Click here for audio of Michael Horan’s 911 call. The Arizona Cardinals fan shot an Oakland Raiders’ fan in the Cardinals’ stadium parking lot. Horan’s highly edited statement to the operator includes “I didn’t mean to pull the trigger and the gun went off and I hit him in the head . . . I was attacked by some crazy guy . . . I don’t know if this guy’s gonna survive.” We’ve said it before; we’ll say it again: don’t say ANYTHING to 911 that can be used against you in court. And guess what? EVERYTHING you say to 911 can be used in court (and on TV). Simply report “There’s been a shooting” and give your name and description. If you want to add anything, say “My life was in danger.” Wash, rinse, repeat; or disconnect the call. When the cops arrive assure them “I will give a full statement after I speak with my lawyer.” That is all. Really. No mas. 

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34 COMMENTS

  5. From his own words it sound like involuntary manslaughter. He thought he could just hit the guy with the gun; he didn’t intend to pull the trigger; it went off due to impact or his finger being on the trigger and unintentionally pulling it. So, in his own mind he wasn’t at the point of needing to use deadly force…

    but I’m not a lawyer and didn’t sleep very well last night either.

  6. Sporting events are becoming increasingly dangerous places. My daughter, my son in law and another couple went to a Bears – Packers game in Chicago a couple of years ago. My daughter is a Packers fan, I don’t know where i went wrong there, and she had a Packers jersey which her female friend was carrying for her. Some idiot Bears fan, with no provocation whatsoever, ran up to their group and punched this woman in the face and ran off. And, my daughter’s friend is a Bears fan! The fine Chicago police on the scene refused to do anything about this attack, they wouldn’t even file a report. When some jerk will punch a woman in the face over a jersey, it is time to stop attending these events.

    • A San Francisco Giants fan was beat up leaving a game in LA and was in a coma for months. Sucker punched by a drunk and had his head pounded into the pavement. No reason for the attack, except maybe the team rivalries and the wrong jersey. Is this what gangbangers do when they grow up? I don’t get it.

    • mikeb,

      Imagine a legally armed man coming across a pregnant mother and her two kids being attacked by a big thug armed with a gun or knife and on meth. The armed citizen shoots killing the attacking thug. Does that act make the shooter a criminal that committed murder?

      • No, he would be a hero and have committed a legitimate DGU.

        But the advice to STFU is not limited to the heroic and the legitimate, it’s offered to all you lawful gun owners who end up shooting someone.

        You see, this is one of the weakest parts of your story. Among the lawful gun owners, those who have never been convicted of a felony or adjudged mentally incompetent, there are some hidden criminals. I think the overall percentage is pretty high. We read about them every single day in the news. You won’t see too many profiled over here but on my blog there are plenty, I can assure you. Here’s one from today: http://mikeb302000.blogspot.it/2012/09/pennsylvania-man-with-concealed-carry.html

        So, the STFU advice is really important to maintain the integrity of the group. When one of you fucks up with a gun, the rest of you want him to get away with it wherever possible so as not to make the whole group look bad.

        But, the whole group is bad. It’s like a rotten apple which when you cut into it you see the brown putrid part all the way to the core. Most of it is still edible, but that significant percentage is not.

        • Gun owners in America: 100,000,000, plus or minus
          Carry license holders: 8,000,000, plus the ones who live in Constitutional carry states
          Total injuries and deaths from firearms per annum: 100,000–that’s from all causes

          I’ll leave Mikeb to tell us what the percentages are.

        • “But the advice to STFU is not limited to the heroic and the legitimate, it’s offered to everyone.”

          There. Fixed it for you.

        • Mikeb,

          You seem like you are expecting the police, lawyers, judges, and courts to give everyone fair and just treatment and possibly a trial. It doesn’t quite work that way in the real world. People can have agendas and biases. The Law is not at times about Fairness and Justice.

        • But if that shooter says anything to the police along the lines that at the moment the gun went off he didn’t intend to pull the trigger, or if he indicates he MAY have fired earlier than intended due to a lighter trigger pull, or he wasn’t sure if the intended victims were in immediate danger of serious bodily harm ( or in some states if he says he thought the attacker was going to rape her/them, remember, in some states rape doesn’t justify the use of deadly force), then even if the circumstances would have justified lethal force, it will be defined as involuntary manslaughter and he isn’t a hero. He’s a bank account for the attacker or their family.

    • Better that ten guilty men go free than that you blood dancers be allowed to persecute a single innocent.

    • Mikeb, why don’t you ask Laci for some free advice. I’ll give you some common sense, supported by research. When a citizen gets involved in the criminal justice system for any reason, STFU is most often the best thing to do. Tell the police, I’m willing to make a statement, but I want to talk to a lawyer first.

      That, or you can trust your government to protect your rights for you.

    • I think you missed the point in government class where people in America are innocent until proven guilty. So until your alleged murderer is convicted in a court of law he has all the same rights as you. So he also has the right to remain silent, just like a legit DGU.

  8. I think that weekly, I may begin doing some really deep visualizations of a post DGU situation of making the call to the police and to interacting with the police when they arrive. I’ve found that one of the keys to successful visualizations is to drench it with emotion to ingrain it within your emotional muscles. Parts of the human mind do not distinguish between the difference of an actual event and a visualization, daydream, fantasy, or movie. The more real your emotions get tapped into with the visualization the more the visual practice become a real trained for event.

  9. Anyone have advice on finding a good lawyer for potential DGUs? Last time I saw lawyer was for a closing. Obviously, it would be good to have a number handy.

    • I think you can contact the NRA. But be careful, I went to see a lawyer here in California about advisability of having a lawyer on retainer (he advised against it, just said STFU and call him if an incident ever occurred. If he wasn’t available he’d refer me to someone), he was recommended by the NRA due to his handling of several weapon transportation cases. Out of state folks either transiting, migrating or visiting who didn’t have their weapons stowed in accordance with CA law, he had no experience in self-defense cases.

  10. STFU is good advice whenever talking to authorities, even if your not holding a smoking gun. Nothing demands you give someone else a reason to make your life miserable. You’ll always be better off with a smile and a “no comment”

    MikeB203000 please plead your case if ever confronted by a cop, even for jaywalking.

  11. Did the two have a history of did the loony just come out of left field? Seems to me the shooter thought brandishing would solve the problem, then had to make up a Plan B on the fly. Add to that finger on trigger and OOPS!

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