A Shakespearean Family Feud ... With Guns

"Romeo and Juliet" is a tragedy wrapped in a cautionary tale: namely, don't date your enemies. Alas, this subtle warning was missed last weekend in Crescent City, Fla. The Associated Press says two feuding families engaged in a gunfight Sunday when a relationship between a teenage girl from one clan and a teenage boy from the other was uncovered. The result: six people between the ages of 14 and 22 were hospitalized for gun wounds; one is in serious condition.

According to the AP, discontent between the Soliz/Ortiz family and the Riojas family has been brewing for a year, but full-on angst boiled over on Saturday when a fight between "dozens" of family members broke out. On Sunday, the families upped the ante by shooting across the street at their neighborhood adversaries.

Charges have been filed and the battleground is now quiet, but everyone knows it's impossible to achieve a lasting peace when you're mixing families, guns and teenagers. -- Mac

Posted by Mac at April 12, 2005 10:41 AM | TrackBack