What would you do CHL'ers?

[Moonpie]

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/335 ... ker12.html

Another scenario: What would you do if, say...... its the rest stop on I10 west of Kerrville.

[AEA]

Well, knowing only what I read in the report, it appears that he took one really bad guy off the street temporarily and no charges of any kind will be brought towards him.

Only thing I would have done differently: I would not have said anything about a warning shot and I would have put two center mass.

[Keith B]

Only thing I would have done differently: I would not have said anything about a warning shot and I would have put two center mass.

Once that bottle came at me, it would have been a clear case of self defense.

[frankie_the_yankee]

The guy opened himself up to a lawsuit by saying he didn't intend to hit teh BG. This makes the shooting accidental. Accidental acts are subject to civil liability.

Basically, this guy babbled his way into a big mess.

He will probably be no billed, but if the BG gets any advice he will file a suit against the guy and could very well win.

Warning shots are almost never a good idea. And the guy should have kept his mouth shut.

I hope things turn out OK.

As for me, when the BG swung the bottle at me, I would most likely interpret that as an imminent threat of grave bodily harm, and intentionally (not accidently) acted accordingly.

[Venus Pax]

I've been told to never fire "warning shots." If you have to shoot, do it on purpose.

[AEA]

Yup........and....KEEP YOUR MOUTH SHUT WHEN THE PoPo GETS THERE!

[dustyb]

I believe most reasonable people would consider a combative, 6'2" lunatic, swinging a whiskey bottle at me as a threat. I would stop the threat.

[fiftycal]

Two points. With the change in the penal code, a justified shooting is immune to a civil lawsuit. And you do not do yourself any good by blabbing right after a shooting. If you have to throw yourself on the ground and foam at the mouth, DO NOT TALK TO THE POLICE! Face it, you are going to be dealing with this for a LONG, LONG time. And if you don't know the penal code Sec. 9, you need to read ALL of it and not only know it, but UNDERSTAND it.

[Liberty]

Two points. With the change in the penal code, a justified shooting is immune to a civil lawsuit. And you do not do yourself any good by blabbing right after a shooting. If you have to throw yourself on the ground and foam at the mouth, DO NOT TALK TO THE POLICE! Face it, you are going to be dealing with this for a LONG, LONG time. And if you don't know the penal code Sec. 9, you need to read ALL of it and not only know it, but UNDERSTAND it.

I would try to at least appear co-operative. Maybe just the words."He tried to kill me." , My name is "Fill in the Blank", " I'm not feeling so hot. Can I answer your questions at another time?"
I wouldn't want to alieniate the responding officer, I would rather have him on my side. While blabbing isn't advisable, being polite might be a good idea.

[frankie_the_yankee]

I would try to at least appear co-operative. Maybe just the words."He tried to kill me." , My name is "Fill in the Blank", " I'm not feeling so hot. Can I answer your questions at another time?"
I wouldn't want to alieniate the responding officer, I would rather have him on my side. While blabbing isn't advisable, being polite might be a good idea.

+1

I think the idea is to strike a balance. Be cooperative, identify yourself, make sure the cops know that the BG was a threat to your life, and then stop talking. Tell them you will be happy to address all of their questions when you have had a chance to get over the shock of the situation and have consulted with your attorney.

[flintknapper]

I would try to at least appear co-operative. Maybe just the words."He tried to kill me." , My name is "Fill in the Blank", " I'm not feeling so hot. Can I answer your questions at another time?"
I wouldn't want to alieniate the responding officer, I would rather have him on my side. While blabbing isn't advisable, being polite might be a good idea.

+1

I think the idea is to strike a balance. Be cooperative, identify yourself, make sure the cops know that the BG was a threat to your life, and then stop talking. Tell them you will be happy to address all of their questions when you have had a chance to get over the shock of the situation and have consulted with your attorney.

"zactly!

[stevie_d_64]

Cease babbling...Rule #1...

[TX Rancher]

There’s a lot of tactical information missing in the article, so it’s pretty hard to determine what the real situation was, but there’s a real possibility I would not have pulled the trigger, or even drawn my weapon.

I agree that if someone throws a bottle at you, that’s a pretty good indication they’re not your friend. But the bottle didn’t come into play until the GG brought out the gun. By the way, this is an example that showing your firearm does not always make the BG panic and run away…many times it does, but not always. In this case it appears to have escalated the situation.

If my wife was already in the truck, I would have gotten in and drove away while she called 911 to report the creep. It’s not clear from the article where his wife was at the time of the shooting, so he may not have had that option.

The article said nothing about the BG having a weapon when shot, so the bottle may have been the only “weapon� he had, and he had already thrown it at the GG, so the coveted 21 ft rule may not apply here. Of course there’s still the possible disparity of size issue…

Now don’t get me wrong here, I’m not saying the GG was wrong in shooting the BG. The question was what would I do.

For me it would come down to did I believe the BG represented a reasonable threat to me or my wife. If he did, I would have no trouble pulling the trigger, and it wouldn’t be a warning shot. Why waste ammo…after all, I may need all the rounds to stop him (he was 6’2� after all).

The fact that he had a record and was well known to the police as a problem would not have been known to me at the time, so that would have no bearing on the “shoot/no-shoot� decision.