Three Teens Take the Room Temperature Challenge

Three teenagers of the usual background decided that it would be fun to commit armed robbery at 4 a.m. in the Atlanta, Georgia, area. Unfortunately for them, one of the victims took a dim view of the events ... and happened to be armed. Apparently with some sort of "assault" rifle according to a neighbor.

      Local news reports:

       Three masked teenagers were killed in a shootout with a homeowner outside an Atlanta-area home early Monday.

      According to the Rockdale County Sheriff’s Office, the incident happened just after 4 a.m. in Conyers as three teens were apparently attempting to rob three people in a front yard.

      The sheriff’s office said the teens, two 16-year-old boys and a 15-year-old, were killed during an exchange of gunfire.

      Family members identified two of the teens as brothers Isaiah Reid, 16, and Jaime Hernandez, 15.

 * * *

      Rockdale County deputies were able to later determine that one of the attempted robbery suspects brandished a gun and fired shots at the residents, but one of the intended victims returned fire.

     One of the teens was dead at the scene, while two were transported to a hospital where they later died.

Police are saying that this is a "stand your ground" case and no charges have been filed against the homeowner who apparently shot the youths.

      The weapon used by the homeowner has not been identified, but "[e]yewitness Carlos Watson said: 'It was five shots and then it sounded like a handgun. Then I heard somebody have an assault rifle. And it was a slew of shots that came out'," and "WSB-TV in Atlanta confirmed it to be a long-barrel semi-automatic."

      Of course, the youths were upstanding citizens that showed a lot of promise. "'They was loving, they was brothers,' said LaShawn Thornton, their aunt, Monday evening, speaking of how close they were to each other." So loving that, armed with a Glock, they tried robbing people at 4 a.m. Good thing they weren't hateful.

      Normally a story like this would have generated a huge backlash and call for repealing stand your ground laws. We would have seen photographs of the slain teens all over the news for days or weeks at a time. Instead of angry protests, there was a peaceful vigil where "[n]o one ... said the teenagers were in the right" and "[n]o one really talked about what happened." So why the difference? In this case, the homeowner who shot the youths was also black.