UNIONDALE, N.Y. (CBS 2) — He was arrested for protecting his property and family. But it’s how the Long Island man did it that police say crossed the line. He got an AK-47 assault rifle, pulled the trigger and he ended up in jail, reports CBS 2’s Pablo Guzman.
George Grier said he had to use his rifle on Sunday night to stop what he thought was going to be an invasion of his Uniondale home by a gang he thought might have been the vicious “MS-13.” He said the whole deal happened as he was about to drive his cousin home. “I went around and went into the house, ran upstairs and told my wife to call the police. I get the gun and I go outside and I come into the doorway and now, by this time, they are in the driveway, back here near the house. I tell them, you know, ‘Can you please leave?’ Grier said.
Grier said the five men dared him to use the gun; and that their shouts brought another larger group of gang members in front of his house. “He starts threatening my family, my life. ‘Oh you’re dead. I’m gonna kill your family and your babies. You’re dead.’ So when he says that, 20 others guys come rushing around the corner. And so I fired four warning shots into the grass,” Grier said.
Grier was later arrested. John Lewis is Grier’s attorney. Grier also said he was afraid the gang outside his house was the dreaded MS-13. And Nassau County Police Lt. Andrew Mulraine, head of the gang unit, said MS-13 has 2,000 members in the county.
“They’re probably the most organized. They almost have a military hierarchy within the gang, so they are the most organized gang we encounter on a daily basis,” Mulraine said. Police determined Grier had the gun legally. He has no criminal record. And so he was not charged for the weapon.
I don’t know who will get the most mileage from this story, gun nuts or anti-gun nuts, but there is definitely something fishy about this. Maybe it’s time to move, let the gang bangers have it.
No, my answer is “Kill em’ All” But then, I don’t have a wife and kids to worry about.
“A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.”
Why didn’t he simply summon his chapter of the local militia?
This is exactly the reason the 2nd Amendment exists.
Actually this is the 2nd reason the 2nd exists.
This story had a bad ending.
The police took away the wrong person again.
What the hell is wrong with the police??
And now, please refer back to the 2nd reason the 2nd Amendment exists….
George Grier protected his family from a gang that was threatening violence upon him and his wife and children and an AK-47 is actually a good choice for the job. He had no criminal record, acted responsibly in the circumstances and used his 2nd amendment rights. And yet he was the one that was arrested? This is not justice, but rather is a barometer indicating just how screwed up the US has become.
This is not really a gun or anti-gun nut argument, even though his weapon was legal for him to own. This is a ‘should I protect my family from harm and possible death?’ argument. I’m sure George Grier would have used a nail-gun, a makeshift flamethrower or an wood chopping ax if he didn’t have a ‘gun’. How can anyone defend the actions of the Uniondale Police Department or the politicians that make policy that support this absurdity?
Should he have waited for them to kill him and his family so that the cops and coroners could mop it up? I’m sure the politicians and courts would be OK with that.
It’s yet another case of ‘shut up slave’ in America.
#6 I thought the bible was pretty damn clear about ‘that shalt not kill’
You can’t just reinterpret the book your entire religion is based upon to suit your own preferences.
‘Don’t kill’ is a pretty hard commandment to misconstrue, and yet a huge number of so-called christians do just that because deep down they are shallow, mean spirited, petty little bastards who mainly use religion as a stick to force their twisted morals onto others and compel others to behave in certain ways, rather than to live by those ways themselves as an example.
After all, the stick is far easier, and whats more, its what Jesus would have done. Right…
Oh yeh, MOVE! To Mexico? Canada? Boy, things have really changed in America.
“He fired over their heads”===and thats exactly what is wrong with private individuals “protecting” their property. 4 Bullets launched into the community forced to play Russian roulette.
Contra: a gang of toughs on your property threatening to kill your family is grounds enough in my book to as McCullough says: “Kill them All.”
2nd Amendment has been interpreted as an individual right to “arm yourself.” As this story illustrates, that arming does not include license to shoot at people in violation of law.
Learn the law. Learn your rights. Protect yourself from the law/criminals/other gun nuts.
Wheres the special task force to hunt down and arrest all these scum gangsters? This is only the tip of the iceberg, and the tip is gawd awful enough.
Four wasted bullets into the lawn.
I’d like to see the NRA buy this house and put a mean SOB in it. If the cops arrest him, put in another one, and another one. Bet they could clean up at least part of the neighborhood. The cops sure aren’t doing it… 2000 gang members !!
#6
You stopped the story short…
Luke 22:51 NRSV But Jesus said, “No more of this!”
and in Matthew’s account of this same situation..
Matthew 26:52 NRSV Then Jesus said to him, “Put your sword back into its place; for all who take the sword will perish by the sword.
bobbo, did you read the article? He shot into the grass. He was protecting his family (extended family).
He was probably arrested for firing in the city limits.
However, he deserves a medal for being willing to stand up to the bullies, no doubt armed themselves.
#8 – I believe the commandment is to not murder; being the unlawful taking of life.
Throughout the entire Bible, death is seen as an appropriate, just sentence to a set of criminal offences. What this guy did was just, and biblically consistent.
Dead People–yes I read the article, as usual, very fast, too fast: “And so I fired four warning shots into the xxxx grass,” Grier said.”
The line break came at the xxxx and I’ll bet I skipped over “grass” and my brain filled in air. No jokes please. When I read slowly, I have 100 comprehension. When I read at my usual speed about 90%, and when I read fast–about 60%???? Ah well. FAST and SURE regardless of the true facts.
Question: if you knew for sure this gang was going to kill you or your family in the next year, would you stay or go? Now add the uncertainty factor? Why does that make a difference?
I’d move if I was Mr. Grier.
The rest of the story will likely be in the news next week:
Defenseless Long Island family slaugherted by MS-13 gang, while the father and husband is in jail. Wife and kids had no gun in the house, as it was in police evidence room. Wife and kids slaugherted like pigs. Welcome to Amerika, folks!
Make it mandatory that every American with the ability to hold a gun be issued a 44 magnum. Issue free bullets for all citizens also. That should solve all the problems.
14 and 15 beat me to it. He has initially been charged with a D felony of reckless endangerment. Guess you cant shoot your own grass in Long Island (can you shoot the bull?) By the way one shot is a warning, three more is a waste of ammunition. Saying your going to kill someone is not normally enough to provide a defense of self defense. Also an ak 47 is a lousy self defense weapon for home use. a twelve gauge auto loader is much better particularly with large groups. It allows for what is called spray and pray. Essentially one bullet per round versus multiple pellets per round. Something is rather fishy about the entire story I doubt we will hear the entire story.
#20, it’s reckless endangerment because the lead bullets will cause contamination of the water table, endangering others through poisoned drinking water. lol. Oh, wait… that isn’t a joke, is it? Can’t ban the guns, so ban the ammunition instead.
@McCullogh Not much fishy here. Aspect of the story not known to people not living in the area (I do) is that for couple of years now type of attack shooter feared is quite common here (weekly/monthly): groups of armed man breaking by force into homes, robbing and shooting people. Sometimes in poor sometimes in rich areas. Rarely solved… MS13 indeed suspected in most.
F#ck the bible. F#ck the constitution. This is some bullsh1t. This isn’t about gun nut versus anti gun nut. This is about random @ssholes invading your property. I bet you if a gang of thugs had invaded one of those cop’s property, half those f@ckers would be dead. And the cop would be getting the key to the city. What were those @ssholes doing on his property in the first place? Why isn’t this addressed in the story? Of course, there’s no counter charge of trespassing! Cops are regarded as a higher class of citizen when really most of them are just scum.
What planet do you people live on? This is exactly the type of situation that gives ammunition to those who wish to limit gun ownership. This scared little puissant has no business owning a firearm. He most assuredly deserved to be arrested. You don’t have the right to kill a pedestrian in cold blood, because you think they might look sort of scary. Even if some asshole walks across your yard, it doesn’t give you the right to gun them down in cold blood. Who were these scary people? Were they dreaded gang members? Were they a couple of 16 year children dressed emo? Perhaps it was the guy down the street, a guy Mr. Grier hates, because he thinks his wife might be banging the him? We don’t know who any of the people were. All we know for sure is that he pulled out a gun and shot it four times. Everything else is total hearsay.
But according to him, even when he started waving his big studdly gun around, they still kept taunting him, just like the kids on the school bus used to do. Guess what kids, alleged verbal threats really don’t justify killing someone. Even if the person has tattoos and bad breath.
Warning shot? What the hell is a warning shot? You either shoot someone, or you don’t. He’s damn lucky those weren’t the vicious cretins that he so feared. If there had been the 25 gang bangers he claims, I’m shocked that none of them had a gun. If one of them would have had a gun, they probably would have had due cause to shoot Mr. Grier dead. Of course the version of the story the media would have ran with, would have been a bit different. Crazed Black Militant with Assault Rifle Opens Fire on Crowded Long Island Street. After narrowly dodging a barrage of shots from the angry black militant’s semiautomatic , Russian made military-style AK-47, our hero, fearing for his own life as well as the many innocent lives of all those around him, stood up in harm’s way, took aim and returned fire. Thank Moses that a good guy had a gun. Just think of the carnage if he hadn’t been stopped.
And all of you scared little bitches would have been cheering the other guy, and all even more frightened of pigmented people.
On the other hand, if they would have entered his home uninvited, he’d probably have my blessing to shoot them dead. I figure the burden of proof would be on the dead guy(s), to prove they had no intentions of hurting him, when they broke in.
I think people would do well to take a moment and consider, before they pick their fights. If you want to preserve individual gun rights, don’t try to make some irresponsible wimp, who acted irrationally with an AK-47, the poster boy. It’s not a good message.
If someone trespasses on your property (the alleged gang members were in his driveway) and you tell them to leave, and they don’t…that is grounds to use reasonable force to protect yourself, your family, and your property. Gang activity in the neighborhood is high making the use of a gun reasonable force. I agree that it may not be the smartest move as he may have just pissed em off enough to make them come back later, but people in this country have rights and freedoms and they have the power to defend those rights and freedoms. Mr. Grier could leave the neighborhood and go somewhere safer, but why should he have to do that?
Another thing that I don’t understand about the anti-gun argument is that if someone wants to go shoot someone, they are going to do it. Be it illegal or legal, once the decision is made, they will do it. So keeping guns away from law abiding citizens makes no sense. Make sure those citizens have guns, there will be a lot fewer cases of thugs thinking that they can get away with robbing or raping someone without getting shot. A man with a gun vs. a man without, the gun wins. Two men vs. eachother each with a gun…compromise can be made.
And #24….”scared LITTLE puissant”…puissant is an adjective not a noun…and it means powerful or mighty. So you are a moron.
It’s sad how much stuff like this happens. A big story in my hometown is the shooting of a 74 year old Baptist pastor, owner of a local plant nursery, and minor radio celebrity. He went out to check on a car that had parked on his property after 11pm at night, and was shot dead. No, not by some thug he surprised, but by a local police officer who decided his property was a good place to sit and process traffic tickets on his in-car computer. The reaction by the local police was to let the officer go (without being interviewed about the matter) on a 7 day trip to Vegas! If one of us had shot an officer on his property we’d be in jail, but I guess if you’re a cop around here you get to go gambling and see a show:
http://spokesman.com/stories/2010/sep/02/vacation-stalls-interview/
“2,000 member”, spread over 48 states? Doesn’t sound like much of a gang, to me. That’s roughly 42 per state. And the larger states probably have more. While the tiniest ones, like Rhode Island, has practically none. This is the first time I’ve ever even heard of the “MS-13”. Are they named after a video game age limit, or what? I wouldn’t be caught dead being part of anything that calls themselves MS-13. I can think of far better names. Like Dvorak’s Untamed.
“MS-13” tells me that they either can’t spare the spray paint, to spell more. Or they don’t want to confuse their illiterate gang members with something longer. And they only know how to make so many of those balloon letters, on walls.
What’s probably missing from this story is how this guy might have pissed off a lot of locals. Who eventually came after him. Long Island has had some a-holes in the past, covering up whatever they wanted to get away with, by claiming some bogeyman came after their family. Or whatever. Last month some idiot beat an infant boy to death, (for “acting like a girl”) that he was babysitting.
I think it’s possible that Long Islanders are statistically crazier than the rest of the US.
Typical New York. This doesn’t surprise me a bit. And you wonder why gang crime is so high.
Glenn E. … That’s 2000 members in the county. And if you don’t know enough about the extremely violent MS13 to know that then don’t comment. Your perspective isn’t valid or helpful.
No one cares whether or not you would join their gang. They would slit your throat as soon as look at you. Extermination is the only remedy.
Let this man out of jail.
Haw haw haw. All you pussies whining about this are funny as hell.
I have mine, and I know what to do.
#25
You may be correct, I may be a moron as you say, although overlooking the fact that MS Word replaced piss ant with puissant, is a little weak. At least for someone as brilliant as you. I do appreciate you pointing out my mistake to me though, as it does have exactly the opposite meaning to what I was so eloquently trying to convey. And no sir you do not have the right to shoot the neighbor kid just because he walked across your yard after you told him not to. I’m in favor of private gun ownership, at least by responsible people. The facts as presented by this story suggest to me that Mr. Grier acted irresponsibly with a loaded weapon. He’s lucky no one was hurt.
Did I miss something in the article? Did he show the cops where the alleged gang members tried to break into his house? Did he show them any marks or bruises on him or any of his family? (something which may indeed have called for the use of deadly force) Did he show them any damage to any of his property? I didn’t hear mention that they so much as trampled one of his flowers. If he wants to press charges for trespassing, then I say more power to him. In my book, if he wants to go shooting at people, his burden of proof is much higher than he has yet provided.
If you are so big and tough, why haven’t you shot any gang members? The consensus here seems to be that if a person belongs to a gang, and is loitering, then they deserve to be gunned down. If that’s the only burden of proof you need to kill them, then why are there so many of them still around? Why haven’t more of you who are talking shit, gunned down anyone? Surly you’ve seen big freighting looking people with tattoos out on some street corner.
I am such a moron that I can’t even imagine what it would be like to live my life under as much fear as so many people here in the forums seem to have. I may be poor and weak and insignificant, and yes, a moron as you pointed out, but I pity your life. If the threats are as real as you believe, I pity that you have to live under such circumstances and I pity your family, that you’d keep them there. If the threats are not as you fear, I pity the fact you aren’t on the proper meds. Good luck sir.
Wr heard this story on 1010 Wins NY. What happens to this guy when he goes back home. The gang members are not going to leave him
alone. Bang bang
Bad cartoon. This is not a democrat or republican issue. This is a cop issue where they use their ability to arrest a man for defending his property against people make death threats when the cops were not there to do it for him. Cops should just let this one slide.