Georgia Man Arrested For Shooting Young Man Over Halloween Egging Of His Mercedes

ATLANTA — An Atlanta man has been charged with gunning down a young man he thought threw eggs at his Mercedes in a Halloween prank.

Police spokesman Carlos Campos says officers arrested 20-year-old Michael Hunnicutt around 1:35 p.m. Friday and charged him with murder in the death of 18-year-old Tavarus Erving on Oct. 31.

Police say Hunnicutt shot Erving after he confronted him because he believed Erving splattered his Mercedes with eggs. Police say 10 shots were fired.

Hunnicutt was being held Friday in the Fulton County jail. Police said they didn't know if Hunnicutt had an attorney.

Comments

[waxtrax227]

02:15 PM on 11/21/2010

At least this didn't happen to the victim...
http://www.kcra.com/news/1920084/detail.html
Why do eggs make people incite such anger??

[ChiGuy]

11:59 AM on 11/21/2010

If Hunnicut did not have quick access to a gun, I wonder if the retaliation for simple vandalism would have resulted in a fatality.

[J Ferguson]

12:21 PM on 11/21/2010

The answer is obvious to everybody but gun-lovers.

[Rooster Coburn]

03:09 PM on 11/21/2010

The pic at the head of this page is not of the suspect's Mercedes. Here, below, is a link to a pic of the suspect.
http://www.ajc.com/multimedia/dynamic/00755/Michael-Hunnicutt-m_755905l.jpg

[J Ferguson]

05:07 PM on 11/21/2010

What pertinence does a picture of the suspect have to the photo of the car, or to anything, for that matter?

[ChiGuy]

08:30 PM on 11/21/2010

So, because he's black the dispute WOULD have resulted in a fatality? Am I reading your comment correctly?

If so, you are a useless bigot.

[ragtag]

11:53 AM on 11/21/2010

20 years old, Mercedes?

[Creeker11]

12:02 PM on 11/21/2010

Yes both he AND the Mercedes were 20 yrs old

[blamo611]

11:27 AM on 11/21/2010

This is what happens when you bring eggs to a gunfight.

[Chris Worthington]

11:27 AM on 11/21/2010

This happened on Halloween night and this guy is JUST NOW getting arrested???? It must be really awesome to be rich in this country. Too bad I'll never have the chance to know what it feels like.

[EuroRant1]

11:40 AM on 11/21/2010

or blasting away with 10 rounds of gunfire ... and then be found innocent (a la OJ Simpson).

[J Ferguson]

11:47 AM on 11/21/2010

More accurately "a la anybody who's killed somebody and gotten away with it because of a perceived threat to their property".

[J Ferguson]

11:14 AM on 11/21/2010

If gun rights activists achieve their goals, we will all be armed, all the time, and this sort of incident will be commonplace.

[turkeylurky]

11:12 AM on 11/21/2010

Reminds me of Chris Rock's famous line: "Now I'm not saying he should have killed her... but I understand".

[EuroRant1]

11:37 AM on 11/21/2010

Sorry I'm confused. You understand what? That because "he thought" the man threw eggs at his car he should be allowed to kill another human being.

Wow, how far we have fallen. I'm always surprised when others question my "standards or lack of morality" because I am an atheist. As an atheist here is my morality standard: This is wrong ... any way you turn it or try to justify it. It is wrong.

What has happened to America? Such posts and comments like yours make me count my lucky stars that I no longer live among you.

[LouGots]

11:03 AM on 11/21/2010

Guns don't kill people, grungy street critters kill people. The shooters age plus the type of car plus the facts of the shooting should have tipped us off. The news account suggests that the shooter left the scene and came back later to do the shooting. Plain first-degree premedited murder, not a case of "egg rage.".

http://www.ajc.com/news/atlanta/arrest-made-in-halloween-747320.html

[J Ferguson]

11:36 AM on 11/21/2010

Which criteria, in your estimation, define "grungy street critters"?

[LouGots]

03:38 PM on 11/21/2010

Criminal record, gang afiliation, no visible means of lawful support, and, of course, behavior. We still need more facts to figure this ine out, but it seems that the shooter left the scene of the crime (possibly to get his gun) and then returned to do the deed.

This is NOT a case of legal concealed carry gone wrong, which one might have thought from the brief initial account..

[hackerblaster]

11:00 AM on 11/21/2010

But if they throw him in jail how on earth is he supposed to wash that egg off his car? Some people are soooo mean.

[bring in swat]

10:13 AM on 11/21/2010

He must have gotten some on his rims..

[StephenBP]

10:13 AM on 11/21/2010

Vandalism is a very common and unintelligent way of expressing something, I'm not sure what.
Bad juju there.

Failure to control anger or execute basic good judgement is probably some named personality disorder, no? A condition maybe exacerbated by "self medication", no? Bad juju there too.

One unfortunate vandal or mistaken-for-vandal learned his lesson too late or was just an innocent in the wrong place at the wrong time..

One bad tempered killer should never ever be allowed to roam free again. He is an obvious threat to society and should be kept locked up until he stops breathing or until society learns how to cure his type of problems, which, unfortunately, probably won't happen in this life time, and is highly unlikely to ever happen in prison. Were it not for the expense and the moral implications, the death penalty might seem appropriate.

Science is falling out of fashion these days, but blood lust is alive and well.

[Pete Needham]

10:57 AM on 11/21/2010

blah, blah, blah.

[StephenBP]

02:14 PM on 11/21/2010

Yes, your response certainly is blah, I will agree with that.

[thundermummy]

09:56 AM on 11/21/2010

And crown thy good with brotherhood.......

[ramal]

09:47 AM on 11/21/2010

Very bad taste for all concerned.

[bsc]

09:43 AM on 11/21/2010

yeah and guns dont kill people...

[Ro Drop]

05:52 PM on 11/21/2010

guns dont kill people eggs do

I wonder if they will determine if the guy killed did throw the eggs. I am not saying that is a reason to shoot him, but wondering how this shooter will feel if he has the wrong guy. Knowing he is in jail and a real criminal is still out of the streets throwing eggs at cars.

[bsc]

09:42 AM on 11/21/2010

psycho...this is why we need gun cotrol laws.

[Pete Needham]

10:58 AM on 11/21/2010

The jerk's family are probably 'pillars of the community'. I agree with the sentiment, though...

[Creeker11]

11:59 AM on 11/21/2010

Take a gander at the mugsot, I dint think so

[Alwayspissedoffatsomeone]

12:45 PM on 11/21/2010

"psycho...this is why we need gun cotrol laws". -- bsc


I believe the issue isn't guns, it's a completely different issue altogether.

[J Ferguson]

12:56 PM on 11/21/2010

Really? The vandal was shot 10 times. What do you perceive the issue to be?