Relatives sue over shotgun slayings in Aliso Viejo:
Relatives of the victims of gunman William Freund are filing lawsuits against several different parties…
Relatives of a father and daughter who were killed when a neighbor burst into their Aliso Viejo home and opened fire have filed a lawsuit against the killer’s family, the gun dealer who sold the weapon and a support-group website where the gunman had vowed to wage a “terror campaign.”
Denise Smith and her son, Brandon Smith, filed the lawsuit in Orange County Superior Court this week, seeking damages for wrongful death and emotional distress.
The Smiths allege that the gunman’s parents, Karen and Dennis Freund, “permitted” their son to keep a weapon in their home, failed to supervise him, and failed to warn and protect them from their son’s violent nature, according to the lawsuit.
Before the murders, Freund e-mailed and posted comments on the WrongPlanet.net website saying he needed a “real life” friend and said he was contemplating suicide.
He also threatened to start “a terror campaign to hurt those that have hurt me.”
The website serves as a support group for people with Asperger’s syndrome, a neurological disorder, described as a variant of autism, which hampers people’s ability to interact socially. Freund suffered from the disorder.
The suit accused the website of failing to alert police, the victims, Freund’s family or any authorities to prevent harm.
WrongPlanet founder Alexander Plank declined to comment Friday, but during an interview last year, he said volunteer moderators in Virginia tried to call Freund’s parents but were unsuccessful.
The Smiths also accused the Saddleback Valley Gun Center and its owner, George Hueneman, of negligently selling the shotgun to a teenager suffering from a disorder.
Hueneman said he ran a state background check on Freund — which came up clean. He said the state did not log a person’s medical history. He said he was not aware of Freund’s condition and that the law did not require him to determine it before selling a him gun.
I can see the merit in a suit against Freund’s parents, but as far as the gun dealer and WrongPlanet.net are concerned, that part of the lawsuit should be thrown out.
As the article states, the gun dealer followed the law and WrongPlanet tried contacting Freund’s parents. Granted, they should have contacted law enforcement, but it’s not like they sat back and did nothing.