UPDATED/Oklahoma City pharmacist / first degree murder / VID

[TexasComputerDude]

http://newsok.com/oklahoma-city-pharmac ... tory_title

An Oklahoma City pharmacist was charged today with first-degree murder in the May 19 shooting death of a would-be robber.

Jerome Ersland: Faces a first-degree murder charge in the shooting of a would-be robber at an Oklahoma City pharmacy.

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Pharmacist faces murder charge

May 27 An Oklahoma City pharmacist was charged today with first-degree murder in the May 19 shooting death of a would-be robber.
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Chickasha resident Jerome Ersland, 57, surrendered about noon, his attorney, Irven Box, said. He is being held without bail in the Oklahoma County Jail.

Box thinks a jury will exonerate Ersland.

The charge alleges Ersland shot Antwun Parker, 16, while he was incapacitated and lying on his back. Ersland’s account of the incident doesn’t match the video or the evidence collected at the scene, according to the affidavit written by Oklahoma City Police Detective David Jacobson.

Parker was shot once in the head and five times in the stomach area. The autopsy found Parker was still alive after the head shot and died from the stomach wounds.

Oklahoma County District Attorney David Prater discussed the case at an afternoon press conference.

Ersland has maintained he acted in self defense when he shot Parker to foil the robbery attempt.

He said two men in ski masks threatened him and two other employees when they burst into Reliable Discount Pharmacy, near SW 59 and Pennsylvania, demanding cash and drugs.

Ersland, a disabled Army veteran, could not flee like the two women working with him, so he reached for the semiautomatic pistol in his pocket, he said when he recounted the incident for The Oklahoman last week.

Ersland said he shot one of the robbers in the head then grabbed a second gun to pursue the other robber.

The injured teen was trying to get up, Ersland said, so he emptied his gun into the would-be robber’s chest.

The other robber and getaway driver drove away before Ersland could reach them, he said.

Police have not identified anyone else involved in the robbery attempt, but the investigation is ongoing.

[TexasComputerDude]

http://newsok.com/multimedia/video/24432753001

video of the incident..

[pdubyoo]

http://newsok.com/oklahoma-city-pharmac ... tory_title

An Oklahoma City pharmacist was charged today with first-degree murder in the May 19 shooting death of a would-be robber.

Jerome Ersland: Faces a first-degree murder charge in the shooting of a would-be robber at an Oklahoma City pharmacy.

Featured Video
Pharmacist faces murder charge

May 27 An Oklahoma City pharmacist was charged today with first-degree murder in the May 19 shooting death of a would-be robber.
Advertisement

Chickasha resident Jerome Ersland, 57, surrendered about noon, his attorney, Irven Box, said. He is being held without bail in the Oklahoma County Jail.

Box thinks a jury will exonerate Ersland.

The charge alleges Ersland shot Antwun Parker, 16, while he was incapacitated and lying on his back. Ersland’s account of the incident doesn’t match the video or the evidence collected at the scene, according to the affidavit written by Oklahoma City Police Detective David Jacobson.

Parker was shot once in the head and five times in the stomach area. The autopsy found Parker was still alive after the head shot and died from the stomach wounds.

Oklahoma County District Attorney David Prater discussed the case at an afternoon press conference.

Ersland has maintained he acted in self defense when he shot Parker to foil the robbery attempt.

He said two men in ski masks threatened him and two other employees when they burst into Reliable Discount Pharmacy, near SW 59 and Pennsylvania, demanding cash and drugs.

Ersland, a disabled Army veteran, could not flee like the two women working with him, so he reached for the semiautomatic pistol in his pocket, he said when he recounted the incident for The Oklahoman last week.

Ersland said he shot one of the robbers in the head then grabbed a second gun to pursue the other robber.

The injured teen was trying to get up, Ersland said, so he emptied his gun into the would-be robber’s chest.

The other robber and getaway driver drove away before Ersland could reach them, he said.

Police have not identified anyone else involved in the robbery attempt, but the investigation is ongoing.

Having lived in the OKC area for 7 years, I can tell you that the area of SW 59th and Penn is not a good area to be in...daylight or dark. It's very rough; lots of "real" gang activity. The cops don't even like to hang out around that area. I can't blame the pharmacist for reacting the way he did...especially if he wasn't able to flee. Irven Box is a very good attorney as well. This will be interesting to watch.

[LaserTex]

In the video, he was not afraid of the robber when he walked back in, turned his BACK to him, walked to get another gun, came back and shot him. The ORIGINAL shot was justified; then it got personal.

Doug

[Stupid]

why did he keep the video?

[KD5NRH]

In the video, he was not afraid of the robber when he walked back in, turned his BACK to him, walked to get another gun, came back and shot him.

The robber was down when he walked away, so the owner was dealing with the rest of the situation. When the robber tried to get back up, presumably still armed, he became a priority again.

IMO, it's another case of needing to have enough gun that you don't have to explain a half-dozen or more bullet holes in the attacker. If you must use a mousegun, double-tap every target before moving on to the next one.

[74novaman]

Wish the video showed the guy on the floor. Maybe he was reaching for his gun again as he was trying to get back up?

Either way, going to be an interesting case.

[ELB]

In the video, he was not afraid of the robber when he walked back in, turned his BACK to him, walked to get another gun, came back and shot him. The ORIGINAL shot was justified; then it got personal.

Doug

I think there is certainly room to argue that the fact he walked away from the robber on the floor does not necessarily mean he was not afraid of the robber, nor that it was "personal" -- and if he wasn't afraid, so what? He also may have just screwed up tactically.

The key question is not whether he was afraid, it is did he have reasonable belief that the robber on the floor still presented an immediate threat of death or injury? --- and the robber is off camera. If he walked past the robber twice and the robber was still, he could very well have thought the robber was down for the count. If he then observed the robber moving -- e.g. trying to get up -- then he has to evaluate what is the robber going to do next? This was not a case of some kid trying to shoplift some cookies -- the pharmacist was threatened with deadly force -- was it reasonble to conclude that the robber on the floor had really given up the fight? The video and the details in the article above do not show that the downed robber had threatened the pharmacist again -- but neither do they show he did not.

Will provide for an interesting case to follow.

[dicion]

In the video, he was not afraid of the robber when he walked back in, turned his BACK to him, walked to get another gun, came back and shot him.

The robber was down when he walked away, so the owner was dealing with the rest of the situation. When the robber tried to get back up, presumably still armed, he became a priority again.

Typically, if you put someone down with a shot to the head, they stay down, and the pharmacist may have assumed this.
(I know I probably would have if I shot someone in the head and they dropped like a rock, as that kid did in the video)

Coming back around, if he started to get up, or reach for anything that could have been a possible weapon...

It's not on the video, so we don't know what the kid was doing at the time. I guess it's the pharmacist's word against the evidence collected at the scene.

Also, you may have to put PTSS into this... the article said he was a Disabled Veteran... Being shot at could have triggered something, made him go back to what he was trained to do... even if it meant finishing off any 'enemy combatants' on the ground.

End result is, you just don't know.

[A-R]

Something has been bothering me about this incident since the first news report I read here a day or two ago. The pharmacist claims he could not "retreat" like the ladies did because of his back condition. But he "pursued" the second attacker out of the store. And the video shows him doing this and he seems plenty ambulatory to me in the video. If he could go after the attacker who fled, why could he not retreat to the back room like his co-workers, especially AFTER he shoots the first attacker and the second attacker flees. That's the time to go back to the store room, call 911, and wait patiently with your gun aimed at the door.

I greatly appreciate the alternative theories expressed here about why he shot the first attacker the second time. I hope each of you are on the jury if I'm ever charged in a gun incident. And I do sincerely believe any of these alternate theories is possible.

But the lack of retreat, when he clearly was ambulatory enough to do so AFTER firing the first shots, could well hang this guy.

[bryang]

There is not much I can add to the theories already expressed here, but I am very interested in how this turns out.

Please keep us up to date on this case, thanks.

-geo

[TexasComputerDude]

Something has been bothering me about this incident since the first news report I read here a day or two ago. The pharmacist claims he could not "retreat" like the ladies did because of his back condition. But he "pursued" the second attacker out of the store. And the video shows him doing this and he seems plenty ambulatory to me in the video. If he could go after the attacker who fled, why could he not retreat to the back room like his co-workers, especially AFTER he shoots the first attacker and the second attacker flees. That's the time to go back to the store room, call 911, and wait patiently with your gun aimed at the door.

I greatly appreciate the alternative theories expressed here about why he shot the first attacker the second time. I hope each of you are on the jury if I'm ever charged in a gun incident. And I do sincerely believe any of these alternate theories is possible.

But the lack of retreat, when he clearly was ambulatory enough to do so AFTER firing the first shots, could well hang this guy.

\\Rick James\\ "adrenaline", its a powerful* drug...

[ClarkLZeuss]

Sorry guys, but I'm gonna have to cast my vote against the guy, at least from what I see so far. The first shot doesn't bother me, in fact it is quite impressive (tactically) given that he is already drawn upon by the other bad guy. But what bothers me is the way in which he delivers the second round of shots -- from a kneeling position, right next to the guy. To me, that removes the defense that those shots were fired due to an "imminent" threat. If he was being imminently threatened by the guy at that moment in time, it wouldn't make sense to get that close to him. Plus, the other bad guy (who was the one with the drawn gun) was long gone.

But I don't know whether or not that constitutes murder, because I know that legally there are many layers between self-defense and 1st degree murder, like manslaughter and what not.

Again, I hate to say anything bad against this guy, because clearly he's the main victim that was put in a bad situation by some real thugs. But I just can't support all his actions.

[Kythas]

From what I saw in the video, the second round of shots on the robber don't appear justified. However, I know that video doesn't tell the entire story - especially since we can't see the robber at the time of the last shots.

This will be an interesting case and I'm interested in seeing how it turns out.

[Locksmith]

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