Dad shoot son over video game!

[Final-Fan]

Gnizmo said:

Final-Fan said:

If he'd had a knife, it sounds like the kid would have just run away.  I doubt the guy is good at knife-throwing ... while drunk. 

The car was not at all viable because the whole situation was explicitly that he was roaming around the house (trailer? apartment? whatever) looking for his game and getting drunk and pissed off.  If the kid takes off there is no way he's going to go out, start up his car, and track him down somehow and then ram the building the kid is no doubt in by now and somehow kill him. 

The kid was probably not aware that the guy was getting and loading his gun or he would have been long gone instead of having to try to knock the gun out of his hands, giving no time advantage over the guy showing up with a knife vs. a gun.

“The son then proceeds to try and knock the gun away and then he runs away,“ Silva said.

Sounds to me like the kid was aware there was a gun involved. Also sounds like he was close enough to make arm contact with the father. Close enough for a knife wound. No need to throw it.

Yeah, he was aware once the dad shows up with the gun.  Unless he was keeping it in the same room the kid was in at the time, I doubt he was aware of what the dad was doing until he showed up with it.  If he was in the same room and watched his dad rummage around and get out his gun and load it, why wait before trying to run? 

Now the next part is pure speculation, but think about the scenario:  drunk angry father enters room with gun.  Running may provoke him to shoot, so the kid waits until he has an opportunity to knock the gun out of his hands and then runs.  He fails. 

Versus:  drunk angry father enters room with knife.  Kid runs.  Maybe dad throws knife, if he does it probably misses, even if it hits it may not be with the blade and even if the blade hits the wound is probably superficial and almost guaranteed not immediately life-threatening.  (I don't know much about throwing knives but this sounds the most likely to me.)

I doubt the father was able to get close enough to invade the kid's personal space before the kid was aware he had a gun.  So a knife would be the same (doesn't sound like the guy was making any attempt to conceal the weapon, if anything the opposite is likely) and the kid could run away with minimal risk.  No way the guy has such awareness and reaction time while drunk to see the kid about to bolt and lunge for him.