BUTTE - A dramatic story about a shooting that supposedly happened in Butte last year is nothing more than an urban legend.
The bogus story has been circulating for the past year on Internet blogs and Web sites concerning a girl shooting two men who broke into her Butte home in November 2006.
According to the story, an 11-year-old Butte girl shot two "illegal aliens" with a shotgun after they broke into her home. The shooting supposedly took place on Nov. 5, 2006, according to Internet posts.
When asked about the authenticity of the events described in this story, Butte-Silver Bow Sheriff John Walsh told The Montana Standard in an earlier interview that his office never investigated such an incident.
"This never happened," Walsh said.
The story claims the girl shot and killed the two intruders while she was home alone. The story doesn't provide a street address or attribute the information to any official sources.
Numerous people from all over the United States have contacted The Montana Standard in the past year via e-mail or phone to verify if the story is true. The story is often given the headline "Home Invasion Gone Wrong."
A recent search for this story on the Internet search engine Google.com returned with more than 400 hits.
The story has been printed as fact on some anti-gun control and anti-immigration Web sites. The phony story identifies the 11-year-old girl as Patricia Harrington, who shoots and kills the two "illegal aliens" identified as Ralphel Resindez and Enrico Garza.
Published on Friday, December 14, 2007. Last modified on 12/14/2007 at 1:03 am
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Ah, heck...I passed this one on to others myself. Thought it was a great story about Montanans! Don't mess with 'em! They're tough at any age. Well, shucks...if it were true, she'd be my heroine!
That's right we are the Bosses! As a boss would you keep a employee that has done such a lousy job as all of our elected officials? The only right thing to do is to throw ALL the bums out! VOTE OUT ALL INCUMBENTS IN 2008!!
Unbelievable there 'Sucks Schweitzer'. Some pro-gun, anti-immigrant rightwinger(s) create this false story (which could obviously only benefit the right), and you somehow conclude it was "lefty loonies". Someone is looney, alright. Not to mention, the fake story claims she used a shotgun. Yours is not even a good try at warping the obvious ruth.
This one did make the rounds - I saw it even repeated in a law enforcement magazine. I wrote their editor about 6 months ago to tell them no such thing happened. Montana's a small enough state, one would hear if something like this happened without waiting for the national media to report on it.
I just got this one from a friend in Nebraska today...and I emailed her this article. When a story is this dramatic, it really should make one wonder about its authenticity. What got me questioning it was that it names the underage girl, and nobody seemed to care what nightmares lie in store for an 11 year old girl who has killed two people. Please, PLEASE, people, when you receive this kind of nonsense in your email, if you don't have the time to check it out, JUST DELETE IT. Break the "automatic forward response". No tiny black spiders are going to bite you in the butt either way, and the government isn't going to start charging you 10 cents for every email you send out. If you aren't sure and want to find out if something's true, I recommend Snopes.com or Hoaxbusters.org. Sometimes these hoaxes do more harm than good, like the one that says to call *71 (or some variation) in case of emergency to reach a police dispatcher. It may be true in parts of the country, but DOESN'T work in all areas. Better to call 911! Again, PLEASE check these things out!!
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