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by Soccerdad1995
Thu Oct 04, 2018 3:43 pm
Forum: Off-Topic
Topic: Shooting In Abilene
Replies: 53
Views: 14979

Re: Shooting In Abilene

There are some similarities between this case and the "handicap space monitor" case coming out of Florida. Most importantly, in both cases, the shooters appear to have had an opportunity to deescalate the conflict and/or disengage entirely but chose not to take that opportunity.

In this case, it would be very helpful to see what happened before the camera started recording. It would also be very helpful to see the man who was shot more clearly right before the shooting took place. Like Charles, I also cannot see if that guy was armed. What I do see is a man armed with a handgun that he has drawn, who is speaking in a calm voice throughout and who is not aggressively moving forward, but is also not actively retreating. I also see a much larger man, obviously irate, who is not afraid to repeatedly get right in the much older guys' face, even appearing to touch his chest early on. If the older guy had fired at that point (when the larger, irate, man reached out and touched him), I was thinking he might have had justification based on the disparity of force and the likelihood that the larger man could take his gun. Tactically, I'm not sure I would have let the guy get that close if I was the old man. Then again, I wouldn't be there in the first place.

Then there is the son, who appears to be much more immature than his dad. But the dad is doing most of the talking.

Other than leaving, or at least attempting to leave, the dad is at least telling the other guy to "back off", repeatedly, in that same relaxed voice. I'm not sure how much weight that carries, but I'm guessing it probably won't hurt.

Based solely on what the video shows, it appears to me that the man who was shot is the primary person escalating this confrontation. If the guy who got shot did arm himself with a bat and did attack the older man by throwing the bat or raising it to strike, then I think this becomes a very tough case. Put a police officer in the place of the old man, and the officers' partner in the place of the son. Do we have the same discussion about it being a justified shooting?

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