"Baby shower gone bad"

How bad? It ended up with a shootout, brawl, and the guest of honor being beaten up. It only helps that it happened in a place called Springfield, MA.

Boston Globe

April 5, 2006

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. --A dispute among guests at a baby shower erupted into a fight during which one man was shot and several other people, including the guest of honor who was seven months pregnant, were struck with a large stick, police say.

Three people were arrested on charges related to the Saturday brawl at a home in Springfield that police have called a "baby shower gone bad."

Police say the shooting victim, Aristotle Garcia, 26, got into a fight with a man who is dating his ex-girlfriend over whether the woman let their 5-year-old daughter drink beer.

The argument between Garcia and Antonio Santiago escalated and drew in Jazz Rivas and Juan Velazquez, police say.

When the shower's hostess tried to intervene, Rivas began hitting some of the guests, including the 22-year-old mother-to-be, with a large stick, police said.

Velazquez fired a gun in the air, then fired it into the crowd, hitting Garcia in the stomach, police said. Garcia is in stable condition at Baystate Medical Center. The mother-to-be was treated and released.

Velazquez, 19, was arrested Tuesday and charged with assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, armed assault with intent to murder. He pleaded innocent to the charges Wednesday and was ordered held on $100,000 bail.

Santiago, 25, was ordered held Tuesday on $50,000 bail. While he didn't fire a gun, he is facing the same charges as Velazquez under a so-called joint venture theory that he played a significant role in the brawl. He has pleaded innocent.

Rivas, 22, pleaded innocent to three counts of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon and one count of assault and battery on a pregnant female and ordered held on $10,000 bail.

Darned Italian hot-heads.

A dispute among guests at a baby shower erupted into a fight during which one man was shot ...
Police say the shooting victim, Aristotle Garcia, 26, got into a fight with a man who is dating his ex-girlfriend ...

This is just more evidence that men should not have to attend baby showers.

I'd hate to see what Thanksgiving's like...

oldmanscene24 wrote:

This is just more evidence that men should not have to attend baby showers.

Ramen!

ColdForged wrote:

Darned Italian hot-heads.

Italian?

1Dgaf wrote:
ColdForged wrote:

Darned Italian hot-heads.

Italian?

Unknown. Aristotle, Greek?
Don Vito Garcia? Ponderous, ephing ponderous.

Maybe this makes me a jerk (or maybe it's something else altogether) but as I was reading the account of the brawl, the Mexican Hat Dance song began playing somewhere in the back of my head.

Wow, my family is pretty boring compared to this...

Podunk wrote:

Maybe this makes me a jerk (or maybe it's something else altogether) but as I was reading the account of the brawl, the Mexican Hat Dance song began playing somewhere in the back of my head.

Mexican? Why Mexican? They're clearly Italian. Or Hindu, I guess.

ColdForged wrote:

Mexican? Why Mexican? They're clearly Italian. Or Hindu, I guess.

Dude...you're...just funnin' me, here, right?

ColdForged wrote:
Podunk wrote:

Maybe this makes me a jerk (or maybe it's something else altogether) but as I was reading the account of the brawl, the Mexican Hat Dance song began playing somewhere in the back of my head.

Mexican? Why Mexican? They're clearly Italian. Or Hindu, I guess.

OK, this is getting stupid. Those people have Hispanic names. Also, it doesn't make any sense to jump from Italian (nationality) to Hindu (religion). That's like... f*ck, I don't know. Going into a shoe shop and saying "I'd like SOME STILTON in SIZE AEORPLANE please".

Dear Assassins of Fun,

sh*t in a hat.

Hugs & Kisses,
CF

ColdForged wrote:

sh*t in a hat.

Can we make it a sombrero?

1Dgaf wrote:

OK, this is getting stupid.

Were you there? Can you say definitively? One thing I will say is that it's always a scary time at baby showers where optometrists are involved. RowDY. Regardless of whether they're Italian or -- as I'm beginning to suspect more and more in this case -- Hindu. Possibly Dutch.

I'm Garcia so it's definetly latin. The name has roots back to Spain, Portugal, and Corsica which used to be Italian and is now French owned if I am not mistaken.

Does it really matter?

ColdForged wrote:

Dear Assassins of Fun,

sh*t in a hat.

Hugs & Kisses,
CF

Bwahahaha, this had me laughing out loud. Good thing my co-workers know not to ask questions.

I bet they're from Botswana.

oldmanscene24 wrote:

I bet they're from Botswana.

Jeez, what did the guy eat?

Oy god.

Fine, I give up. Yes, they all appear to have Latin names and, were I to hazard a guess, I would have to go with ancestries in South America or the Iberan Peninsula. Sorry for the whole "hey, they all have Latin-sounding names... wouldn't it be a hoot to pretend I thought they were Italian?" thing. I figured it would become obvious, if it wasn't already, at around the Hindu line as, so accurately pointed out by stalwart demographic corrector 1D, it's a religion and has nothing really to do with ancestry. Or, perhaps at the longest, by the Dutch guess.

Oofah.

I give it a little bit more until Certis or somebody locks it up.

Mills of the Serengeti wrote:

I give it a little bit more until Certis or somebody locks it up.

There's a typical Greenlander for you.

I bet they were American.

ColdForged wrote:
Mills of the Serengeti wrote:

I give it a little bit more until Certis or somebody locks it up.

There's a typical Greenlander for you.

Ok.

I bet they were American.

That would explain the shooting, but not the beer.

I blame the nipples. Pregnant women supposedly have bigger than normal nipples.

Woot! My hometown represents!

Hizzie?

(or some such... never trained in shout outs)

=)

Springfield's pretty f*cked up.