Meanwhile, in Houston...

[Jolly]

https://nypost.com/2023/01/07/customer-shoots-kills-armed-robber-at-houston-restaurant/

[Mik]

Saw that on the news. Give him a medal.

[jon-nyc]

He’s at serious risk of being given a medal cage.

[George K]

@jon-nyc said in Meanwhile, in Houston...:

He’s at serious risk of being given a medal cage.

"The customer can then be seen shooting him in the back four times"

In the back.

He's in trouble, if when they find him.

[Horace]

I wouldn't vote guilty if a person being mugged at gunpoint, kills the mugger. So it was an en masse mugging where the mugger's back was turned for an instant, no difference. Those things have turned into mass exterminations of the witnesses before.

The last shots when they guy is on the ground may be a difference maker in court, admittedly.

[Copper]

Yes, the customer seems to have overdone it.

But if he doesn't regularly kill robbers and hasn't been instructed how to kill a robber efficiently I would cut him some slack.

I would advise him to stop shooting sooner, in the future.

[jon-nyc]

Honestly I think one risk of carrying is it makes some people think they get to be judge, jury, and executioner.

[George K]

The only possible thing I can see that he could claim in defense is that he might have thought that the customer in the upper right corner was endangered.

[jon-nyc]

The bar isn’t “can you utter the words ‘I was scared’”. It’s a reasonable man standard.

And guess what? Reasonable men that fire in self defense wait for the cops to show up.

[George K]

Andrew Branca is an attorney whose specialty is self-defense, particularly with respect to firearms.

He comments:

[Mik]

FFS, you expect him to wait until the robber aims at him?

[Horace]

If you start shooting at an armed mugger, and they remain alive, you are at obvious existential threat of being retaliated against. You can't even trust they aren't playing dead.

If I were on a jury, I would interpret the law as clearly and honestly as possible, and may vote to convict on some charge or other, but I would not consider the act unjust.

[George K]

Before firing the last shot, the head shot, he picked up the robber's gun.

[Horace]

@George-K said in Meanwhile, in Houston...:

Before firing the last shot, the head shot, he picked up the robber's gun.

Yeah that's illegal.

[jon-nyc]

The shooter ran and is a fugitive. Whatever theories people come up with need to take that into account.

[Horace]

@jon-nyc said in Meanwhile, in Houston...:

The shooter ran and is a fugitive. Whatever theories people come up with need to take that into account.

The interesting part is what is captured on video. If anybody wants to discuss the legalities around the fact that he is still at large, they are welcome to. But that's not the interesting part to most of us, and legally it has nothing whatsoever to do with the act captured on video.

[George K]

@jon-nyc said in Meanwhile, in Houston...:

The shooter ran and is a fugitive. Whatever theories people come up with need to take that into account.

Branch says that there's no statute prohibiting you from shooting someone in the back if either you feel the guy is a treat to you OR is a threat to someone else.

The first four shots, he claims, are justified.

ETA: Example - you're in a checkout behind an armed robber who puts a gun to the head of the person in front of him. YOu're justified in shooting him in the back to prevent a death.

ETA again: He fires the 9th shot AFTER he's picked up the robber's gun. That's very bad for him.

[Ivorythumper]

Leaving the scene of a crime is probably a chargeable offense.

The last shot might be prosecutable, but at that point it's probably just desecrating a corpse.

[George K]

If you want to, here's the discussion:

Link to video

The last shot might be prosecutable, but at that point it's probably just desecrating a corpse.

That would be up to the ME to determine. Was the guy dead? Who knows.

Branca's comments that this might be one of those "Bad for the defendant law," but it might fly with a jury.

Also addresses the reasons for him leaving the scene - many of which might not be related to the shooting.

[Renauda]

@Copper

I agree bullet placement is everything. One shot. Just like in Deer Hunter.