Armed Citizen Ends Shooting Rampage Over Vape ‘Device’

Vaping is the smoking of the 21st century. It’s supposed to be safer than smoking, and it doesn’t seem to have the same second-hand issues, but it’s still annoying as hell to walk down the sidewalk and get a blast of watermelon-scented vape-farts. But as annoying as it might be, it’s not something to get in a shootout about.

And yet, a South Carolina man tried to shoot two people, reportedly over a “vape device,” and got ended for his trouble.

An armed citizen halted a shooting rampage Thursday by a man who went berserk over a dispute about a vaping device.

The Chester County, South Carolina, Sheriff’s Office said in a Thursday Facebook post that Brandon Tavon Cassidy opened fire on two people in Edgemoor, striking one victim multiple times before the armed citizen drew a firearm and returned fire. In the exchange of gunfire, Cassidy was fatally wounded, while the armed citizen was also shot, Charlotte-area TV station WJZY reported.

“A second victim returned fire in self-defense,” the sheriff’s office said. “This exchange of gunfire left both the second victim and Cassidy with gunshot wounds. Brandon Cassidy died as a result of his injuries.”

The incident occurred shortly after midnight Thursday, the sheriff’s office said in a post earlier that day.

Obviously, there aren’t a lot of details as to what exactly the altercation was about, but it was probably something pretty freaking dumb when you consider two people are dead and another injured. That’s just…wow.

It also sounds like the kind of situation where using lethal force in defense of your life doesn’t end because you said something that antagonized someone else. There’s a certain idea that if you cross certain lines, you deserve to be shot and can’t lawfully defend yourself. While I understand courts might see it that way, I’m not a big fan of it myself.

And again, how in the hell did someone get into an “altercation” this severe over a vape device? I honestly want to know, because there’s nothing here for anyone to die over unless it was the last thing Dolly Parton touched on this good, green Earth. Then, maybe, I could see it. Dolly wouldn’t, mind you, but she was a better person than I am.

But if you start shooting at me and my friend, I’m going to shoot back, even if the whole thing is comically stupid. It stops being dumb when serious bullets start flying.

For Cassidy, that was the last bad decision of his life.

I hate that people are dead. They shouldn’t be. But if someone was going to die, the person who started shooting should absolutely be there. And yet, how many out there actually think the issue was the guns and not that Cassidy apparently thought killing someone over an argument or fight over a vape pen was a rational response?

The problem here was that someone thought murder was totally cool, and they got popped for their stupidity. Unfortunately, Cassidy killed someone before that happened. It shouldn’t be the case, but alas, stupid people take people with them all too often.

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