Interception.(EXERCISING THE RIGHT)

One wonders if three Oakland, California, men--18-year-old Adrian Dantoc and 19-year-olds John Catalos and Julian Logan--literally said to themselves on August 3, "Let's go ambush some people, beat the tar out of 'em, and if they fight back, shoot them." If they didn't plan their actions of that night, their propensity for violence and sheer lack of self-restraint is astounding. Theirs is the type of amoral behavior that has some commentators lamenting the decline of morals in our country owing to the diminishing role of religion, and has other commentators pondering what environmental or chemical imbalance, or parental dysfunction, made the boys act the way they did.

At about 1:29 a.m. on the day in question, they intercepted three other men who were riding bicycles through a parking lot of a restaurant. They then assaulted one of the bicycle riders, instigating a brawl. Dantoc retrieved a gun from a nearby car and began shooting the bicyclists. According to the San Francisco Chronicle, Dantoc shot a 41-year-old man in the body, a 23-year-old in the arm, and a ...