Went out to walk my dog about 9:30 last night and discovered that beyond my closed blinds and double-glazed windows there were twenty cops on the street -- and one body covered by a blanket. I'm not in Oakland, mind you, but in a city where there hasn't been a murder in over four years.

It was my neighbor Sergio. He was selling his nice grey 996 hardtop convertible, and evidently a couple of guys who came by to look at it wanted it for free, and evidently he resisted the idea. That's the kind of guy he was: very strong, a longtime bodybuilder, macho -- in a lovable way, but macho. While he was fighting and his girlfriend was running into another friend's business to call 911, they put a bullet in his head and drove away in the car.

One nice thing about our D2s is the low likelihood of having vultures like this circling around us -- we're the only guys informed enough to value them!

But someday we'll all be driving something else. And someone else might really wish it was theirs. And we should give it to them, and throw in our wallet for good measure, and live to drive another day.

<img src="http://pictureposter.audiworld.com/84266/sergio.jpg"><ul><li><a href="http://www.dailycamera.com/news/2006/dec/19/gunmen-sought-in-killingz/">Rest in peace, Sergio.</a></li></ul>

I hope hell is hot as fvck for those soul-less bastards that killed him.

Justice will be served in this life AND the next.

it amazes me the depth of depravity that man is capable of. I hope they catch the guys that did this, and treat them accordingly. Send our condolences to his family for us, too.

I didn't hear the gunshot because I was working at my computer with the television on. What was playing on TV was a PBS show called "The Mystery of Love", and the segment was about a friendship between two older men in San Diego. The 14 year old grandson of one of them had shot the 20 year old son of the other to death when he wouldn't give up a pizza in a robbery.

The guy whose son was killed wasn't interested in vengeance because, as he put, "two lives were ruined that night: my son's, and that of the boy who shot him." So these old guys have become best friends and they go all over the place telling this story to kids in high schools and junior highs.

I was mindful of that when I was out on the street in the cold with my neighbors last night. I was thinking that the 911 call was already in progress when the Porsche took off down the street. This is basically downtown Boulder, and it's very thoroughly policed. So I was thinking about two young men who thought they were going to perform a quick robbery -- no doubt they work for someone else, and were just going to drop the car off at a warehouse somewhere, get their ten thousand bucks, and be home to watch the Daily Show at 11. Instead, because our culture is full of handguns, they carried one of those instead of a baseball bat. And in what was obviously an unexpected moment (Sergio resisting, and two guys not being able to beat him down because he was tough), and a tense one (just imagine), a trigger got pulled, and those guys won't be watching the Daily Show on their mama's couch ever again. They won't hug their moms ever again, or anyone but their cellmates (not the sweetest kind of hug). Bad circumstance, yes, and generated by them, but man, what consequences.

I grew up in a rural place and owned more handguns before I was 15 than I did baseballs, footballs, and basketballs put together. I'm at ease with them. But I've also lived in places like the U.K and New Zealand where they aren't around, and I'm aware that if that were the case here, Sergio would be sitting at home this morning with an ice pack on the knot on his head from a club, talking to his insurance company on the phone, getting a check for a car he wanted to sell anyway.

And I'm reminded of what the Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius said: "Poverty is the mother of all crime." I'm sorry for Sergio, but I'm sad as well for the scared young men around whom a dragnet is closing today. There but for the grace of God.

<ul><li><a href="http://www.9news.com/acm_news.aspx?OSGNAME=KUSA&amp;IKOBJECTID=9b05fc87-0abe-421a-0119-7685bf719cf3&amp;TEMPLATEID=0c76dce6-ac1f-02d8-0047-c589c01ca7bf">http://www.9news.com/acm_news.aspx?OSGNAME=KUSA&amp;IKOBJECTID=9b05fc87-0abe-421

I am really touched by the rational side of some members of this wonderful discussion group. If we saw more of this sort of rationality in global politics, the world would be a safer place. It is not however to be. Thugs in neighborhoods and across the globe make it necessary to be prepared to fight for what is ours, and I am quite sure Sergio felt it his obligation to defend his small piece of dirt, just as I might have-- not seeing a gun in sight. Thugs without guns cannot but wound us-- but when they are armed-- they can really screw things up.

OHBW-- you are a good friend to your neighbor. I hope they catch those guys-- and forget the mercy-- hang 'em high. You do live in the wild west afterall.

Believe me, no one knows how vibrant the desire for vengeance can be better than I do. My only child was once abducted by a deeply crazy "friend" of my ex-wife's, and for days neither I, the police, nor the FBI knew where she was. I still wake up in the middle of the night wanting to put the long knives in people over that.

But I've had some other experiences in this life as well. I went to law school, and did criminal defense work. I know who does most crime: people who are desperate, poor, uneducated, unguided by the good fathers and uncles you and I had, people who aren't hired for crappy jobs again and again because of the color of their skin or their dropped-out-in-third-grade speech. That excuses nothing, but explains a great deal.

When I was in law school at UF I worked on a death penalty appeal case. The defendant was a black guy who had gone to prison for life on a three-strikes multiple offender sentence and then murdered a prison guard. Sounds pretty clear-cut, right? Except that he was 17 when he caught his third strike, and it, like the two before it, were for the pettiest of crimes: literally stealing candy from a convenience store. He was mentally retarded. And when he got sent to Raiford, which is the big house in Florida, there was a white supremacist goon squad who gave regular beatings to black inmates in an out-of-the-way part of the prison in the middle of the night. After a couple of years of taking this, he got weary, as most of us would. One of the worst of the goons crossed the yard alone and unarmed one day, and our defendant planted a prison knife in him -- as most of us might have done, as well.

It's unfortunate all the way around, as I view it: Unfortunate that people do desperate things, unfortunate that we're so attached to our stuff or our manhood that we'll risk our lives unnecessarily, and -- this is just my personal view, reasonable minds may differ -- unfortunate most of all that we as a society are so bent on becoming Donald Trump and Paris Hilton that we aren't attending to some things that really, really matter: getting every single citizen a roof, a blanket, a chicken in the pot, and a dentist when she needs one. There've been times in this country when we cared more about those things, and we made incredible strides. Think FDR and Dr. King, for starters.

There's an old Taoist tale about a Samurai warrior who goes to see the sage Hakuin and demands to know, "What is hell and heaven?" The Master took one look at the Samurai and started insulting him saying, "You are such a scruffy looking warrior you would never understand anything." The Samurai became furious and pulled out his sword. "There!" said Hakuin. "This is hell." The Samurai had a flash of illumination and was overcome with gratitude, sheathed his sword, and humbly bowied before the Master. Hakuin said, "There! This is heaven."

Sure, I'd like to drag the guys who murdered my neighbor behind the Porsche they coveted. But I like that Samurai story better.

... if the car was properly insured, he would have received probably more than the asking price from the insurance company.

and you.

<ul><li><a href="http://dailycamera.com/news/2006/dec/19/gunmen-sought-in-killingz/">update</a></li></ul>

you can always get another car.

the one thing nice about Audis is they don't stand out. I get looked at more in my C class MB than I ever did in my Audis--nice cars but don't stand out.

bat by wait for it a 14 year old thug.[in Auckland a couple of years ago]
No we dont have guns but there is still a significant amount of violence and it is growing.

Very true, and I'd add that ignorance is the father.

Pretty much the whole country was poor, during the Depresstion. I don't think my Grandparents experienced much violent crime.

I'd be curious to know just how "poor" these perps were.

I pretty much concluded that crimes such as burglary, muggings, and grand theft auto are done by people who are not as fortunate as the people who they are stealing from, but not destitute. Most times, its a case of jealousy, drug induced need, and profitable means. People who are really poor are only concerned with meeting their basic needs like food and shelter. Its those people who are just below the poverty line that are motivated by our pop culture. MTV cribs, rappers, sports stars, etc exude that sort of care free wealth.

These stupid punks wanted to joyride a 911 that they couldn't afford. I don't know if its the environment that they grew up in, but damn, a human being has to recognize the value of life beyond a stupid car. Its not like we're in a war torn country where if you dont rob someone, you starve to death!

My condolences go out to Sergio's family. This is really tragic.

If your grandparents were wealthy, they'd have been a target, too.

but they're still poor. I suspect that our grandparents didn't see much violent crime because no one near them had much to covet or steal. I doubt our morals as a whole have changed much since then; we simply have access to easier ways of committing crimes.

into the mire and mess they have made of their lives, and for what- a couple of bucks? Idiocy knows no bounds- how sad for everyone involved. I hope Sergio's relatives get some kind of closure on this.<ul><li><a href="http://www.9news.com/acm_news.aspx?OSGNAME=KUSA&amp;IKOBJECTID=a254c6c5-0abe-421a-01be-707e381f9027&amp;TEMPLATEID=0c76dce6-ac1f-02d8-0047-c589c01ca7bf">http://www.9news.com/acm_news.aspx?OSGNAME=KUSA&amp;IKOBJECTID=a254c6c5-0abe-421

I guess that doesn't bother you or JimR. Poverty can be alleviated; what should we do about our morals?

And that's some seriously screwed up thinking on display in your post.

I know it sounds crazy, but some of us care about more than just ourselves.

Which is not insignificant. Both money and time.

And I repeat: That's some seriously screwed up thinking on display in your earlier post.

Making your wealth the hard and honest way, takes time. How many ''noveau riche'' people emerge every day?

The total now exceeds 9 million. What's so difficult?

And when it comes to assuring us that "<i>99% of millionnaires aren't innocent to crime</i>", you can only speak for yourself.<ul><li><a href="http://money.cnn.com/2005/09/28/news/economy/millionaire_survey/index.htm">Record Number of Millionaires</a></li></ul>