Crime

Calif. Man Devastated After Firing Cannon Through Mobile Home and Killing His Girlfriend

SAN DIEGO (AP) — A man arrested after a homemade cannon blasted through his mobile home, killing his girlfriend, “liked to live life on the edge,” his brother told a San Diego newspaper.

Richard Fox, 39, was arrested for investigation of exploding a device resulting in death after the Tuesday blast in a mountain community near San Diego, sheriff’s Sgt. David Martinez said.

Fox’s 38-year-old girlfriend was found dead from shrapnel wounds when authorities arrived at the home.

Homemade Cannon Kills Mans Girlfriend in California

Richard Fox’s brother, Jerry Fox, told U-T San Diego he spoke with his anguished brother by phone moments after the blast.

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry. It should have been me,” Jerry Fox said, recounting his brother’s words.

Richard Fox shot the cannon after loading it with fireworks powder, Martinez said. He was treated at a hospital for shrapnel wounds to his right leg. Three other adults and a 4-year-old girl who were inside the home escaped injury.

Preliminary evidence suggested Richard Fox was under the influence of alcohol, Martinez said. Investigators had not established a motive or determined if the blast was accidental.

“He gave us his version of the story. We want to corroborate that based on the evidence we find at the scene,” Martinez said.

It was unclear if Richard Fox had an attorney.

Richard Fox lived at the home with his girlfriend, whose name was not released, and the 4-year-old girl, who was to be placed with a relative. Martinez declined to identify the three other adults who were inside the home.

The blast occurred in Potrero, a community of about 700 people on the Mexican border, about 40 miles east of San Diego. In 2008, military contractor Blackwater Worldwide pulled plans for training facility there after voters recalled five members of a planning board who supported the project.

John Arnold, a neighbor, told U-T San Diego that Richard Fox worked as a handyman and lived in the home for about six years.

“He liked experimenting with guns, and it looks like this experiment went bad,” he told the newspaper.

Sandra Barranon, who lives at the mobile home park, told U-T San Diego that she knew the couple for about 10 years. They were not married, she said.

The woman who died was unemployed, enjoyed doing The New York Times crossword puzzle, and kept the trailer neat and clean, Barranon said.

Comments (70)

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  • Richard Peck
    Posted on March 7, 2012 at 11:23am

    Define redneck please, oh and then define a lefty.

    Report Post »  
    • kingbee
      Posted on May 2, 2012 at 3:04pm

      The name “Red neck” comes from the coal miners union way back when West Virginia Miners Union men “red necks” named so as they wore red bandannas…..to show solidarity, (nice Marxist description there huh)…The mine owners and a sheriff even Army, had airplanes dropping bombs, machine guns..etc, big battle and rednecks attacked a mountain and were beaten. Hey this was on the history Ch on Appalachia. hosted by Billy Ray Cirus. So Red Necks were miner union men, So I am sure good Democrats. Go ahead and google it, mentioned in Socialist books of the time

      Report Post »  
  • vtxphantom
    Posted on March 7, 2012 at 10:59am

    I’d bet he got the idea from Myth Busters.

    Report Post »  
    • jackbauer2012
      Posted on March 8, 2012 at 11:40pm

      Or he may have gotten the idea from Glenn Becks reality tv show “Independence USA”. They made a cannon as well.

      Report Post »  
  • lukerw
    Posted on March 7, 2012 at 10:59am

    I’m sorry: LOL; ROFL :)

    Report Post » lukerw  
  • Obama>Jesus
    Posted on March 7, 2012 at 10:40am

    Remember kids, guns don’t kill people. Drunk trailer trash with homemade cannons kill people.

    Obama>Jesus  
    • ComonWriter
      Posted on March 7, 2012 at 11:00am

      “The blast occurred in Potrero, a community of about 700 people on the Mexican border, about 40 miles east of San Diego. In 2008, military contractor Blackwater Worldwide pulled plans for training facility there after voters recalled five members of a planning board who supported the project.”

      What does this have to do with a story about a man who killed his girlfriend. “It’s the government that needs to be reprimanded and changed.” It happened over 4 years ago.

      Write another article about the history of Blackwater pulling plans for a training facility. Good grief!

      Report Post »  
    • Walkabout
      Posted on March 7, 2012 at 12:09pm

      Obama > Jesus
      In Britain the have banned guns, swords & knives. A liberal bans one category of objects after another & yet violence persists. The other way is to give a people a moral up bringing.

      Obama > Jesus? Well the donations from overseas are not coming in this year like they did in 2008. I guess the magic is fading. The lies are exposed.

      Libya liberated >>> Soon to be 3 countries
      Syria >>> Population massacred
      Iraq >>> Civil War & massacres.
      Afghanistan >>> A place where you will never be found, because you dare not travel there. It will be Taliban fiefdom. Your Dear & Great Leader has made it known that he will turn tail, tuck his tail between his legs & run.

      Personally, I would like to a tourist in Afghanistan. There are all sorts of archeological ruins, Tochariian, Greek-Bactrian, Sogdaghian, … Then their are the current peoples & cultures. But i can’t. The liberals have left the world a shambles.

      Report Post »  
    • smithclar3nc3
      Posted on March 7, 2012 at 12:20pm

      Yeah they are much more deadly than armed minorities. Dumba55 at least most “trailer trash,rednecks” whatever slur you want to use know how to use weapons safely and if a conflict has to turn physical they use they’re hands unless someone else brings a weapon.

      Report Post »  
    • TOMSERVO
      Posted on March 7, 2012 at 4:48pm

      Let’s all make conjectures about his political beliefs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

      Report Post »  
    • Obama>Jesus
      Posted on March 8, 2012 at 6:02pm

      Y’all will turn anything political. I was making a joke and you jump all over me. Huh, what else was I expecting?

      Report Post » Obama>Jesus  
    • Melvin Spittle
      Posted on March 8, 2012 at 7:43pm

      Who can take one serious that has “Obama>Jesus” as there screen name?

      Report Post » Melvin Spittle  
  • Kelso
    Posted on March 7, 2012 at 10:32am

    Beckfandan,

    Your attempted ties with Blackwater is not your opinion, or even news, just reckless propaganda. Your rant was insincere and transparent. We’re smarter than you think, or wish. Going half-cocked, if you’ll pardon the pun, as you did, reminds me of a story. A story of a guy setting off a cannon, inside a structure with family around. He meant well, but it had poor results.

    Report Post » Kelso  
  • SamIamTwo
    Posted on March 7, 2012 at 10:29am

    “liked to live life on the edge,” his brother told a San Diego newspaper.

    That is not on the edge that is living WAY OUT THERE…mental.

    Report Post » SamIamTwo  
  • thegreatcarnac
    Posted on March 7, 2012 at 10:09am

    Girlfriend’s last words“ ”Put that cannon up…you‘re gonna’ hurt yourself”. Little did she know.

    Report Post »  
    • lukerw
      Posted on March 7, 2012 at 5:08pm

      Or… “you’ll never get that think to work”…

      Report Post » lukerw  
  • BeckFanDan
    Posted on March 7, 2012 at 9:51am

    SOME OF YOU HERE ARE DISGUSTING FOOLS- and you know who you are.

    You that spew geographical slurs, make jokes, and throw stones as if you were sinless

    and perfect sicken me, and your day will come when you or someone you love does

    something idotic.

    I am not defending what happend, but even the title of the article looks suspicious and wrong- read it again.

    By actually listening to the news and their “preliminary” reporting you prove your own

    ignorance. – i.e. “Preliminary evidence suggested Richard Fox was under the influence of

    alcohol,…” – that could be beer cans on a nearby table that they CALL preliminary- or he

    could have been plastered- who knows?
    Any frickin’ fool knows they twist the truth or just plain lie for drama and ratings and the

    truth only comes out later when the story is long dead…

    I have personally seen a reporter grab a handful of “mulch” off the ground and call it the

    “rotting wood” at the base of a wooden playground structure which killed a little girl….
    I was reminded of this when I recently saw the coverage of the tornadoes and the news

    morons showed a closeup of a worm-eaten rotted tree that was snapped in half- I could

    have pushed it over by hand.

    Try some compassion as if it were YOU or someone YOU love- at least you’ll APPEAR

    smarter.

    Rant over

    Report Post »  
    • 13th Imam
      Posted on March 7, 2012 at 10:09am

      Time for compassion is OVER. If a Dope of any stripe is stupid enough to AIM a homemade cannon at or even near an occupied dwelling, wellll,, . Here, let me give you some real target‘s for your Rant’s.
      Nancy Pelosi
      Barry Obama
      Harry Reid

      Report Post » 13th Imam  
    • Adamu
      Posted on March 7, 2012 at 10:21am

      Thank you for the rant. I’m right there with you. The time for compassion never ends…what a jerk.

      Report Post »  
    • Chuck Stein
      Posted on March 7, 2012 at 11:03am

      Sorry to be cold and factual about it, but what he did appears to be second degree murder. I don’t know California law, but that is what the facts present under common law. Just because he did not INTEND to hurt anyone doesn’t clear him: his actions could reasonably be expected to kill — and they did. Depraved indifference to human life. Murder in the second degree.

      Report Post »  
    • Rowgue
      Posted on March 7, 2012 at 1:25pm

      I have compassion for the dead woman. The moron that killed her…no. I will never have any compassion for people that intentionally put themselves into idiotic and dangerous situations and then get themselves or someone else hurt or killed.

      Report Post »  
  • IntheKnowOG
    Posted on March 7, 2012 at 9:42am

    What did Blackwater have to do with that story? Me thinks the reporter was trying to establish a link between Blackwater and this incident. Journalism is dead, By by miss American pie………….

    Report Post » IntheKnowOG  
  • drago
    Posted on March 7, 2012 at 9:31am

    Sorry folks, but stupidity is not limited to rednecks.Being this happened in californication amd assuning he was a redneck is assinine.I know of no rednecks from, or living in cali.,but there are plenty of drug heads,left wing losers, and hippie crack heads, to last a lifetime.Yea, he was a “redneck”, my ass, he was just another brain dead idiot who should have expired a long time ago.Anyone taking the life of another by their own stupidity, deserves not to live……..

    Report Post »  
    • proud2bmom
      Posted on March 7, 2012 at 3:49pm

      Drago, you obviously have never lived in California. There are many parts of the state that have rednecks. I grew up in one of them.

      Report Post »  
  • Trez
    Posted on March 7, 2012 at 9:31am

    Whatever happened to thinking before you act

    Report Post »  
  • RJJinGadsden
    Posted on March 7, 2012 at 9:20am

    I hear that he is up for the Darwin Award.

    Report Post » RJJinGadsden  
    • PPMStudios
      Posted on March 7, 2012 at 9:34am

      I believe that award is reserved for those who do themselves in….

      Report Post » PPMStudios  
    • RJJinGadsden
      Posted on March 7, 2012 at 10:14am

      PPMSTUDIOS, That is the usual outcome, but many of them have lived. Remember the guy floating around in the skies in a lawn chair with helium filled weather balloons, and getting in the way of passenger aircraft? He lived through the ordeal but did jut die a few years ago of natural causes.

      Report Post » RJJinGadsden  
    • destrecht
      Posted on March 7, 2012 at 12:38pm

      Actually that would be honorable mention.

      Report Post »  
  • Zerodawn
    Posted on March 7, 2012 at 8:51am

    I am inclined to feel sorry for them more than anything else.

    Yea wisdom should tell you not to try to build a cannon from scratch.

    That being withheld losing someone you love and have lived with for 10 years has to be tough, knowing your the reason their gone has to be worse. More then laughing at them might want to pray for them.

    Report Post »  
  • jharper
    Posted on March 7, 2012 at 8:24am

    When you consider all the elements involved, there really wasn’t any other possible outcome, was there?

    Report Post »  
  • Coolcat51
    Posted on March 7, 2012 at 8:19am

    So, I guess the low budget knockoff of Independence USA is not doing so good.

    Report Post »  
  • NeoKong
    Posted on March 7, 2012 at 8:19am

    Two words that never end up well together.
    Homemade.
    Cannon.

    Report Post » NeoKong  
  • JesusFreak95
    Posted on March 7, 2012 at 8:18am

    You just can not fix stupid.

    Report Post » JesusFreak95  
  • TomFerrari
    Posted on March 7, 2012 at 8:05am

    California legislature will immediately drop all discussions regarding their debt and spending, and will devote their efforts to tighter cannon control laws, and to building codes that prevent cannons from being able to penetrate mobile homes!

    Report Post » TomFerrari  
  • jharper
    Posted on March 7, 2012 at 8:00am

    A reckneck, a case of beer, and a cannon all in the same trailor, then…. “Hey, ya’ll..Watch this!” You just can’t fix stupid!

    Report Post »  
    • Baddoggy
      Posted on March 7, 2012 at 8:05am

      I bet his words were…“Hold my beer and watch this”.

      Report Post » Baddoggy  
    • Gonzo
      Posted on March 7, 2012 at 8:29am

      My mental picture of him is definately Larry the cable guy.

      Report Post » Gonzo  
  • proliance
    Posted on March 7, 2012 at 7:57am

    I feel confident that California will properly respond and make it illegal to fire cannonballs in trailer parks. More legislation is obviously the answer.

    Report Post » proliance  
  • Baddoggy
    Posted on March 7, 2012 at 7:55am

    The possibility of repairing stupid…zero point zero.

    Report Post » Baddoggy  
  • Ialmostforgot
    Posted on March 7, 2012 at 7:42am

    This is why they say,”Don’t try this at home”.

    Report Post »  
  • SpankDaMonkey
    Posted on March 7, 2012 at 7:40am

    .
    Richard Fox was under the influence of alcohol, I would have never guessed……..

    Report Post » SpankDaMonkey  
  • Joyzee
    Posted on March 7, 2012 at 7:37am

    Too Dumb to exist

    Report Post »  
  • The Jewish Avenger
    Posted on March 7, 2012 at 7:35am

    -ban fireworks
    -ban alcohol
    -ban bad decisions
    -ban mobile homes
    -limit number of people in a certain square foot area

    Ya that should cover the lefts battle cries for the day.

    It was an accident, with alcohol, sheet happens.

    Report Post » The Jewish Avenger  
    • drago
      Posted on March 7, 2012 at 9:36am

      @ The Jewish Avenger.
      So this idiot accidently put power and a projectile into a cannon, and fired it?Oh and i guess he accidently drank a few beers before he did? This was no accident, it was calculated and intentional.What was not intentional, was killing his girlfriend.This idiot needs to be charged with manslaughter, at the very least, and spend a whole lot of time in prison,thinking about what his dumbass has done.Using alcohol as an excuse is down right pathetic….

      Report Post »  
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