go with him getting the gun from his horrible parents, who seem like white trash hillbillies that didn't give 2 shits about the well being of the kid. You'd have to be a really incompetent parent NOT to notice your kid is having severe problems and even worse if you did but did nothing about it. I think they're the ones more a fault here then the cop that shot him. If the kid didn't have the gun in the first place, then he wouldn't have been waving it at the cops, and wouldn't have gotten shot.

I'm curios the see just how much money the family is suing for.

**Mal** · 10-29-2012, 01:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ask me anything

According to the story, the kid ran upstairs and came back down with a gun. So I take it he got the gun from somewhere inside the house itself. So either he had a gun stashed in his room or he got it from his PARENTS. Somehow the thought of some little dumbass weebo teeny baby that waves guns around and tells cops to get lost, doesn't seem like he could get a gun through legitimate means. He may have gotten it from friends, but thy would have the same issue getting the gun as him, unless they got it from their PARENTS. Or they bought it through illegal means.

I'm going to go with him getting the gun from his horrible parents, who seem like white trash hillbillies that didn't give 2 shits about the well being of the kid. You'd have to be a really incompetent parent NOT to notice your kid is having severe problems and even worse if you did but did nothing about it. I think they're the ones more a fault here then the cop that shot him. If the kid didn't have the gun in the first place, then he wouldn't have been waving it at the cops, and wouldn't have gotten shot.

I'm curios the see just how much money the family is suing for.

you're making the kid out to be a victim, that's just stupid. He was SIX-FUCKING-TEEN, he had no excuse for doing something so stupid. How and where he got te gun is irrelevant because no matter how well securd the gun may have been, assuming it was his parents', he probably would have been able to get it because 1) security doesn't stop anyone, only discourages, and 2) who expects their son to get all stupid with a gun like that? Sure, his parents probably aren't above average, but they can't be blamed for something like this when the kid had enough world experience that he should have known better himself.

I like to think it was death by cop because the kid didn't have the balls to do it himself.

ACt · 10-29-2012, 09:46 AM

More depressingly, anyone remember when journalism consisted of doing something other than pretending that every sentence should be its own paragraph?

ask me anything · 10-29-2012, 08:59 PM

^ I'm not making the kid out to be a victim at all. He made a stupid move and the police reacted. I'm just pointing out the actions of the parents, who are the ones running around pointing the fingers at everyone else. They are the ones that started the whole blame game here, so it's only fair that they be put under scrutiny themselves.

On the topic of security, I can guarantee you 100% that nobody but me and my wife could come into my home and grab one of my guns. I keep my shit locked up. Obviously these people did not. Does that make them responsible for this kids' suicide...no. Does make them negligent...yes.

We really don't know all the factors that lead up to this though. Apparently the kid was bullied or something. I'd like to know who exactly the reporters were talking with that gave them this information, and to what degree this kid was bullied. That's the real key to this investigation. I mean if the kid was called a few names that's one thing. If some dudes took him out behind the gym and beat him up everyday (or worse) then that's another thing altogether. That kind of stuff might lead to emotional problems that make you not think straight.

Edit: I just read that this kid was deeply depressed and taking Zoloft. Also ADHD. Still doesn't justify him waving a gun around and shit, but I can accept that he wasn't thinking straight at the time. Article said he just had a breakdown that day, but I still want to know what triggered it.

**Mal** · 10-30-2012, 03:30 AM

No longer care about the dead kid and his parents, just want to discuss this:

Quote:

Originally Posted by ask me anything

On the topic of security, I can guarantee you 100% that nobody but me and my wife could come into my home and grab one of my guns. I keep my shit locked up. Obviously these people did not. Does that make them responsible for this kids' suicide...no. Does make them negligent...yes.

No lock, no security, no preventative measure is perfect. Obviously no one could just saunter in and grab a gun, but someone with time, tools and knowledge can get around anything.

It's not at all obvious that these people did not, it is likely the kid knew exactly what I know about my dad's guns: the location of them, the key, and the ammunition.

ask me anything · 10-30-2012, 01:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mal

No longer care about the dead kid and his parents, just want to discuss this:

No lock, no security, no preventative measure is perfect. Obviously no one could just saunter in and grab a gun, but someone with time, tools and knowledge can get around anything.

It's not at all obvious that these people did not, it is likely the kid knew exactly what I know about my dad's guns: the location of them, the key, and the ammunition.

Perhaps it is possible to break through security given enough time. It shouldn't be an easy task though. The safe I keep my guns locked in has a 6 digit password to open it, that I highly doubt any 16 year old could figure out. He'd have to know the last 4 digits of my military ID number, reverse them in order, and then add the year of my birth (84) on the end. No way he'd figure that out. Then once he open it, there's a smaller portable safe inside that I keep my ammo locked in. If some punk kid can figure that out, then kudos to him, but I wouldn't hold my breath.

jekyl_hyde · 10-30-2012, 02:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ask me anything

Perhaps it is possible to break through security given enough time. It shouldn't be an easy task though. The safe I keep my guns locked in has a 6 digit password to open it, that I highly doubt any 16 year old could figure out. He'd have to know the last 4 digits of my military ID number, reverse them in order, and then add the year of my birth (84) on the end. No way he'd figure that out. Then once he open it, there's a smaller portable safe inside that I keep my ammo locked in. If some punk kid can figure that out, then kudos to him, but I wouldn't hold my breath.

First, let me say kudos to you for having the sense to lock both (guns and ammo) up. Not everyone has the sense to do that. And dependent upon which state you live in, you may be technically breaking a law. Can't remember which states have this law, but I do know there are several that require gun owners to store and lock away ammo in a seperate room altogether.

But I agree with both of you on the point that security is a deterrent, not a measure of prevention. That's what education is supposed to be for.

10-28-2012, 04:43 PM	#2
jekyl_hyde Hunter-Nin Join Date: Feb 2012 Posts: 1,040 Thanks: 624 Thanked 1,053 Times in 403 Posts	Re: Cherokee County teen shot by police sniper, parents speak out Maybe I'm a hardass when it comes to things like this, but there was more going on with this kid.... if he's going to have a gun and ammo, all because of a bad grade.... the world would have ate this dude up if that is all there is.

10-29-2012, 09:18 AM	#7
kluang One Punch Man Join Date: Apr 2006 Posts: 6,420 Thanks: 3,186 Thanked 4,663 Times in 2,101 Posts	Re: Cherokee County teen shot by police sniper, parents speak out How or When the hell the phrase You Only Live Once become an excuse for young people to do dumb shit? __________________ To err is human, to forgive, divine. Humans aren't machines... they have souls, feelings. They live, they die, they love, they hate... And yes, they even make mistakes..... When kluang finds you creepy and wrong then you are beyond horrible. He who fights with monsters should look to it that he himself does not become a monster. And when you gaze long into an abyss the abyss also gazes into you. Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the the universe. Quis custodiet ipsos custodes? Being Malaysian is about driving in a German car to an Indian restaurant for an Indonesian food, then travelling home, grabbing a Pakistani kebab on the way, to sit on Swedish furniture and watch American shows on a Japanese TV. Because we have no originality.

10-29-2012, 09:20 AM	#8
ask me anything Simply AMAzing Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Impel Down Posts: 3,053 Thanks: 8,845 Thanked 3,363 Times in 1,498 Posts	Re: Cherokee County teen shot by police sniper, parents speak out According to the story, the kid ran upstairs and came back down with a gun. So I take it he got the gun from somewhere inside the house itself. So either he had a gun stashed in his room or he got it from his PARENTS. Somehow the thought of some little dumbass weebo teeny baby that waves guns around and tells cops to get lost, doesn't seem like he could get a gun through legitimate means. He may have gotten it from friends, but thy would have the same issue getting the gun as him, unless they got it from their PARENTS. Or they bought it through illegal means. I'm going to go with him getting the gun from his horrible parents, who seem like white trash hillbillies that didn't give 2 shits about the well being of the kid. You'd have to be a really incompetent parent NOT to notice your kid is having severe problems and even worse if you did but did nothing about it. I think they're the ones more a fault here then the cop that shot him. If the kid didn't have the gun in the first place, then he wouldn't have been waving it at the cops, and wouldn't have gotten shot. I'm curios the see just how much money the family is suing for. __________________

10-29-2012, 09:46 AM	#10
ACt Heart Wizard Join Date: May 2009 Location: The Halls of Irreverence Posts: 3,257 Thanks: 5,326 Thanked 18,705 Times in 4,853 Posts	Re: Cherokee County teen shot by police sniper, parents speak out More depressingly, anyone remember when journalism consisted of doing something other than pretending that every sentence should be its own paragraph? __________________ It's amazing to me that, unlike in the real world, people on the internet will wear "everyone thinks I'm a moron" as a badge of honour.

10-29-2012, 08:59 PM	#11
ask me anything Simply AMAzing Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Impel Down Posts: 3,053 Thanks: 8,845 Thanked 3,363 Times in 1,498 Posts	Re: Cherokee County teen shot by police sniper, parents speak out ^ I'm not making the kid out to be a victim at all. He made a stupid move and the police reacted. I'm just pointing out the actions of the parents, who are the ones running around pointing the fingers at everyone else. They are the ones that started the whole blame game here, so it's only fair that they be put under scrutiny themselves. On the topic of security, I can guarantee you 100% that nobody but me and my wife could come into my home and grab one of my guns. I keep my shit locked up. Obviously these people did not. Does that make them responsible for this kids' suicide...no. Does make them negligent...yes. We really don't know all the factors that lead up to this though. Apparently the kid was bullied or something. I'd like to know who exactly the reporters were talking with that gave them this information, and to what degree this kid was bullied. That's the real key to this investigation. I mean if the kid was called a few names that's one thing. If some dudes took him out behind the gym and beat him up everyday (or worse) then that's another thing altogether. That kind of stuff might lead to emotional problems that make you not think straight. Edit: I just read that this kid was deeply depressed and taking Zoloft. Also ADHD. Still doesn't justify him waving a gun around and shit, but I can accept that he wasn't thinking straight at the time. Article said he just had a breakdown that day, but I still want to know what triggered it. __________________ Last edited by ask me anything; 10-29-2012 at 09:13 PM.

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