A legal anomaly?

[chickenfeet]

On Boxing Day, a fifteen year old girl was killed while shopping. She was hit by a single stray bullet after a gun fight broke out between two youths in a busy part of downtown. Police have arrested the two alleged gunmen and charged them with fire arms related offences. No-one has been charged with murder because they haven't identified who fired the fatal shot. Surely there is something wrong with the law here? Both gunmen are equally culpable and should face murder charges. If a person or persons open(s) up unlawfully with a fire arm in a crowded place, purposing the death of Person A or B, they are surely equally culpable if person X, Y or Z is killed, regardless of which gunman fired the fatal shot.

Comments

[lnr]

Regardless of if they were shooting at each other they were both shooting in a crowded place and someone got killed. Unless there was a *very* good reason they ought to be able to be charged with something with a similar penalty to murder.

[gregclow.livejournal.com]

Ought to be - yes, perhaps. But our current legal system doesn't define "murder" that way. That's all I'm saying.