I read this story recently about this pharmacist who got life in prison because he shot and killed a young man who pulled a gun on him during an armed robbery. They said because after he shot him in the head he grabbed another gun and shot him 5 more times it was murder. It is just bugging the crap out of me.
Seriously how can this be murder? He was protecting himself and the others around him.
People say well he didn't need those 5 other shots. No he probably didn't even if the guy was still moving, but it wouldn't be unreasonable to think the man who just pulled a gun on you was still a threat. Since he JUST pulled a gun on him. Murder means you had forethought and intent. Which obviously this guy didn't.
People must be watching too many action movies. Normal people who get guns pulled on them aren't ninjas they are not thinking rationally any more. No one gets used to it. If your lucky you go into survival mode and live.
How can people think that in that very short time period he was suppose to recuperate from the shock of having someone pull a gun on him, then shooting that man, then have him still be moving so quickly that he can then commit premeditated murder? People who get guns pulled on them can stay fucked up by it for the rest of their lives. Almost everyone agrees post traumatic stress syndrome is real and can last pretty much forever, but they can't understand why this man was a little over zealous while this was happening? He wasn't sitting in front of his computer reading about it. Besides if the first shot was completely legal and it killed him it was not murder he was already dead. If that shot didn't kill him he was still a threat. There is no way to prove those other shots were the ones that killed him.
Seriously get real people. If you don't want bad shit to happen to you don't rob people. If you do you might get shot a bunch of times or some one might kick your ass and keep you as a sex slave. I wouldn't hold your breath on that on that last one.
Don't get me wrong I feel sorry for the kid. He was 16, he did a stupid, stupid thing. He might have with the slightest twist of faith had a complete fulfilling life where he was a helpful member of a society and sadly we will never know now. That doesn't change the fact that the pharmacist couldn't have possible known if this was a stupid kid or a vicious killer. Just because we feel bad doesn't mean an innocent man should go to prison for life.
It's not the number of shots, it's the number of guns. Being an avid reader of non-fiction I've read several books about psychology and a number specific to the psychology of violence. I also have had knives pulled on me and been shot at. So... This mans actions were not self-defense in so far as the death of the 16 year goes. It's common, even for police, for them to get scared in a fire-fight and empty the gun. So IF the 16 year old had died of 5 gun shot wounds from a single gun, single grouping, it would be self-defense. Once he stopped shooting, came back, got another gun and killed the kid he became a murder. At the moment this happened it stopped being a situation where he was scared for his life, or for the safety of others. It became predatory. The psychology of the situation was not fight or flight, but rather deliberate and predatory.
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