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.

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42 COMMENTS

  1. Said it before and I will say it again………..DUMBASS!!!!!!
    Cue the Anti’s in 3….2…1….and…

    • After all the initial media and lawyer misinformation in the Trayvon Martin case, I will withhold comment on this case at this early juncture.

  2. Parents, we live in a dangerous world. If you want your kid to live long enough to kick out of the house you need to teach them not to be confrontational with strangers on the street.

    I have no doubt that this dumbass had no reason to fire. This was murder. But, could it have been avoided, a young life spared if the boys in the car had just turned the music down?

    We just had a post about backing down, even running, if you’re armed and a confrontation occurs on the street. If you’re unarmed and a potential danger comes up dowesn’t it make sense to diffuse or avoid the situation?

  3. JWM,

    First off, this is not a personal attack. I completely agree with the first paragraph of your post. As far as your opinion in para 2: “I have no doubt that this dumbass had no reason to fire. This was murder.”

    How do YOU know? Were YOU there?

    Did everyone forget the hatchet job that was done to George Zimmerman immediately following the shooting of St. Skittles?

    I’d wait for the trial before I pass judgement.

    • It’s a judgement call on my part. Dun was in a motor vehicle, he could have simply moved it if the music was bothering him. Once the shooting happened instead of staying to await the police he ran and hid in a motel.

      I think Dunn was having a bad day and when the teeny bopper got lippy he got dead.

      When I was a youngster incidents like this usually ended with harsh words or knuckles. Now, it’s a whole other game and it scares me how unprepared some of these kids are for the realities of this new world.

  4. I will reserve judgment until we have more evidence. As far as there not being a gun in the car, duh, you toss the guns you have before the po po get there! Not saying they did or didn’t, but something is fishy in this story, just don’t know which way it is going to fall.

    • Even if they tossed the shotgun, you have to wonder how it is they never got a shot off, even a wild one? Not conclusive, but suggestive.

    • You are right something is fishy in this story and it left the scene of the crime.
      This man is going down and he deserves it.

      Many kids may be pretty much useless these days but that does not mean they deserve to be shot for playing music loud.

    • Something is fishy all right and it is coming from the man who left the scene of the crime. The less people with his mentality and firearms the better off it is for gun owners who can control themselves.

  6. Leaving the scene is really really suspicious.

    Unfortunate for the boy but I’m sure he didn’t do anything to help the situation. Not that he deserved to get shot.

  8. Guilty until proven innocent.

    Given the attitudes of youth these days I have no problems believeing these kids tossed some nasty words his way and threatened his safety. Dude made some bad choices after the fact however I recall a incident not long ago at a gas station where a CCW holder in Ohio shot one guy 2 times and fled and was not charged and ruled self defense.

    I normally enjoy the articles here this one seems like it was written by the anti gun people.

    • Really. In what way did DZ sound like an anti-gun person, by presenting what is known in a fair mad unbiased way? I do not agree with all of DZ’s positions, but this seems to be thrown down the middle of the plate.

      I don’t expect much of a media frenzy since there seems to be little ambiguity in this case, compared to the early reports of the Zimmerman/Martin incident. It sounds as if Dunn will be spending a whole bunch of time on the public dime.

      • In the way that he has labled him guilty as charged with little to no information. The whole guilty until proven innocent thing. Seems almost everybody in the comments has jumped on that band wagon as well.

        • @Chris
          Have you ever been involved in the US legal system, as a defendant? Innocent until proven guilty is a nice, warm idea designed to give people happy butterflies in their stomach.
          The harsh reality is that as a defendant you are guilty from the moment you are arrested or accused. I know this because I have been in the hot seat before and it took two long years and money I didn’t have to prove otherwise. That was over ten years ago and I still visibly shake when there is a police car behind me.

        • Yep. Ed Meese, Reagan’s AG said that – “The Police don’t arrest innnocent people”, right before he was arrested for a unpaid jaywalking ticket in LA from the election. As a wise sage told me: “the police have everything on their side and it just doesn’t carry much weight in court what you have to say”.

  9. I doubt a stand your ground defense would apply here. If he was arguing with the person then he instigated it, and therefore was the cause of the gunfight, if in fact there was a shotgun pointed at him.

    I can understand getting the hell out of dodge to call 911 safely, but not spending the night in a hotel with a girl afterwards.

  11. Dunn initiated the exchange when he “told” the younger folks to turn down their music. I would think a crucial part of using the SYG law as a defense is the “Mind Your Own Damned Business” Law (MYODB Law). When you’re in a public place, to wit a gas station, loud music from another car might be annoying, but “this too will pass”, so why pick a fight with some other people over such a trivial thing?
    “Police didn’t know if Dunn had a concealed weapons permit,…”.
    Since there’s probably no question the Jacksonville DA will want to prosecute Dunn, a Jury will have to sort this one out.

  13. Even if the kids were playing their music loud, what standing did this guy have to demand that they turn it down? Both parties were in an openly accessible public venue. Seems to me that he had the option to roll up his windows until his friend returned, then leave.

  14. in the known facts surrounding this incident, I would be *that* guy in the crowd:

    a decade ago my financial situation was extremely rosy, to the point where I spent an obscene amount of money on a car stereo system. in mostly all similar situations, I too will sigh and think ‘this will pass,’ and within 5 minutes… but I have gone there by having a stereo war at the gas station. there is a certain satisfaction in knowing your’s in bigger than his, aurally speaking, of course.

    one word: McIntosh

  15. He was a concealed carry permit holder, a gun collector and up until that incident, one of you. Don’t you see why we need a third category of gun owners. There are good guys, hidden criminals and bad guys.

    • Percentages tell a different story mikeyb. Legal gun owners are one of the safest class of people out there. And you never did answer the question about any potential criminal misdeeds in your past. Maybe your whole anti gun stance is simple projection?

        • Legal gun owners mikey. People willing to go thru the sreps required to own and carry thier guns. But like I’ve said before, you aren’t interested in the truth.

          And for self serving nonsense, that covers just about every comment you’ve made here.

          • Yeah, the steps to own and carry guns are so onerous, no wonder we never see a single one of you guys go bad. The qualifications are sufficient to weed out the bad apples right from the beginning. That’s about it, right jwm?

        • Considering that the constitution gives me the right to buy and carry a gun, yes the restrictions are way to onerous on my rights and on the rights of others.

          I did not shoot anybody in an argument over a loud stereo. I did not commit a crime and until I do hands off my rights. And if I do commit a crime my rights, including my gun rights, should only be suspended while I serve my sentance.

          If we operate under your rules mikey you should be in prison for being in the Mafia, simply because you’re Italian.

          If you don’t like civil rights mikey stand up and say so and then start a movement to amend the constitution to remove our civil rights.

          • “the right to buy and carry a gun”

            Is that what the Constitution guarantees? Really. I thought it was to “keep and bear.” Is that the same thing?

            Of course, some of us think it was all contingent upon being available for the militia, which has no corresponding equivalent today. So, when you talk about Constitutional rights to me, I laugh. As far as guns are concerned, there are none.

            But, I’ll humor you for a moment, let’s say you’re right. The Supreme Court has limited that right to within the home. There is no “right” to concealed or open carry outside you home.

            • Use your head mikeyb. To keep and bear you have to either buy a gun or be fortunate enough to inherit one, so yes it does give us the right to buy and carry.
              No Constitutional Rights for guns?? So you are saying, regardless of what the Constitution say’s, that we law abiding citizens have no constitutional right to defend our homes and families?
              So according to you and the Supreme Court I do not have the right to carry, open or concealed, outside of or away from my home?? Therefore if my family and I go camping for the weekend and are beaten and murdered by some crackhead for a few bucks and a worn out car that is ok because I didn’t violate the constitution or the law???
              Mikeyb that is beyond comprehension!! How is it ok or acceptable to take away the right of any American Man or Woman to defend themselves or their family, while either at home or away from home?? I and every Law abiding American should have the right to own and carry a firearm for protection wherever we are, as long as we abide by the law.
              The gun control laws being proposed by the current politicians and gun grabbers will make it virtually impossible for the poorer people in the country to be able to defend themselves with a firearm!
              Want a statistic?? Look at Chicago!! Gun Control laws are really putting the halt to all firearms related crimes there aren’t they!! How about LA?? Detroit?? NYC?? All are overly strict gun law municipalities,cities,etc and they all have very high crime rates.
              Allow the law abiding people to protect themselves and their families and things will get better, not right this minute and not tomorrow, but in a little time the drop in crime will show up.

        • mikeyb. Yada, yada, yada. Yawn. Can we get a new troll? One that at least makes an interesting argument.

  16. He doesn’t have a leg to stand on. The kids were driving away at the time he shot. and he was arrested down in south Florida. I live in the Jax area.

  17. lets not forget that this guy shot into the suv with he boys in it 8 TIMES. not once during a struggle like trayvon martin. This guy was not scared he was mad. how else could the additional 7 rounds fired after the first be understood? considering that no one was shooting back at time either.

  18. 1. Shoot anyone who pisses you off.

    2. Flee the scene and spend the night in a hotel.

    3. Claim it was self defense

    4. Get fitted for prison suit.

  20. If you carry either open and concealed you can’t let it give you a false sense of authority or toughness. Carrying IMHO has more responsibilities than simply owning one and keeping it at home. This guy was wrong in every step of the confrontation. Mind his business. Kids are a-holes Ignore them. Close your window and go on your way

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