It could be the Hatfields and McCoys

A 24-year-old man was shot AND stabbed in a pub in Edinburgh. How's that for overkill?

The man was reportedly shot several times in the face with an airgun but police could not confirm the type of weapon used.

He was also stabbed in the upper thigh, although these wounds were said to be less serious.

(All quotes from 'Man shot in face and stabbed in pub attack'; Scotsman 08/03/10)
First of all, he was both shot and stabbed? Who leaves the house with both a gun and a knife? "Gee, I don't really know what level of violence I'll be committing tonight -- better take both." Excessive? Yeah, I think so. But, fortunately,

No-one else was injured in the incident.

And the cause for this seemingly random act of excessive violence?

It is believed only one attacker was involved. There were reports the incident could be connected to a long-running feud between two families.

Yes, that's right, a family feud. Somewhere in the supposedly civilised capital of Edinburgh are two families at war with eachother.

How long does it take to establish a family feud? More than one generation, I'm sure. At least 3 to get it firm. That means that these two families have been living in close enough proximity to reinforce the feud for at least three generations. Recall what I said about people living their whole lives on one street. Bizarre.

Oddly, McCoy isn't a Scottish name. The National Trust of Names makes it Celtic/Irish, with distributions heavily wieghted in the port towns of Liverpool and Newcastle. Hatfield is an English name, centered in Yorkshire and North Wales. Maybe the roots of the age-old American cliche are British -- we all know how the Irish hate the English.

In other news, Virgin Media's cheapest broadband is really really really slow.