I don’t know why Seth Beavers (photo, left), 33, of Sterling, Illinois, was at the Florida condominium. Maybe he was renting an AirBnB or visiting someone. Anyway, he decided to swim in the pool after hours, but a security guard told him the pool was closed.
For that, Beavers allegedly tried to kill the security guard. His intentions seem clear; he said, “I’m going to kill you.” Then he punched the guard several times, wrapped an arm around his neck, and held his head under water. The guard wriggled free, but Beavers allegedly dragged him under water again.
The security guard, who survived, told police he can’t swim and thought he was “going to die.”
Beavers is an ex-Navy rescue swimmer. He won’t be returning home to Illinois. He’s in a Florida jail on a no-bail attempted murder warrant. If convicted, he could be looking at 25 years to life in a Florida prison. There’s a high probability he just ruined his own life.
The news stories (here and here) are sketchy, so I don’t know if he’d been drinking, or why he went ballistic. Being from out of state, I gather he’s not a condo property owner; and as a guest, if a security guard tells him the pool is closed, he should’ve complied. I won’t even attempt to explain this. In due time, he’ll get to do that in front of a judge.
I could be wrong, but it just seem to me more people have short fuses these days. It feels like the whole country is on edge, and people are less friendly and more curt with each other. Is it cabin fever? Has the stress in our society built up to a breaking point? Is his generation just nastier? But none of this should matter. People are responsible for their behavior. And when behavior crosses a line, there are consequences.