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  • MONDAY AUGUST 15 2005 7:00 PM

"Marine of the Year" Charged With Attempted Murder

Submitted by MissTyrios

Edited by MissTyrios

Last month, Sgt. Daniel Cotnoir was named "Marine of the Year" for his service in Iraq. But today, he faced charges of attempted murder after opening fire on a nightclub crowd outside his apartment in Lawrence, Massachusetts.

Early Saturday morning, police said, he pointed a 12-gauge shotgun out the window of his second-floor apartment and fired a single shot at a noisy crowd leaving nearby nightclubs. Lissette Cumba, 15, and Kelvin Castro, 20, were both struck in the leg by fragments. They were treated at local hospitals and released.

Cotnoir, a married father of two daughters, told police he feared for the safety of his family after someone threw an empty juice bottle through his bedroom window.


Cotnoir pled not guilty, saying publicly that his job as a mortician preparing the bodies of dead U.S. soldiers took a severe psychological toll on him during his 10 months in Iraq. He claims he meant to only fire a warning shot.

[Victim Lissette] Cumba's uncle, James Rodriquez, was visibly angry after Cotnoir's arraignment.

"She's been crying all night," he said of his niece. "If this man is sick, why was he holding weapons in his house?"

James Stokes, a retired minister who went to school with Cotnoir's father, said he does not believe Daniel Cotnoir was trying to kill anyone.

"This man is a wonderful person," he said. "Something might have happened when he came back from Iraq. ... He's out there picking up body parts," he said.


Cotnoir will undergo psychiatric evaluation to determine whether he is competent to stand trial. He is charged with two counts of armed assault with intent to murder, two counts of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, and one count of discharging a firearm within 500 feet of a dwelling.

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Comments
SirPsychoSexy

SirPsychoSexy

Ridgewood, NJ
January 2004

AUG 15, 2005 11:01 PM

s5 said:
this isn't exactly related, but people who are sensitive to noise shouldn't move into apartments near nightclubs. there was a huge uproar in sf about 5 or 6 years ago, when a huge flock of "professionals" moved into high rent lofts in the noisy nightclub district of the city, and demanded immediate changes. even though the clubs had been there for years and the area was zoned for it, they took it upon themselves to gang up and complain about the noise at every level of city government. i just don't understand where these people come from. (a happy postscript: the NIMBYs eventually lost.)


Yeah people with families who move near shooting ranges do the same thing. whatever

PaulNikon

PaulNikon

Melbourne, FL
February 2003

AUG 15, 2005 11:13 PM

Thistle said:

PaulNikon said:

Thistle said:

PaulNikon said:
To think you can go anywhere in a big city and not get shot at is naive.



Lots of people walk around in big cities every single day magically not getting shot. Where exactly are you from that you don't realize this?




I'm from a place where a lot of people own guns. People don't throw shit through a window when asked to keep quiet.

Another thought came to mind. How many people are killed or injured due to drunks every year. How many are shot and killed or injured. Maybe dude saved someone from getting killed by wounding a drunk.



You've gotta be fucking kidding me.




I try not to joke on this board. People are pretty sesitive about these issues.

How many people are killed by drunk drivers each year?

reprobate

reprobate

New Orleans, LA
December 2002

AUG 15, 2005 11:23 PM

Volkov said:

GramNegative said:

Volkov said:

GramNegative said:

Volkov said:
I was going off the second story window makes for about 15 feet up at least and out the window across a street. figure...100 feet for across the street to that parking lot. that's out of lethal range given a typical spread pattern.



Look, there are clearly lots of extenuating circumstances to be taken into account by the judge. So hopefully there is no manditory minimum sentance of 20 years involved here.

But if a crack dealer took a 100 foot shotgun shot at a cop, I don't think I'd hear you talking about typical spread patterns.



actually if he specifically targeted that cop. I still would. as in "what a moron. he's trying to kill a cop with a shotgun at that range?"

unless they can prove that was actually aiming at a particular person to kill what you have is a guy firing in the direction of a crowd of people. and given that he hit only two people out of however many would indicate that he wasn't aiming center mass...or maybe he's just a shitty shot.

the guy committed a crime. a serious one. I'm just saying I don't see where the grounds for attempted murder come into play.

please do not presume to know my mind on completly unrelated hypothetical events and extrapolate them to my arguments on this one, thanks.


Well really, I wasn't. I used that hypothetical to criticize your contention that the effective range of the weapon should determine if attempted murder charges are pursued.



my argument wasn't effective range of the weapon but rather the intent of the shooter. the intent of a crackhead shooting at a cop and the intent of a paranoid ptsd sufferer shooting warning shots at what he percieves to be a hostile crowd is too different things.



A warning shot into a crowd is not a warning shot. I don't care if its a shotgun, a 7.62 or a depleted uranium chain gun. The man discharged a firearm, and a rather indiscriminate one at that, into a crowd of innocent people. That is, categorically, depraved indifference to human life and grounds for an attempted murder charge.

reprobate

reprobate

New Orleans, LA
December 2002

AUG 15, 2005 11:27 PM

PaulNikon said:

Thistle said:

PaulNikon said:

Thistle said:

PaulNikon said:
To think you can go anywhere in a big city and not get shot at is naive.



Lots of people walk around in big cities every single day magically not getting shot. Where exactly are you from that you don't realize this?




I'm from a place where a lot of people own guns. People don't throw shit through a window when asked to keep quiet.

Another thought came to mind. How many people are killed or injured due to drunks every year. How many are shot and killed or injured. Maybe dude saved someone from getting killed by wounding a drunk.



You've gotta be fucking kidding me.




I try not to joke on this board. People are pretty sesitive about these issues.

How many people are killed by drunk drivers each year?



I'm sorry, but that is just monumentally stupid. You're simply grasping for any event, no matter how implausible, attenuated or undemonstrated to try and make a semantic point. I could just as well say "Maybe that girl he shot was going to meet the love of her life that night and their kid was going to cure cancer until she was shot."

It's a ridiculous argument with no relation whatsoever to the instant facts.

Doghouse_Reilly

doghouse_reilly

I'm lost
February 2004

AUG 15, 2005 11:30 PM

PaulNikon said:

Thistle said:

PaulNikon said:

Thistle said:

PaulNikon said:
To think you can go anywhere in a big city and not get shot at is naive.



Lots of people walk around in big cities every single day magically not getting shot. Where exactly are you from that you don't realize this?




I'm from a place where a lot of people own guns. People don't throw shit through a window when asked to keep quiet.

Another thought came to mind. How many people are killed or injured due to drunks every year. How many are shot and killed or injured. Maybe dude saved someone from getting killed by wounding a drunk.



You've gotta be fucking kidding me.




I try not to joke on this board. People are pretty sesitive about these issues.

How many people are killed by drunk drivers each year?




Your sincerity is indistinguishable from most sane people's sarcasm. There is no justification or excuse sufficient enough to excuse a man for freaking out and shooting into a crowd of innocent bystanders. You might want to stick to posting pictures of fake tits.

PaulNikon

PaulNikon

Melbourne, FL
February 2003

AUG 16, 2005 12:14 AM

I'm saying they weren't innocent. They threw something through his window. He was defending his home.

I like how you can make fun of me. But the last two posts have avoided the number of people drunks kill.

Never been shot. But I have been hit by a drunk driver.

And I am free to post boobies AND my opinion. No matter how smart you think I am.

Subrosa

Subrosa

San Francisco, CA
July 2004

AUG 16, 2005 12:25 AM

PaulNikon said:
I like how you can make fun of me. But the last two posts have avoided the number of people drunks kill.



Because, as reprobate said, it's completely and totally irrelevant. You're basically saying that it's somehow more acceptable to shoot at drunks because there's a possibility that they may drive home and kill someone. And that's a pretty absurd argument.

How do you know they weren't being loud just sitting around waiting for a cab?

elicit77

elicit77

USA
October 2003

AUG 16, 2005 12:29 AM

I hear a lot of people saying that he shot into the crowd but I read in Reuters that he shot above the crowd or somewhere around it but the shotgun slug riccocheted and hit some girl in the leg and other fragments hit some dude. I think he was also being treated for PTSD prior to the shooting. This guy needs help. I think he should go to jail but only do like 3 months in a very minimum security jail where he can get some psych treatment for PTSD. My father and uncles suffer from PTSD because of Viet Nam and the things they experienced. Maybe the link below can help a bit in this thread.

Understanding PTSD (Posttraumatic Stress Disorder)

reprobate

reprobate

New Orleans, LA
December 2002

AUG 16, 2005 12:35 AM

PaulNikon said:
I'm saying they weren't innocent.



And I'm saying it was a large group of people leaving a nightclub that he shot indiscriminately into. I'm gonna go out on a limb here and guess that all thirty or forty of them did not, collectively, throw that bottle. In fact I'm gonna go ever further and guess that that most of them didn't even know each other much less act in some savage juice throwing conspiracy.

They threw something through his window. He was defending his home.[quote

From a vicious juice bottle. With a shotgun.

I like how you can make fun of me.



Well, you don't make it challenging.

But the last two posts have avoided the number of people drunks kill.



And you're post avoided the fact that the he shot at a large fucking crowd with a goddamn shotgun. The difference between what I'm avoiding and what you're avoiding is that there's actually proof that mine happened. There is no proof whatsoever that either the people he shot, or the the people he shot at, or the people who threw stuff at his house, which, incidentally is an apartment above a business in a fucking commercial zone, were drinking or any particular danger to anyone.

Never been shot. But I have been hit by a drunk driver.



One thing I've found in common among drunk drivers is that they''re in vehicles. Not so much with the on foot. So, to keep up with the scoring, we have people who definitely weren't driving, were definitely drinking juice and were definitely shot.

PaulNikon

PaulNikon

Melbourne, FL
February 2003

AUG 16, 2005 12:39 AM

Subrosa said:

PaulNikon said:
I like how you can make fun of me. But the last two posts have avoided the number of people drunks kill.



Because, as reprobate said, it's completely and totally irrelevant. You're basically saying that it's somehow more acceptable to shoot at drunks because there's a possibility that they may drive home and kill someone. And that's a pretty absurd argument.

How do you know they weren't being loud just sitting around waiting for a cab?



It is not irrelevant. The crowd was not sitting around wiating for a cab. They were throwing stuff at his house.

They said they saw him and his gun in the window. But didn't think to be quiet and walk away. No, they threw a bottle throught a window.

It is acceptable when the the drunks are rioting. Throwing objects at your family business, home, wife and children.

skeptik

skeptik

New Orleans, LA
February 2004

AUG 16, 2005 12:52 AM

But you weren't saying it was ok to shoot them because they threw stuff at his house. People might understand that.
You said it was ok to shoot them because he might have prevented one of them from driving drunk later, and possibly killing someone else.

Two completely different things.

Aaron

Aaron

Shakopee, MN
July 2004

AUG 16, 2005 01:11 AM

PaulNikon said:

Subrosa said:

PaulNikon said:
I like how you can make fun of me. But the last two posts have avoided the number of people drunks kill.



Because, as reprobate said, it's completely and totally irrelevant. You're basically saying that it's somehow more acceptable to shoot at drunks because there's a possibility that they may drive home and kill someone. And that's a pretty absurd argument.

How do you know they weren't being loud just sitting around waiting for a cab?



It is not irrelevant. The crowd was not sitting around wiating for a cab. They were throwing stuff at his house.

They said they saw him and his gun in the window. But didn't think to be quiet and walk away. No, they threw a bottle throught a window.

It is acceptable when the the drunks are rioting. Throwing objects at your family business, home, wife and children.



Loud people leaving a club, yes, riot, hardly... you've got some dumbass scenario in you're head that you're using to defend this guy lets stick to what we know. 2 people were shot one was a 15-year-old girl the other a 20-year-old man, it's highly doubtful either of these people threw anything at his house. HIs actions weren't justified the man is a bit fucked up, end of story.

reprobate

reprobate

New Orleans, LA
December 2002

AUG 16, 2005 01:16 AM

PaulNikon said:

Subrosa said:

PaulNikon said:
I like how you can make fun of me. But the last two posts have avoided the number of people drunks kill.



Because, as reprobate said, it's completely and totally irrelevant. You're basically saying that it's somehow more acceptable to shoot at drunks because there's a possibility that they may drive home and kill someone. And that's a pretty absurd argument.

How do you know they weren't being loud just sitting around waiting for a cab?



It is not irrelevant. The crowd was not sitting around wiating for a cab. They were throwing stuff at his house.

They said they saw him and his gun in the window. But didn't think to be quiet and walk away. No, they threw a bottle throught a window.

It is acceptable when the the drunks are rioting. Throwing objects at your family business, home, wife and children.



Rioting.

One person throwing one juice bottle at a building is rioting.

I think I see the problem here.

Incidentally, the only person who we've actually established was drinking was...

wait for it...

the lone gunman. Who was fighting with his wife.

How many people were you worried about drunks killing again?

BlastProcessing

BlastProcessing

USA
OLD SKOOL

AUG 16, 2005 03:26 AM

Monastrell said:

PaulNikon said:
I'm saying they weren't innocent. They threw something through his window. He was defending his home.

I like how you can make fun of me. But the last two posts have avoided the number of people drunks kill.

Never been shot. But I have been hit by a drunk driver.

And I am free to post boobies AND my opinion. No matter how smart you think I am.


I am as big of an advocate of people defending their private property as you will find anywhere on this site.

That guy was in no immediate danger. That was not defense .... that was homicidal.

You don't get to fire shotguns into crowds who are not on your property and are of no immediate threat and call it "defending" yourself. You are being asinine for saying so.



Didn't you get the memo? They were in a big city. People get shot at all the time. They should have just sucked it up and let the poor man go back to his shotgun and his alcohol and his argument with his wife.

But yeah, this guy showed less restraint with a deadly weapon than I like to see in a free man. I just hope that the whole "Marine of the Year" thing was innacurate and that the rest of our Marines don't come back worse off than this one.

Cyric

Cyric

I'm lost
October 2003

AUG 16, 2005 03:41 AM

LOL I love that we can argue for six pages on whether it's ok to shoot at large groups of peaple for no reason.

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