A spate of “wrong address” shootings around the country has sparked speculation about what’s driving the incidents, from a fear of lawlessness and “stand your ground” laws to easy access to guns and lenient penalties for violent crime.
The shootings have occurred as leading mental health indicators, such as the American Psychological Association’s annual Stress in America studies, have shown adults struggling with unprecedented stress levels over inflation, racism debates and the waning COVID-19 pandemic.
“People are hyper-vigilant, frustrated, stressed, and they are loaded with powerful weapons,” said clinical psychologist Thomas Plante, an APA member who teaches at Santa Clara University. “We have a ‘us versus them’ mentality now that is dangerous.”
Recent police reports have noted property owners shooting at young people who accidentally invaded their spaces:
⦁ In Kansas City, Missouri, homeowner Andrew Lester shot Ralph Yarl, a 16-year-old Black teenager who went to the wrong address to pick up his siblings on April 13, police said. The 84-year-old pleaded “not guilty” in county court last week to felony charges of first-degree assault and armed criminal action.
⦁ In Davie, Florida, a police report says Antonio Caccavale, 43, fired several rounds from his handgun into the tires of two teenagers who had mistakenly driven onto his property while making an Instacart delivery on April 15.
⦁ That same day in rural upstate New York, police said 65-year-old Kevin Monahan shot and killed Kaylin Gillis, 20, when she mistakenly drove into his driveway with three other young adults looking for a friend’s home. Officials have charged Mr. Monahan with second-degree murder.
⦁ On April 18, Pedro Tello Rodriguez Jr., 25, shot two Texas cheerleaders after they mistakenly got into the wrong car in a parking lot after a late-night practice, police said.
A spokesperson for the FBI declined this week to comment on the shootings.
Conservatives have insisted that jumpy gun owners, not firearms themselves, are to blame for the incidents.
“At a time of low social trust and rising crime, when people are already on edge, it’s not surprising that we have an uptick of these tragic incidents,” said attorney Ilya Shapiro, director of constitutional studies at the Manhattan Institute. “Gun owners need to recognize that their constitutional right to defend their home isn’t a license to fire at any unexpected car pulling up in their driveway.”
Liberals have blamed permissive gun laws and red-state policies like “stand your ground” laws, which allow homeowners to use deadly force to repel intruders.
Gun sales have surged to record highs since the start of COVID lockdowns in March 2020. And several red states have loosened firearms restrictions — including Florida, where Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a law this month that eliminates permit requirements for concealed carry in most public places.
“We have made it so easy to carry a gun and shoot first, ask questions later that people believe they can shoot with impunity,” said Josh Horwitz, co-director of the Center for Gun Violence Solutions at Johns Hopkins University, which opposes “stand your ground” and open carry laws. “So we need to change our laws and people need to put their firearms down.”
Robert Tuttle, a George Washington University law professor and expert on political philosophy, blames “law and order” Republicans for creating a “culture of fear” dating back to President Richard Nixon’s use of late 1960s unrest as a wedge issue in his campaigns.
He said Democrats also have stoked terror at times by trying to outdo Republicans in being tough on crime.
“I think it goes back to the political incentives that come from instilling fear in people,” Mr. Tuttle said. “It’s this idea that it’s reasonable to fear ‘the other,’ who for a lot of Americans is Black. This is a way people win elections.”
The legal scholar blames an attitude of “radical individualism” for convincing many adults that they need guns. He pointed out that many of the wrong-address shootings have occurred in rural areas far from inner-city crime hubs.
But homeowners everywhere have good reason to feel like they’re on their own when they hear leftist politicians talk about easing prison sentences and keeping repeat offenders on the streets, others say.
They point to soaring homicide rates in Democrat-led major cities, an uptick in “no bail” laws that turn offenders loose after arrest and a new generation of “soft-on-crime” city prosecutors elected with funding from liberal billionaire George Soros.
“The left’s war on cops, the movement to defund the police, the eagerness of the press and many politicians to assume police misconduct whenever cops use force have left police demoralized and ineffective,” said Peter Wood, president of the conservative National Association of Scholars and a former associate provost at Boston University.
“Predators roam freely and police cannot or will not do anything to protect the general public — at least, that’s what many have concluded,” Mr. Wood added. “So people arm themselves and some of those who are armed act hastily when confronted with what they wrongly believe is an imminent danger.”
The moral and legal justification for shooting in self-defense depends on what fears are “reasonable,” said Mike Farrell, president of Arizona-based Smart Firearms Training Devices, which sells training guns to police departments and the military.
“If you are in your house and a car unknown to you simply drives up your driveway, it is not reasonable to assume this person is a threat to you,” Mr. Farrell said. “Your perception of risk must be reasonable in order to use deadly force against another person.”
Some experts have called on Republicans and Democrats to work together to reduce “wrong address” shootings, even though that bipartisanship seems unlikely as the 2024 presidential election looms.
“They are tragic and unless our society, especially our politicians, do something about it they likely will only increase in frequency,” said the APA psychologist Mr. Plante.
• Sean Salai can be reached at ssalai@washingtontimes.com.