Life is full of experiences, some we'll all have, like paying taxes or discovering one last fry hidden at the bottom of the bag, while others will always be beyond us. Life events that hide in a dark spot of our lives.
Killing someone is definitely in that dark spot. Fortunately, we have the internet to let us in on what it's like.
Reddit user, u/steamie_putato, wanted to hear the dark tales when they asked:
[Serious] Redditors who killed someone, what happened?
Street Fighter
Knife fight as a teenager, self defence. Didn't want it to get that bad, but I've left the country since to start a new life (I'm originally from Scotland)
This is an actual thing kids do there? Instead of drinking in a field or play video games, teenagers knife fight?
It's not as big of a problem as it used to be, it's not normal teens either - just scummy ones especially in Glasgow
Provided The Death Switch
There was a new girl who moved into my town a few years back, she was great and fit really [well] in our friendgroup.
Our group has always been experimental with party drugs and during summer break she wanted to try [ecstacy] with us.
So i got us some pills and we had a blast. Thing is.. she had severe epilepsy and she never told us. (Epilepsy and pills don't go together very well)
On her way home she got an attack and no one was there to help in time...
I still feel really sh-tty to this day...
Serving Overseas
I was a soldier in Afghanistan during the surge about a decade ago. I was manning a .50 caliber machinegun on our truck at the time. We had been ambushed in the particular place we were traveling to numerous times before, however I was never in the turrent in those fights.
Upon getting into a narrow gap in the valley I noticed a head bobbing up and down on a hilltop roughly 600 meters away to my front. These are big hills as well, just lookup northeast Afghanistan. I aimed my sights on where I saw the head go down. Couple seconds later, he popped back up with a RPG shouldered. I shot probably 2 or 3 bursts. He didn't get his shot off. UAV shortly later confirmed that I had actually killed 2 individuals on the hilltop. I didn't know at the time, but another insurgent was kneeling just off to the side of the guy I popped about to fire off some mortar rounds.
We eventually secured the bodies and weapons hours later. Both guys were pretty tore up.
On The Job Dangers
Loading some beams on a trailer at work, the truck driver walked between the live load and the trailer, one of the beams slid off, crushing and killing him. I wasn't new to the job, neither was he. I couldn't stop the equipment in the split second before he walked between them. He knew better but chose not to wait the few more seconds for it to come down to the ground. I tried to get it off of him but it was more harm than hood from that angle.
The hardest part of the situation is that it was determined an industrial accident so no charges or anything got filed but the family sued for the insurance payout. It was really hard to watch the video several times of the incident, even though I would never forget what happened anyways. I never felt like I did anything wrong, the video shows that as well. I dont blame them for sueing for the insurance, I wish they would have actually shown up to the hearings instead of just their attorney. I would like to offer my condolences, if they would accept.
In the industry, we have looked at many different ways of doing this same job to avoid situations like this. We have come to the conclusion that given all of the circumstances, this is the safest way to do the job. There are other ways to load and unload the beams but they have a higher risk of injury or death.
Coming At You In The Night
Guy tried to carjack me when I was a young 21yo Marine out in North Carolina. As soon as I saw the knife come in the window I pulled my pistol out of my holster and shot him in the face. He fell out of the window he tried to crawl into. Lucky for me police were behind my truck like 3 cars back and saw the dude try to get in my window.
Holy sh-t, what kind of genius tries to carjack someone in sight of a police vehicle?
To be fair it was at night and I didnt even know the cops were behind me until they come flying up lights and all. They said the dude was on meth or something strong.
Death Through Inaction
Indirectly.
One evening my roommate invites me for a smoke up session with her friends. It was first semester of my college and I had no friends till then, hence I agreed to go with her thinking of making new friends.
When I reached there I realised it wasn't a smoke up session but 5 people who where using Cocaine. They tried to make me take it but I was too scared as a 17 yr old to take it and sat in a corner quietly. After about 2 hours one of the guys started reacting crazy and kept on saying he is feeling hot. This was an cold winter in northern hemisphere. Others tried to calm him down after which he relaxed. He came to me and started talking normally. I vividly remember his eyes were blood red and I was scared to look into them. He kept on asking me if I was feeling hot too.
In sometime the situation for him got even worse and he took all his cloths off and kept on yelling about feeling hot. The situation got out of hand very quickly before anyone could realise anything (only I was the one who wasn't intoxicated of the 7 people present in the room). I had no idea on how to react or to calm him down. I have never had any kind of drug before in my life to understand what was going on with him.
Suddenly, he starts to bang his head in the wall and this scared the sh-t out of me. He ran out of the house and kept on banging his head on brick wall. Blood was oozing out from his head. I froze at the spot. Others were trying to help him but nothing stopped him. They yelled to call ambulance but I was frozen so bad to even pick up the phone and call. My roommate yelled at one point, which shook me out of the coma that I was in and I dialed for an ambulance.
He died due to broken head and heavy blood loss. I could never recover from that image and it still haunts me till date that if I could have dialled for an ambulance few minutes early he could have been saved.
A Night To Remember
Friend of mine was outside of a bar waiting for a ride home. It wasn't that late at night and he texted me. I drove about 10 minutes to go get him. When I arrived, there were 3 other guys surrounding him, obviously wanting trouble. I ran and tackeled one of the guys to the floor. I was completely focused on this guy because he was literally face to face with my friend.
We start hitting eachother and a bystander helped with the other 2 men. I managed to stumble back on my feet and kicked the guy in the face, he hit his head against the wall of the building and I knew it wasn't a good sound. With my adrenaline rushing, I looked over and the other 2 men were running away. I was the one to call the cops and report everything
Defending Your Workspace
I've had to twice.
I worked at a gas station convenience store that my family owned in a state with extremely relaxed gun laws, so I always carry a gun. Two separate times a man has tried to rob the store, once at knife point (dumb as hell) and once with a gun, and two times a man has entered the store alive and left dead. I think they assumed I'd just hand the money over since most convenience store employees don't get paid enough to care, but like I said it was the family business so I cared a lot.
I knew we had cameras in the store, so it was an extremely easy decision, as the police had concrete evidence I was defending myself and the store so there was no risk of prison, which is the scariest part of self defense IMO. Haven't lost a second of sleep over the bastards, and would do it again in a heart beat.
Serving Your Time
I was a soldier in Afghanistan during the surge about a decade ago. I was manning a .50 caliber machinegun on our truck at the time. We had been ambushed in the particular place we were traveling to numerous times before, however I was never in the turrent in those fights.
Upon getting into a narrow gap in the valley I noticed a head bobbing up and down on a hilltop roughly 600 meters away to my front. These are big hills as well, just lookup northeast Afghanistan. I aimed my sights on where I saw the head go down. Couple seconds later, he popped back up with a RPG shouldered. I shot probably 2 or 3 bursts. He didn't get his shot off. UAV shortly later confirmed that I had actually killed 2 individuals on the hilltop. I didn't know at the time, but another insurgent was kneeling just off to the side of the guy I popped about to fire off some mortar rounds.
We eventually secured the bodies and weapons hours later. Both guys were pretty tore up.
Accidental Slip
I was working as a cleaner at an aged care, resident(with severe dementia) was sleeping. I decided to mop the floor in her room while she was asleep. Resident woke up and decided to get out of bed without assistance, resident slipped on wet floor. Carers found her unconscious and called ambulance, resident died at the scene. Nothing came of it as resident had no living relatives. I got told it was the carers fault for not keeping a close eye on resident, but i blame myself, i still think about this late at night
Self-Defense
A guy attacked me at 3 a.m. while I was walking to work. Literally barreled out of the woods and tackled me onto concrete with his belt undone. He broke three of my ribs. I tried to choke him long enough to render him unconscious. And I did. He never woke up. It still bothers me.
I was arrested and questioned in the hospital. Un-cuffed the following morning after the police obtained security camera footage.
I've been asked before how I managed to hold the choke long enough to kill him. I don't know. I may have crushed his windpipe. I have no concept of how long the choke, or even the whole situation, lasted.
A Lost Farewell
My 82 year old grandma asked to stay in our home when her health started failing her. We were more than happy to oblige.
Being 16 and with night classes, I was usually up all night until morning playing video games. Since she wasn't comfortable having a private nurse, we were pretty much her caretakers. I also volunteered to keep an eye on her in case she needed some help or something while everyone else was asleep.
We were extremely close growing up, so I obviously had a great time. I put a buzzer beside her bed so she didn't have to strain herself calling out to me in case I wasn't by her bedside playing Pokemon Emerald.
We'd talk until she fell asleep. I learned a lot about her, my aunts, my uncles, my mom, and my grandpa during those few short weeks. However, one night, I was feeling very tired, so I decided to go to sleep on the chair and jokingly told her to hit me with her cane in case I didn't wake up from the buzzer.
I can still remember how she got up on her own that night and covered me with her extra blanket. I told her I loved her and she gave me a kiss in the forehead. I got cozy and dozed off. Little did I know that before she could get back on her bed, she'd lose her balance, fall, and lose consciousness.
I can still remember my mother screaming and crying her heart out that night.
My grandma died couple of days later.
Everyone tried to comfort me the best that they could. They said that she could've died anytime. My mom, in particular, said I was blessed to have such a good last memory of her.
Still, I can't help but blame myself knowing that she could've still lived a couple of months if not a few years more had I not decided to go to sleep.
A Childhood Accident
I killed my sisters unborn baby. We were teenagers and playing softball (I didn't know she was pregnant) and I hit a line drive she pitched to me. It hit her right in the abdomen.
That is awful. I can't imagine how you must have felt. I hope you don't blame yourself.
It's pretty f-cked up. One friend was there when it happened and knew about it, and I recently told my boyfriend about it. Other than that I don't talk about it. I'm in a bad place today and just started answering sh-t on Reddit
A Parting Friend
A childhood friend suffered liver failure, and was on a breathing machine. When she breathed her last, her father could not bring himself to turn of the breathing apparatus. So, I did. And then the men from the funeral home came; they were very polite, and we gave them all the info they needed for them to do their job. Her stepmother stayed at the house, while I took her dad out for ice cream, just to be away from the scene.
It was a warm summer night, and we walked and talked and had ice cream at the local Sweet Frog.
You may think that might not qualify, but the is a moment of finality when you switch off a friend's oxygen machine.
About six months after, I was visiting a friend, recounting the story, and suddenly the dam burst and I cried for hours.
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