Gunfights at close range often result in both participants being hit. It can take time for bullet wounds to take effect. In a Lakeland, Florida shooting Wednesday night, we don’t know the calibers, other than both participants were using handguns. The intended victim, Virgis Canteen, is 43. The 14-year-old gang member, Davion Smith, had been convicted of armed robbery twice since he was 12 and the two parties had a history. Canteen had accused Davion Smith of burglarizing his apartment. Both participants were hit several times . . .
Canteen also had a handgun and, according to Canteen, the teen began shooting at him first, striking him several times in the “upper extremities,” police spokesman Sgt. Gary Gross said in a report.
Canteen said he returned fire, striking the teen “numerous times.”
If you are a hardened criminal by age 14, the chances of rehabilitation are very small. In the case of Smith, it’s now zero. The 14-year-old is now dead and Canteen is in the hospital, condition unknown. That seems a preferable outcome to Canteen being killed and Smith continuing to victimize innumerable other people for an unknown period.
We don’t know what Virgis Canteen’s history is. A comment at theledger.com says that he was robbed and shot in his home four years ago. Another comment says that was at a different place. One neighbor says:
“He looks out for everybody,” she said. “He didn’t bother nobody.”
Davion Smith’s brother, Bayshawn Kelly, was shot and wounded in April in a drive-by that was gang-related. He was arrested later this year as a suspect in another drive-by. His cousin, Shyhiem Morris, was wounded in May. It sounds as though Northwest Lakeland is firmly in the “modern frontier” of fatherless gang members.
©2014 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice is included.
Gun Watch
Goodbye POS banger!
“…and Canteen is in the hospital, condition unknown.”
I saw this story a couple days ago, and as of Thursday, the last update, Canteen was listed as “alive” by the Sheriff’s Department.
Good reason not to treat violent juvis like “juveniles.”
What is it with these people with “homemade names?”
I think it all started in 1907 with Marion R. Morrison
Who was so envious of the family pet he stole the mutts name. Duke.
Saw some blurb news segment hyping the diversity of names in neighborhoods like this and the local high school had 600+ females with none of them having the same name. No further commentary.
I think the mothers get these “revelations” for baby names as they are meandering through the aisles at WalMart and 7-11.
Eh. I have no problem with what you call yourself: it’s what you do with yourself that matters.
+1
Though some names are ridicilous.
Also, jwm is back. Yay!
Two armed robberies in 2 years and still on the streets. This is a huge chunk of the problem.
Convicted TWICE for armed robbery, How many time before the put you away for awhile. 10 to 20 might make you “reconsider” your life style.
But, the probabilities are, you will come out worse than when you went in.
In his case, it wont matter. Good riddance!
All he would have “reconsidered” was how to shoot his next victim so the vic couldn’t ID him in court. He was a bad guy with a gun, stopped by a good guy with a gun. Hope Mr. Canteen pulls though.
A strong dose of “tough love” worked well on me when I was 14. Of course, it was issued by my dad, not the state. There has to be a dad involved, otherwise there is no love.
North Lakeland is notorious for this.
jcvynn wrote :
“North Lakeland is notorious for this.”
North West Lakeland, in this case. About 3 miles from where I am now.
And yes, it is “The Hood”.
Nope… no deeper cultural problems here. Okay now people, nothing to see here, move along.
/progderp
You forgot look at this baby 😛
Do it for the children! Of course this will go down as another child killed by gun violence.
Another precious child senselessly gunned down thanks to the evil, greedy NRA. We need common-sense gun laws.
Quick, everybody who isn’t a gangbanger dump your guns in the river! But first, let’s ban ARs and high-capacity clipazines.
Little Davion could have been Obama Sharpton’s son…
He just looks so much like Obama’s son if he had one.
Where are the cries for gun control for the 14 year old gang banger? Oh wait, it was already illegal for for this punk to have a firearm. Both by age and with his criminal background. To bad for the gun haters the victim was not white. So they could scream hate crime by the victim, (that being the survivor, not the dead gang banger)
Well, he could be a white-black.
Live by the gun, Die by the gun!
I don’t know about you but most people keep their guns in their houses. Most people also die in their houses so you quite literally will most likely die by the gun (by the gun as in next to the gun).
I know, bad joke is bad. In seriousness I thought that that expression was negative in regards to guns.
Most inner-city residents I know, many whom have worked for me over the years, own and are prepared to use guns for self-defense and defense of their families. Incidents like this are not rare, but are fairly common in many parts of cities around the U.S. including in the larger city near where I live.
Good guy wins. Bad guy loses. If it really does comes down to a mortal contest between a presumptively innocent victim and his teenaged attacker who intends to grievously harm or kill him, I’d rather the boy be buried than his victim becoming another sad statistic.
Some would call me cold and callous for thinking that. That’s fine, ’cause it even sounds that way to me — and I said it. That doesn’t change what’s at the heart of the matter: nobody should have to roll over and take it from some low-life street urchin, no matter the circumstances. Period.
This kid was absolutely scrub-tastic, and he deserved what he got. Everyone who does like him deserves to be rendered room temperature.
Agreed. I don’t care how old the aggressor is; if they pose a serious threat to someone’s life, deadly force is not immoral.
10-4 on that! If you come in my place to rob me, you better be well armed, Muhfugger!
True, true. Consider the 10-year-olds wearing bomb vests over in the Mid East.
I wouldn’t call getting hit that many times “winning” but it sure beats dying with absolutely no choice in the matter.
You may not call it “winning,” but it is the norm for real gunfights when both are armed and shooting.
If only one person is left breathing at the end of it, and that person is you, you won.
MDA will most certainly list him as a child murdered by firearms in their ‘facts’.
They already counted all gang related deaths of gang members under 21 as such…
Might actually be up to 24.
“Davion Smith’s brother, Bayshawn Kelly, was shot and wounded in April in a drive-by that was gang-related. He was arrested later this year as a suspect in another drive-by.”
Shouldn’t this read “He was arrested EARLIER this year as a suspect in another drive-by”? Because if it was later this year, that means..well..later on…Can these people predict the future?
Somebody already said it: Another “child victim” to add to Shannon’s statistics. And no doubt a “school shooting” too if there is any kind of educational institution anywhere in the vicinity.
You mean if the gunshots could be heard from the school.
Because, most schools that aren’t near a shooting range go on lockdown for that as a safety precaution. And that’s somehow a school shooting because a school goes on lockdown for hearing a gunshot across town. -.-
Around [urban youth], never [calm yourself].
“He had just started to turn his life around”…
“… But unfortunately failed to stop turning when he hit 180 degrees…”
What, was he another “aspiring rap artist?”
now you know why cops treat kids and old ladies the same as everyone else when their waving guns around or threatening to hurt people. anyone is capable of anything.
Another sad example that has been shown in study after study. While the other side talks about a so-called “epidemic” of gun violence, it’s a relatively small number of people that shoot at or are shot by other people in that same small group. If we really wanted a “common sense” response to firearms violence, you target the criminal justice system against this population cohort. Not arresting someone in New York for having 8 rounds instead of 7.
“Davion Smith’s brother, Bayshawn Kelly, was shot and wounded in April in a drive-by that was gang-related. He was arrested later this year as a suspect in another drive-by. His cousin, Shyhiem Morris, was wounded in May.”
What I don’t understand is why are these thugs in a revolving-door situation? The little punk should have been doing hard time after the *second* armed robbery. What is wrong with these bleeping courts?
I take issue only with the headline… The only gunfight one “wins” is the one one avoids… I predict some kind of fallout for Mr. Canteen. That said, ‘better judged by 12 than carried by six.’
Play stupid games, win stupid prizes. Or, at least have your stupid fixed permanently.
What the hell were they firing with a couple of 22 LR ? Even a 38 or 9 mm would do considerable damage…. at least enough to think about falling down ?
I guess this is why one should carry a 45 Colt revolver when in the unknown.
Well, it took longer than it sometimes does to get to the nonsense caliber comment.
Suggest you look up and study real gunfights. Jared Reston’s first gunfight is a good case study to nullify your wrong assumptions about caliber. Hint: .40 vs .45 and both participants sustained MULTIPLE hits at CLOSE RANGE.
One survived. The guy with the .40, after he had been shot in the jaw by the .45. He was the only survivor only after three contact headshots, which autopsy revealed only one was fatal.
Please think about the implications of that: 2 out of three CONTACT head shots with a .40 did not produce fatal injuries.
If you study real gunfights, you’ll find that Reston’s case is not an outlier.
There is no panacea in caliber.
First rule: Have a gun.
Mr. Canteen obeyed that rule and he might just survive his ordeal.
Dean wrote:
“If you are a hardened criminal by age 14, the chances of rehabilitation are very small. In the case of Smith, it’s now zero.”
The cynic in me thinks this is a case of “Permanent Non-Voluntary Rehabilitation”.
Yeah, Dean, that is one of the roughest parts of this town.
Davion? Sounds like a great name for a Chrysler product. Bayshawn? Could be a Chevy SUV. Shyhiem? Can’t help you there… Are the parents under arrest yet for negligent reproduction?
Sad to be beyond redemption at 14. I don’t go to the south or westside of Chicago because of the young gangbangers with guns. Just yesterday 2 youts’ were SHOT during the Bud Billiken day parade on Chicago’s Southside. Kinda’ hard to believe the parade organizers complaining about the news media focusing on ATTEMPTED MURDER instead of a back to school parade. If I’m at a local parade and bullets start flying I’d like to KNOW…Glad the guy won.
A fine, fine use of a firearm. Glad to see that the intended victim did not intend to be one and did something about it. THIS is what is needed to counter crime.
Perhaps, but it is more likely that a culture that treats abortion as a remedy for crime has more to do with creating the gangbanger culture than welfare itself.
@tdiinva, BOOM!
This story is another good argument why we need to keep abortions legal…every one less poorly raised welfare baby will benefit the law abiding, tax paying, good Americans.
There are soooo many leaching P.O.S.’s out there ready to prey on the innocent, taught from birth that crime is OK. Maybe Time to start mandatory military service at 18.
I agree with this. Abstinence-only education does not work, no one here wants to pay for a nanny state, the churches never handle it, and some people have absolutely no business raising other human beings. At worse, I consider it euthanasia.
So wrong. Do not mark human beings for death because of the population they come from. It is true that members of some groups are statistically more likely to commit crime. That does not mean they should be preemptively killed for “pre-crime” that they have not committed.
I want to be relieved because good won out over evil and another lowlife crook got what he deserved, but sad at the same time because now Shannon and Co have one more “child” killed by “gun violence” to parade around.
Chlorine in the gene pool.
Prepare for the next event, enroll in and take a combat pistol course and then take another! Your life could depend on it!
Glad the punk is dead—but retaliations may yet occur, he will need to be prepared for that. We need to declare (through a proper law that membership in gangs, like renouncing citizenship, etc..automatically makes you a non-citizen and return to the use of Letters of Marque and Retribution (See Art 1 sec 10 US Constitution) and pay bounty hunters to rid us of these animals–for that is what they are in human form.
Each bounty hunter should present the Letter of Marque and Retribution to the local Sheriff and Town Police Chief (both) so the police are aware and don’t accidentally shoot you–and also get all the gang intelligence they have and then go on a hunt–not to capture, but to kill–these letters of Marque are part of the US Constitution and there is nothing to say we can’t use them within our borders. We can use them for any gang members and we NEED to pass the law adding gang membership (confirmation by police intelligence using their arrest records is sufficient to name them, and openly publish who is no longer a US Citizen and announce a Letter of Marque and Retribution has been issued against them to an undisclosed agent (an entrepreneur) who will be paid $10,000 per body. Believe me that that payment will be cheaper than the property loss and loss of innocent lives saved, the court costs saved on trials, housing, food and medical care costs that would be incurred by imprisoning them.
We have a Constitutional mechanism (Letters of Marque) and we need only add to the list of actions that automatically revoke citizenship and then issue the Letters.
Should do that for some illegals as well.
SamAdams1776 III Oath keeper
Molon Labe
Qui tacet consentit
Corruptissima re publica plurimae leges.
Idque apud imperitos humanitas vocabatur, cum pars servitutis esset
YO, Davion! Yo, dog, you be DEYUD!
The most dangerous are the little shits, 13 and up. The older you get, you learn from the stupid mistakes. If someone is gunning on you, best not to think how young the culprit is and shoot them first, but be right what you do there is no calling it back when squeezed! A thing to remember, judge by many or carried by a a few (6).