I can easily believe this kid did not have malicious intent but is just plain stupid. However, I do want this kid to be investigated more to see if there are any other "signs". Definitely a good candidate for the "red flag" law.
Hope its more than just a few days in jail and probation. I'd toss in mental health evaluation also.
Family of armed man at Walmart say he was never going to harm anybody
Quote:
Court documents show a manager at Walmart heard an employee say that a man was walking into the store with a rifle and believed Andreychenko came into the store to shoot people. Andreychenko told police he did not believe people would react the way they did saying, "This is Missouri, I understand if we were somewhere else like New York or California, people would freak out."
"If it had just been a sidearm, people do that all of the time, that is totally lawful," said attorney Dee Wampler, who is representing Andreychenko. "But I think carrying a long gun scared some people and we understand why."
Wampler agreed with the family, that the timing of the social experiment was not good.
"It may have been a bad decision, but criminal intent no." Wampler added.
"He wasn't trying to kill anybody and he wasn't trying to shoot anybody." said Irin Usik, Andreychenko's older sister. She heard about his experiment, and when he wasn't answering his phone, decided to stop by the Walmart and saw the chaos firsthand.
"We do want to apologize for all of the people that were there during this incident. I would be worried myself. What they had to go through with their families and children, we are very sorry that this has happened." added Usik.
But the family says it was all a big misunderstanding.
"I just don't think he understood the impact that the previous events had, and so he didn't consider what was going to happen." Anastasia explained.
"We could have been planning his memorial tomorrow, so we are very grateful that nobody died, nobody got shot, just thankful to God that he is still alive." said Usik.
"He is not the guy everyone is portraying him out to be." Angelica said, through tears.
Wampler expects Andreychenko to stay in jail over the weekend.
|