Doesn’t really matter - he was running away when the guy fired that shot. Not a viable threat at that point.
Whatever the case, it’s not a good idea to fire at someone running away, especially if there’s no evidence of a crime.
its always innocent until it isn’t....like saint trayvon just walking about the neighborhood drinking his lean....because that stolen jewelry in his back pack at school meant nothing...
I can’t get the NBC link to work. Was the boy hit? How do we know he was running away?
Why go to a house to ask for directions? This is a scam.
Not breaking the law by knocking on a persons door at 8:20 am and the video confirms most of the rest.
Why would people be concerned about a black teen repeatedly knocking on the door during normal week day hours?
"...answered the door..."
People kill people and get less time. He should get time, maybe six months. The kid was not hit.
I assume the kid was scoping out the house to rob empty homes - the ones where no one responds to repeated knocking. In the real world, no teenager “walking to school” gets lost. If it’s the first day, he shouldn’t be walking if he doesn’t know how to get there. After that, he should know his way.
Despite that, the law does not permit decent homeowners to shoot wannabe burglars who are running away. It was a bad shoot.
Unless I'm missing something here it's pretty clear that he deserves to do at least *some* time...I just don't have enough info to decide how much (or how little) time.
Sounds like the guy deserves prison, from what I can tell.
I don’t see anything looking like malicious behavior by the kid (who looks a lot like a teenage Allen West). It seems like a serious case of over-reaction by the homeowners, and the kid was legitimately running for his life. It also appears to be a negligent discharge, not an intentional shot. The homeowner aims, then unshoulders the shotgun, then as he is leveling it again (with his finger on the trigger), it fires. The DA and Judge overreacted just as much as the homeowner.
The kid’s story absolutely doesn’t add up and he probably actually was scoping out the house to see if anyone was home. But, firing a shotgun at him running away, with video from a security camera as evidence, in that state, means he broke the law. Shackles and a prison jumpsuit for this reeks of show trial, though. Sentence is excessive.
Anyone that believes this kid “missed the bus” and “was just asking for directions” is too gullible to live much longer in this country.
What’s the felony firearm charge? Is that using a firearm in a felony?
The video shows night and day this guy (the convicted) is guilty as sin... He even lied to the police when he told them the gun went off when he fell...
This guy deserves to go to prison... this is the kind of buffoon that makes all gun owners look bad.