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Author Topic: An alcoholic murderer?  (Read 10350 times)

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dhparker

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An alcoholic murderer?
« on: April 24, 2012, 02:06:22 PM »

I'm not sure this is the right place for this question, but it is sort of medical.

Would a 60-year-old man who had spent most of his life in some stage of inebriation have enough mental capacity and steady-handedness to plan an ambush and make a killing shot?

Is that a totally far-fetched scenario?

Thanks in advance.

PISCRIBE

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Re: An alcoholic murderer?
« Reply #1 on: April 24, 2012, 04:07:55 PM »

I am not a medical person nor an alcoholic. However, having some experience with both, it would seem to me that some people work better with alcohol in their system. The catch to this is how much. If he is 60 and an alcoholic , was it one of those drink yourself to coma time every night?

If he is 60 and has had these issues for a long time then he might be able to function. Planning an ambush is not all that difficult. Seeing it through might be a problem. Perhaps it is a sniper situation then your shooter might have the shakes and slugs down a hotel minibar bottle or two to steady his nerves.

Not far-fetched at all. Remember it is fiction and it doesn't have to be reality. Have your shooter struggling with sobriety and he is trying to stay dry until he completes this mission but finds that he can't. Will the shakes spoil his aim? Probably. Does he have the muscle memory of a sniper or military training?

Hope this helps.
Jeff
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dhparker

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Re: An alcoholic murderer?
« Reply #2 on: April 26, 2012, 07:08:58 PM »

It does.  Thanks, Jeff!

linda

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Re: An alcoholic murderer?
« Reply #3 on: April 26, 2012, 08:17:57 PM »

I agree with Jeff, lifelong alcoholics handle being intoxicated a lot better than those who only drink a bit. 

As an example; while a young rookie I once brought a man into the intoxilyzer because of a mistake he made in driving.  I could smell alcohol on his breath and person, yet he passed all the tests with flying colors.  He walked straight, talked straight and didn't look drunk.  But the driving mistake was a red flag and I brought him into the intoxilyzer operator anyway.  The operator, the Lieutenant and several other officers said the man was not drunk and I was fairly sure I'd be giving him a ride back to his car.   

Within 15 minutes they had an ambulance en-route to the jail.  It turned out that the man had such a high alcohol count that he was in immediate danger and needed to be hospitalized.  (Yes, you can die from drinking too much.) 

It turned out that the man was a lifelong alcoholic and walked and talked better when he was drunk than when he was sober.  The intoxilyzer operator stated that he'd seen a lot of people like that; people who drank so much that they coped well with high levels of alcohol in their system.

Based on what I learned from that incident, I would think that if your man wasn't completely over the edge, he'd be well able to complete a sniper ambush if it was something he originally had the ability to do.

Linda
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Re: An alcoholic murderer?
« Reply #4 on: April 26, 2012, 09:52:10 PM »

Once again Linda provides commentary and expertise that would enhance anyone's story.

Just as an aside, I found out last year that drinking too much of anything, including water can kill you. Not sure of the particulars but should be easy to find.

Good luck with your story.

Jeff
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dhparker

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Re: An alcoholic murderer?
« Reply #5 on: May 01, 2012, 09:32:31 AM »

Thank you, Linda and Jeff.  Your comments have helped a lot!

Lynette

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Re: An alcoholic murderer?
« Reply #6 on: June 23, 2012, 03:10:22 AM »

Sounds interesting and something different for you, but something I'd like to read, Donna. Are you doing it for Wings?
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