perhaps I'm just overly sensitive to the phrase "took matters into his own hands" but that is not what happened. He responded to a potentially life threatening situation.Police say a gas station customer was acting in self-defense when he took matters into his own hands
It is not something that I like to see either but this just happens to be another phrase that I believe masks an officer's feeling that "civilians" shouldn't have guns Again, I may be overreacting."I believe in self-defense. It's certainly not something we like to see, but everybody has to make their own decision whether they're life is in danger or not," Sgt. Scharf said.
My understanding of the law is that this part alone should cause an immediate dismissal of any investigation against the concealed carrier. I do appreciate that you don't want people shooting other people if there was no longer a threat but there is no way to predict that the robbers wouldn't turn and fire, killing any witnesses on their way out after they acted in this manner. This was not a more benign "give me the money and I'll leave" situation. Once that level of aggression has been shown, it is going to be hard to predict what happens next."They immediately went straight to him, pointed a gun at him, within inches of his face, very aggressively pointed a gun at him," Sgt. Brian Scharf with CMPD said.
I was surprised that the surviving robber was not charged with murder. In States like Alabama, if an accomplice dies even at the hands of the police, other participants in that crime can be charged with felony-murder. I tried to find a link which pointed out which States have that law but couldn't.