Michael Dunn [above] pulled into a Jacksonville gas station Friday evening and sat in the car while his girlfriend went inside. He was parked next to a car with four kids inside who were cranking the tunes. Dunn asked them to lower the decibel level to eleven. Not surprisingly, the kids took exception . . .
From the AP via foxnews.com:
Dunn exchanged words with (Jordan) Davis, who was in the back seat, and started firing. He later told police he felt threatened. His attorney has said Dunn saw a gun and shot in self-defense, perhaps laying the ground work for a case under Florida’s “stand your ground” law.
Perhaps. Just a few problems before his attorney lays out her defense strategy. First, Dunn left the scene. He and his gal pal took off after the shooting and spent a night in a hotel as if nothing had happened. Second, after his arrest the next day, he claimed he felt threatened after seeing a shotgun in the back seat of the car. Only no guns were found in the rolling boombox.
Since the shooting, Davis’ family has received an outpouring of support from the community. A “Justice for Jordan” Facebook page was set up and his classmates gathered at a memorial service with T-shirts showing Davis’ smiling face. Fire trucks saluted him by spraying water over an airplane carrying his body to Atlanta while it was on the runway. His funeral is scheduled for Saturday.
So given the quick arrest, a questionable claim of “feeling threatened” and Dunn’s decision to flee the scene — not to mention that he’s been charged with both murder and attempted murder — this little tragedy is like the Trayvon Martin shooting … how?
All we’re missing now is visit from Al Sharpton or Jesse Jackson. Meanwhile, Dunn’s got a pretty steep legal hill to climb ahead of him.
“I don’t see how he is going to prevail under `stand your ground,”‘ (University of Miami law professor Tamara) Lave, a former public defender in San Diego for 10 years, said of Dunn. “You’re allowed to own a gun. Even if there was a gun in the car, that doesn’t mean the gun was used to threaten him in any way.”
We’ll see. In any case, any attempts by journos looking to whip up another hot story or friends of Davis to somehow claim a lack of justice seem, uh, misplaced. Dunn will be receiving one of our little statuettes to keep him company while behind bars. We just hope no one in the hoosegow mistakes it for a shotgun.