Support NeoGAF

[S-Wind]

...while sitting in his minivan half a mile from the house he owns!

http://wtkr.com/2017/01/30/attorney-60-year-old-chesapeake-man-shot-killed-while-playing-pokemon-go/

Attorney: 60-year-old Chesapeake man shot, killed while playing Pokémon Go

CHESAPEAKE, Va. - A game that takes most of its players on an athletic adventure may have lead one local Chinese man to his death.

According to a local attorney, 60-year-old Jiansheng Chen of Chesapeake was playing Pokémon Go on Thursday when he was shot and killed by a neighborhood security guard.

”I did not want the public to misunderstand Mr. Chen," said the attorney Greg Sandler, who believes the incident escalated partially because of a language barrier.

Sandler represents Chen and his family. He says Chen showed up to the club house in the River Walk neighborhood of Chesapeake because there is a Pokémon Go gym at that location.

Sandler says Chen played Pokémon Go to bond with his grandchildren.

”I cannot imagine what could have justified shooting through the front windshield of Mr. Chen's van five times," Sandler told News 3's Merris Badcock Monday morning.

While Chen was gaming, he was allegedly approached by a security guard for the neighborhood. According to police, a confrontation ensued and Chen was shot and killed.

”His family is a homeowner in the area," said Sandler. ”Ironically, he is one of the people security is supposed to be protecting as a homeowner."

According to Chen's brother, the 60-year-old grandfather only spoke basic English words like ‘sorry' and ‘bye'.

”I speak a little bit of English. He, nothing," the brother told reporters on Friday.

News 3's Merris Badcock went to the location where Chen was gunned down. She downloaded the Pokémon Go mobile application and found that there was a Pokémon ‘gym' at the River Walk clubhouse.

Sandler explained that a gym is different from catching Pokemon. ”A gym requires you to stay put in one location so you can train your critters," Sandler said.

In a statement to News 3, the River Walk Community Association said they ”have a contract for unarmed roving patrol services", so it is unclear why the security guard was armed with a gun.

We reached out to the company that provided the security guard to the River Walk Community Association, but they have not answered any of our requests for comment.

We also reached out to police. They are not releasing the identity of the security guard because he has not been charged, but they say the case is still active and under investigation.

http://pilotonline.com/news/local/c...cle_4a8ca18c-f567-541e-ae0a-915160987909.html

Chesapeake man shot, killed by security guard while in minivan a half mile from his home

CHESAPEAKE

The Chen family planned to gather Friday night to celebrate the start of the Chinese New Year.

Instead, they are struggling for answers and grappling with the shooting death of 60-year-old Jiansheng Chen.

Chen died Thursday night after he was shot half a mile from his home in the River Walk neighborhood, according to police.

Police said he was seated in his minivan in the River Walk clubhouse parking lot when a security guard confronted him. They argued, and police said the security guard fired . Officers found him in the 700 block of River Walk Parkway off Great Bridge Boulevard just after 11 p.m., following calls from the security guard and people nearby who heard gunfire.

Bullets had been shot through various windows of the van, police spokeswoman Kelly Elliott said in an email.

No one has been charged because the department is investigating whether the shooting was justified, she wrote.


Chen, a former chef at Chinese restaurants in New York, spoke very little English, said Greg Sandler, a Virginia Beach lawyer who is helping the family find details about Chen's death.

The family speaks Mandarin, and the language barrier ”is making it very hard for them to understand the process," said Sandler.

”They were obviously devastated," he said.

Chen leaves behind a wife, two adult children, grandchildren and siblings, Sandler said. His brother, Jian Chen, owns Royal China on Great Bridge Boulevard and his daughter owns a Chinese restaurant in Norfolk. His parents live in China.

Sandler said Jiansheng Chen's wife still lives in New York and he would travel up there often.

Sandler said the Chens are struggling to understand how such an incident unfolded. The 60-year-old did not own a gun, the family told Sandler.

Billy Rudolph, a spokesman for the River Walk Community Association, said since 2010 the group has contracted with a security company to hire unarmed guards.


The association's board said in a statement the contract is for ”unarmed roving patrol services for the common areas of the community," not including the clubhouse where Chen was shot.


”We are fully cooperating with authorities investigating the incident that took place just outside association property," the statement said.

A reporter's phone call to the security company was not returned Friday.

Sandler said the Chens' entire extended family had been planning to gather in Chesapeake to celebrate the holiday.

”That's never going to happen again, I suppose," he said.

How the fuck is this yet-another-George-Zimmerman not yet charged?!

 

[hypernima]

For fucks sake.
What could possibly be intimidating about a grandpa playing pokemon?

 

[S-Wind]

For fucks sake.
What could possibly be intimidating about a grandpa playing pokemon?

He's not White.

Better kill him than be sorry.

 

[newtypepilot]

security guards are allowed to carry firearms? WTF???

 

[Moonkid]

The U.S. and its guns, jesus fucking christ. Condolences to the family.

 

[ChrisD]

This breaks my heart. Trying to bond with his Grandchildren and... Shot to death. Rest in peace.

 

[Sesuadra]

security guards are allowed to carry firearms? WTF???

they're not. it's in the article. they "don't know" why he carried one.

 

[massoluk]

No one has been charged because the department is investigating whether the shooting was justified, she wrote.

No. It's not justified to shoot unarmed dude. That was easy

 

[Magni]

I'm not surprised, but I'm outraged nonetheless. How is that POS not charged yet?

 

[Soph]

My face is suffering from a perpetual frown from reading that article.

 

[Usobuko]

Rip.

Must be hard for the shooter to empathize with a Chinese, more so in Trump's dynasty.

Asian-americans for Trump? Wanting to be a subservient second class who will never be viewed as equal rather than demanding the bare minimum of human dignity.

I will never understand the mentality of wanting to be model minority. Incredibly delusional.

 

[Jintor]

CHESAPEAKE, Va. - A game that takes most of its players on an athletic adventure may have lead one local Chinese man to his death.

what a weird line. I get it causally but man

poor dude. feel for his family.

 

[FeenixRising]

SMH. I swear Chesapeake and Virginia Beach are on my shit list since this last election.

R.I.P. to the man, and condolences to his family.

 

[Usobuko]

Temptation to kill while having plausible denial of responsibility because of the language barrier excuse?

He must have think what an opportunity of a lifetime. It's not like he sees them as human being anyway, just simple lifeforms coexisting in the society.

 

[hydrophilic attack]

A game that takes most of its players on an athletic adventure may have lead one local Chinese man to his death

no that was the guard not the game

 

[Nydius]

My neck of the woods. Sigh. Heard it on WTKR TV broadcast right after it happened. Even more depressing are the people on the WTKR Facebook comments siding with the security guard and justifying the lack of charges/glacial pace of police investigating whether charges should be brought.

I'd like to remind those folks that the manslaughter charge exists for a reason but they wouldn't pay any attention.

Edit:

security guards are allowed to carry firearms? WTF???

Yes, Security Guards in VA can carry firearms so long as they register and pass training requirements.

In this case though the employment contract was supposed to be "unarmed roving patrol services" only. I'm going to hypothesize this particular guard was licensed as an armed guard and was disregarding the terms of the contract (or wasn't made aware of the contract terms by his superiors). Disregarding the employment contract is one thing but if it turns out that he's not actually certified as an armed security guard and he was carrying a gun while acting as a guard well, good luck to him in future security employment (after his rightful tenure in prison, that is).

 

[Hierophant]

that guard should get nothing less than what he gave but we know that won't happen

 

[Donos]

Chinese guy was just sitting in the van? Security guards not allowed to carry firearms? Man what happened that the guard unloaded through the windows ?... even when they argued and the chinese guy didn't understand. The guard surely didn't think that the chinese guy was a suicide bomber or any real threat.

 

[StayDead]

no that was the guard not the game

The guard didn't lead the guy to his death. The game led him to the place of his death which is technically correct. Awful story either way. Firstly, why on earth is there a need for neighborhood security guards when (I know they have a bad record) that's what the police are meant to do and why on earth did he have a gun.

Then it leads to the question of what led him to killing a man just sitting in his car

 

[E-flux]

Here where i live there is no way a security guard would gain a permission to carry a firearm, your items are dictated by location and most of the guards don't even have pepper spray because that requires training and more paper work, so most of the guards only have handcuffs and a flashlight.

Stuff like this is fucked up.

 

[jacob armitage]

What the fuck, why would a neighbourhood security guard even be allowed to have a Firearm?

I'm struggling to process how this even happened, is it really that the grandfather playing a video game in his vehicle was a threat? Did this fellow just want to kill a minority because they can get away with it in America?

 

[chillybright]

Security guards shot him while he was in his car?

Wtf?

 

[Aztechnology]

My neck of the woods. Sigh. Heard it on WTKR TV broadcast right after it happened. Even more depressing are the people on the WTKR Facebook comments siding with the security guard and justifying the lack of charges/glacial pace of police investigating whether charges should be brought.

I'd like to remind those folks that the manslaughter charge exists for a reason but they wouldn't pay any attention.

OK let's postulate a theory.

Security guard isn't supposed to be carrying weapon
Confronts man because he's hanging out near the "club house" and he's suspicious of him.
Chen probably doesn't understand the guard's questions, guard probably starts to get haughty.
Chen tries to leave and the guard on a power trip, respect my authority level BS shoots 5 time and kills Chen.

Whelp

Put that gun up at auction, we got ourselves a fucking American Hero.

Spoiler

MURDER. Absolutely disgusting

 

[0OoO0]

Why mention his race?

 

[Aztechnology]

Why mention his race?

Because he barely spoke any English. It's a component of the case.

 

[Hoo-doo]

I'm glad there was a 'good guy with a gun' there to de-escalate the threat.

 

[jacob armitage]

My neck of the woods. Sigh. Heard it on WTKR TV broadcast right after it happened. Even more depressing are the people on the WTKR Facebook comments siding with the security guard and justifying the lack of charges/glacial pace of police investigating whether charges should be brought.

I'd like to remind those folks that the manslaughter charge exists for a reason but they wouldn't pay any attention.

I know internet comments section tend to attract the less rational of us out there but i'm starting to think that we need to comment and challenge people with poor arguments, fallacies and a disturbing lack of compassion every chance we get in whatever effort to try to curb nut job echo chambers.

Why mention his race?

Because its potentially very relevant information given how this played out.

 

[Ratrat]

Fucking hell.

 

[Kuldar]

For fucks sake.
What could possibly be intimidating about a grandpa playing pokemon?

You mean a dangerous martial art master since he was an old asian man?

 

[psaman17]

OK let's postulate a theory.

Security guard isn't supposed to be carrying weapon
Confronts man because he's hanging out near the "club house" and he's suspicious of him.
Chen probably doesn't understand and guard probably starts to get haughty
Chen tries to leave and the guard on a power trip, respect my authority level BS shoots 5 time and kills Chen.

Whelp

Put that gun up at auction, we got ourselves a fucking American Hero.

Spoiler

MURDER. Absolutely disgusting

Sounds about right.

We don't know that the shooter is white. Even if he is, I don't see this as a race issue; more of a gun discussion.

Grown man sitting alone idly inside a van can be suspicious. Security guard goes to check out the scene. Talks to the guy only to find that he doesn't respond or respond back with a bunch of gibberish. He likely tells the old man to show his hand or not to move and when the old man doesn't follow, he mows his down.

The wide availability of gun, imo, is what motivated the security to shoot first. He's thinking if i don't shoot him, this guy MIGHT shoot me. But you can't shoot someone for not understanding english. Whether he is white, black, brown or martian he is going to jail.

 

[Jill Sandwich]

Paul Blart: Racist Murderer

 

[Nydius]

OK let's postulate a theory.

Security guard isn't supposed to be carrying weapon
Confronts man because he's hanging out near the "club house" and he's suspicious of him.
Chen probably doesn't understand the guard's questions, guard probably starts to get haughty.
Chen tries to leave and the guard on a power trip, respect my authority level BS shoots 5 time and kills Chen.

Whelp

Put that gun up at auction, we got ourselves a fucking American Hero.

Spoiler

MURDER. Absolutely disgusting

And that's just it. From what was learned in the initial investigation, a charge of voluntary manslaughter should have been applied immediately. Chen would be alive had not the guard emotionally escalated the issue to the point where he pulled out a gun that he shouldn't have had on his person in the first place.

Hell, that's why the voluntary manslaughter charge exists. He should have been arrested and charged, then if the Commonwealth's Attorney finds intent could be proven, the charges could be amended to First or Second degree murder.

 

[jobrro]

The U.S. and its guns, jesus fucking christ. Condolences to the family.

More or less. Would be much more difficult for this to happen with a knife.

 

[PR_rambo]

Why mention his race?

Yeah, that security guard probably doesn't "See color"


It's always shoot first ask questions later in this country, sucks

 

[Aztechnology]

And that's just it. From what was learned in the initial investigation, a charge of voluntary manslaughter should have been applied immediately. Chen would be alive had not the guard emotionally escalated the issue to the point where he pulled out a gun that he shouldn't have had on his person in the first place.

Hell, that's why the voluntary manslaughter charge exists. He should have been arrested and charged, then if the Commonwealth's Attorney finds intent could be proven, the charges could be amended to First or Second degree murder.

Hopefully justice will be served, how they're handling it sounds awful. Condolences to the family. To die while doing something that could be described as heart warming is chilling.

 

[hydrophilic attack]

The guard didn't lead the guy to his death. The game led him to the place of his death which is technically correct.

while technically correct i feel like that wording covers up the murderer's responsibility

 

[old manatee]

You've gotta be pretty far out there to think that being a security guard gives you the right to execute someone.

 

[Zen Aku]

security guards are allowed to carry firearms? WTF???

Not these particular ones, no. But there are in some cases depending on the company. But I mean like it has to be important secured facilities.

A normal neighborhood patrol shouldn't be carrying a gun which is what this guy is.

 

[cheezcake]

This is an easy murder conviction right? Like how could this guy possibly get away with it, not even a cop, guy was in his car and shot through windshield multiple times so obviously no immediate threat, victim is a 60 year old man.

 

[Timedog]

He's speaking another language...he's not white...Oh my god he must be a terrorist! Oh my god he might have a nucular bomb!! I'll save humanity!!!!!!!!!

 

[Grazzt]

Sounds about right.

We don't know that the shooter is white. Even if he is, I don't see this as a race issue; more of a gun discussion.

Grown man sitting alone idly inside a van can be suspicious. Security guard goes to check out the scene. Talks to the guy only to find that he doesn't respond or respond back with a bunch of gibberish. He likely tells the old man to show his hand or not to move and when the old man doesn't follow, he mows his down.

That doesn't justify the fact that he fired 5 times.

 

[plushyp]

Shooting five times. Horrible.

 

[jacob armitage]

I believe in Canada the only time a security guard is allowed to carry a gun is when protecting the armoured transport trucks while they're transferring large amounts of cash or precious metals.

Even then i imagine its a huge amount of training to get to that point.

Shooting five times. Horrible.

For playing a game to bond with his grandchildren .

 

[Unknown Soldier]

Rip.

Must be hard for the shooter to empathize with a Chinese, more so in Trump's dynasty.

Asian-americans for Trump? Wanting to be a subservient second class who will never be viewed as equal rather than demanding the bare minimum of human dignity.

I will never understand the mentality of wanting to be model minority. Incredibly delusional.

I don't think you have a clue what you are talking about. There is nobody in the Chinese-American community who wants to be the model minority for the white people. We had that pushed on us by them to drive a wedge between us and other minorities.

 

[S-Wind]

I don't think you have a clue what you are talking about. There is nobody in the Chinese-American community who wants to be the model minority for the white people. We had that pushed on us by them to drive a wedge between us and other minorities.

There's plenty of self-hating Asians who long to be One Of The Good Ones.

 

[psaman17]

That doesn't justify the fact that he fired 5 times.

Nobody said its justified, the guy is going to jail for sure.

He fired 5 times to make sure his target is dead and therefore can't fire back IF he has a gun.

 

[jacob armitage]

Nobody said its justified, the guy is going to jail for sure.

He fired 5 times to make sure his target is dead and therefore can't fire back IF he has a gun.

I'd like to believe that.

 

[Alienfan]

The police shouldn't carry, let alone a security guard. This is murder

 

[old manatee]

Sounds about right.

We don't know that the shooter is white. Even if he is, I don't see this as a race issue; more of a gun discussion.

Grown man sitting alone idly inside a van can be suspicious. Security guard goes to check out the scene. Talks to the guy only to find that he doesn't respond or respond back with a bunch of gibberish. He likely tells the old man to show his hand or not to move and when the old man doesn't follow, he mows his down.

The wide availability of gun, imo, is what motivated the security to shoot first. He's thinking if i don't shoot him, this guy MIGHT shoot me. But you can't shoot someone for not understanding english. Whether he is white, black, brown or martian he is going to jail.

que?

 

[dreamcastmaster]

Chinese guy was just sitting in the van? Security guards not allowed to carry firearms? Man what happened that the guard unloaded through the windows ?... even when they argued and the chinese guy didn't understand. The guard surely didn't think that the chinese guy was a suicide bomber or any real threat.

Maybe he was Chinese Muslim?