Murder is one of the most serious crimes there is.
But all too often people get murdered for petty and stupid reasons.
And a Florida man lost his life simply because he decided to pick up this one surprising item.
Most people understand that murder is always wrong and killing should only ever be done in self-defense or in defense of your loved ones or your property.
In most countries, murder carries a long prison sentence, a life sentence, or, in some cases, capital punishment.
Despite the seriousness of the crime and the severity of the punishment that comes with it, people still commit murder for stupid reasons, or no reason at all.
Killing in the name of stupid things
In 2012, a 39-year-old man in Chicago stabbed his mother to death because she refused to buy him box tickets to an Avril Lavigne concert.
That same year a couple was murdered for unfriending someone on Facebook.
And a year before that, a 13-year-old boy murdered his sister because she would not give him the remote control to the television.
And now a Florida man has joined the list of stupid reasons to murder someone.
Police recently responded to reports of a shooting at Copeland Park in Tampa, Florida.
When the officers arrived on the scene, they discovered a man “in his early 20s suffering from a gunshot wound.”
The man was still alive, and emergency responders transported him to a nearby hospital where he later succumbed to his gunshot wounds.
Even though the man died before he could tell the police what happened, a witness came forward and told the officers what led to the shooting.
Argument over an ordinary item leads to death
According to the witness, it all started over a pack of socks the victim had found lying on the ground.
The shooter, 30-year-old Jerome Alexander Parker, confronted the 20-year-old victim and accused him of stealing the pack of socks from him.
The victim denied the allegations and informed Parker that he only found them lying on the ground.
That’s when tensions erupted, and a fight soon broke out between the two men.
Parker threatened the victim with a gun, but the man refused to back down and instead punched the armed man in the face.
Parker then made good on his threat and shot the victim.
According to reports, the two men were complete strangers and had never met.
“This was a completely senseless act of violence that took a young man’s life,” Police Chief Lee Bercaw said.
And Bercaw is right.
You can get a pack of socks at Walmart for under $10.
Not only that, but the witness also said the victim tried to tell Parker that he only found the socks on the ground and picked them up out of curiosity.
Instead of shooting the man, Parker could have thanked him for picking them up and asked for them back.
If not for the police’s investigative work and the witness coming forward, Parker likely would have gotten away with murder.
But police officers gathered DNA during the investigation and soon identified Parker as the suspect.
“I’m thankful that the diligent work of our detectives led to an arrest which, I hope, provides a small sense of closure for the loved ones of the victim,” Bercaw said.
Police arrested Parker and charged him with first-degree premeditated murder with a firearm that caused great bodily harm or death.
In Florida, premeditated murder can carry the death penalty or life in prison without parole.
This story serves as a good reminder that if you come across something in public that does not belong to you, it is best to ignore it and not stop and pick it up.
People are crazy and will commit murder for little reason, even over a pack of socks.