More Evidence that Stand-Your-Ground is Losing Ground

Another horrific shooting occurred this past Friday night in Florida, similar to the TrayvonMartin case, in which a White male adult killed a Black male teenager. The incident took place in a gas station parking lot in Jacksonville, Florida. 

According to the statement from the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office, Forty-five-year-old, Michael Dunn (White man) of Brevard County, was sitting in the gas station parking lot while his girlfriend, who was returning with him from his son’s wedding, went inside the gas station to make a purchase. Dunn told authorities that he then approached a sport utility vehicle (SUV) adjacent to his in which several teenagers were seated and asked them to turn down the loud music coming from the SUV. 

Dunn told police he felt threatened by the response from the teens, after having words with Seventeen-year-old, Jordan Davis, who was still seated in the vehicle. Dunn reacted after having allegedly seeing a gun barrel in the window of the teens' car, firing eight shots into the vehicle, striking Jordan Davis twice and killing him. There were, however, no guns found inside the teens’ car, the statement said.

Dunn and his girlfriend fled the scene after the shooting, claiming that they feared that they had encountered gang members and that more would follow. The couple went to a local hotel for the night, and saw the news the next morning that Davis had died. They returned to Dunn’s home in Brevard County, where local police arrested him Saturday on an out-of-county warrant. Dunn’s attorney, Robin Lemonidis, told CNN Monday that, “When all the evidence has been flushed out, I believe that it will be extremely clear that Mr. Dunn acted as any responsible firearm owner would have under the same circumstances.”

Would Mr. Dunn have approached the teens if he was not packing? Probably not! Certainly he felt secure that if they gave him any trouble he could shoot first and ask questions later; maybe the stand-your-ground law bolstered that feeling of security. Moreover, the fact that he thought that the teens were in a gang, probably because they were black, raises other concerns about Mr. Dunn’s character and intent. Even if Dunn had legitimately fled the scene out of fear of gang reprisal, wouldn’t it have been the decent, “responsible” thing to at least contact the police? “Responsible firearm owners,” as Dunn’s attorney Mr. Lemonidis called him, just don’t act in this way.

Davis’s mother, Lucia McBath, is calling the act that killed her only son a “Hate Crime.” 

Dunn was arraigned Monday afternoon and pled not-guilty.