Beloved Alabama Sheriff Killed Over Loud Car Stereo

The world is a scary, crazy place. Violence, while not as prevalent as some would like to argue, is still far too common an occurrence. To make matters worse, some people will flip out and become violent over some of the most insane things.

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A prime example of this comes to us from Lowndes County, Alabama where a much-beloved sheriff was shot and killed over the weekend.

Lowndes County Sheriff John Williams was fatally shot when he approached a truck because the music was loud, and he was asking an occupant of the pickup to turn it down, according to law enforcement and an eyewitness.

About 8:15 p.m. Saturday, Williams was shot at the QV convenience store near the Lowndes County Courthouse on the downtown square in Hayneville. Law enforcement apprehended the suspect William Chase Johnson, 18, after a nearly four-hour search when he walked up to the shooting scene about 12:05 a.m. Sunday with a firearm in his hand and was taken into custody after the manhunt.

Johnson has been charged with murder, according to Elmore jail records. No bond has been set.

Williams approached the truck Johnson was driving and asked him why his music was so loud. That’s when allegedly Johnson shot Williams once in the head. The Alabama Law Enforcement Agency is investigating. ALEA wouldn’t comment Sunday afternoon on if Williams was in uniform at the time of the shooting, or if he was driving a marked or un marked vehicle.

This was something Williams had done countless times before. It was just part of the job, a job that doesn’t end when you’re not wearing a uniform or driving an official vehicle.

Johnson, it turns out, was the son of a sheriff’s deputy from a neighboring county, according to NBC News.

Now, senseless acts of violence are nothing new. Old West outlaw John Wesley Hardin once reportedly killed a man for snoring too loudly, for example. He, at least, may not have actually intended to kill the man.

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The problem, though, is that the lack of regard for humanity that leads someone to shoot a man in the head over a loud stereo is the same lack of regard for humanity that let someone gun down dozens of innocent people in a quest for infamy. It’s something that needs to be addressed on the societal level before things get really out of hand.

Frankly, I see this as a bigger issue than worrying about armed robberies or other forms of violent crime. We can prepare for those to some degree. We can combat them through various methods. We can do something about them.

Senseless acts like this, though? What the hell do we do?

Anti-gunners will, undoubtedly, be quick to scream for gun control as a way to combat this. However, that kind of disregard for humanity doesn’t manifest itself only in gun crimes. In fact, even a van can be used for this kind of horrific act.

If we want to make a difference, we need to start trying to instill an appreciation for human life in everyone. That’ll go a long way to stopping stuff like this.

 

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