OMG

[BalloonzForU]

I was informed by my husband, one of our drivers went POSTAL at 1am this morning.

A little background about our business. We are a ground transportation company that drives for CSX Railroad, Delta Airlines, and Continental Airlines just to name a few. CSX Railroad, has us on call 24/7/365 to drive their train crews home, hotel, assist them at the yard, etc. At a few of our yards, we have what are called yard drivers, these guys drive crews or trainmaster to where they need to go within a short distance. There are at times issues between drivers as they share vans between them, and each likes there own setting, and with the computers in the vans you can turn off/on features.

I guess one driver kept shutting off the auto lock for the doors and another driver was not happy about it. The one driver who is 70 years old (OMG) went to the yard last night drunk with a loaded gun, and attacked the driver that he shares a van with. He was arrested and charged with assault, having of a loaded gun that was not registered, trespassing on Railroad property which happens to be a federal issue, and some other charges. Thank God he didn't fire the gun and kill someone. This was a very petty issue to blow up in this manner, and could have been handled in another way had the driver contacted us to inform us that someone had been reprograming the settings. We do not want drivers changing things with our vans, especially the door locks as they are what CSX considers a safety issue and should be locked. Some of the yards are not in the best of neighborhoods, and we have had a van shot at, however only once in 11 years

 

[PrototypeGeckos]

The one driver who is 70 years old (OMG) went to the yard last night drunk with a loaded gun, and attacked the driver that he shares a van with.

Geez, 70 years old and drunk? Shouldn't he have more pressing issues to worry about than that crap?!?!?! Like getting up there in age and speeding it up by drinking to extremes!!! lol, Man Felicia I am glad no one was seriously hurt.

 

[BalloonzForU]

I was looking more along the lines that he will most likely die in jail if found guilty of these charges, due to him being 70. But yeah WTF was this guy thinking? I realize that at this time of the year, many people loose it, but the reason behind this is just so not worth it at all.

As our company grows I guess something like this was bound to happen, especially with having 100+ drivers through out the year.

 

[Grinning Geckos]

WOW! That's totally crazy Felicia! Thank goodness everything turned out OK.

 

[brandy101010]

That is crazy! I'm glad no one was hurt.

 

[BalloonzForU]

I'm also very very glad no one was hurt. I bet now that he's sober, he's trying to figure out why he did it. He'd only been working for us for about 6 months, and seemed like such a nice guy. I'm still shocked this happened.

 

[paulnattress]

I'm glad I live in a country where you can't walk into a shop and buy a gun.

 

[Intense Herpetoculture]

I'm sure this won't go well, politics and all, but hey. What you do have in your country are cars, think about it. You can easily go around killing people with a car. What about an ax, viper, boat, water, knives, heck, you can use your own two hands. Keeping guns out of people hands doesn't do a thing. Culture influences more deaths then anything else.

I'm glad I live in a country where you can't walk into a shop and buy a gun.

 

[Jeanne]

Wow, Felicia, that is horrible! I also am very glad that no one was hurt.

 

[NaughtyDawg]

Amazing what a little liquid courage can do...I'm with Paul on the gun thing..

 

[BalloonzForU]

Amazing what a little liquid courage can do.

I've always believed no good decisions come from drinking. I really feel bad about this, and with the holidays here and past, we don't know if the guy that went postal was out on bail or still in jail. I feel for him, even though he was oh so wrong in what he did. We do background checks and this guys record was CLEAN!!!! Terrible how one stupid mistake can mess up your life. He never used the gun, would have been better had he not brought it with him, would have been better had he just not gone but you can't turn back the clock.

 

[BalloonzForU]

I'm glad I live in a country where you can't walk into a shop and buy a gun.

You really can't just walk in a shop and buy a gun here in the states either, there's a waiting period, but I believe a more thorough background check should be enforced.

I do not believe in gun control, having a gun to protect ourselves is a Constitutional Right.

I do believe parents should be responsible enough to teach their children respect of guns. My son is not aloud to own a realistic toy gun, because I don't want him to confuse them with the real thing. I was handling guns at a very young age, as my father collected them and owned a gun shop back in the early 80s. I never once touched one of my dads guns that were all over the house, without him telling me it was ok. At 8 years of age I would help him load the display cases at the shop every morning and return them to the safe at night, granted they were never loaded guns. I have a deep respect for guns and the destruction they can do in the wrong hands. My dad still is certified with the government, and his state to carry a concealed weapon and does so all the time.

The problems we have in the states goes back to the fact that moral values have gone to crap, one man's/woman's life means nothing to the thugs that go around killing people just because they can. As Justyn said if guns were not around they would figure out some other way to kill. They may have to grow some b***s and not hide behind a loaded gun.

Violence is never the answer but I feel I should have the right to protect myself and loved ones from any violence that may be thrust my way.

 

[paulnattress]

I do not believe in gun control, having a gun to protect ourselves is a Constitutional Right.

Not really wanting to get into a debate on this but it strikes me that the people you're protecting yourself against are those who have the constitutional right to protect themselves with a gun. Seems like a vicious circle.

 

[paulnattress]

Just read Justyn's post too... have to agree with you there - "Culture influences more deaths then anything else."