Ocala Shooting

Crump's tweet seems misleading. From what I read, the racist white lady yelled racial slurs at her kids for playing in a field that apparently belonged to the white lady; the kids ran off, forgetting an iPad; the white lady took it; one of the kids went back for it; the white lady threw it at him, hitting him with it; and then the mom went to her door to confront her, resulting in the white lady shooting her through the door.

To be clear, it doesn't sound remotely like a good shoot. And this white lady sounds like an awful person. But the facts are bad enough without embellishment. That said, maybe I've got the facts wrong. We'll see.

 

Anybody shooting through a door has some splaining to do.

 

By default, if your door is closed you are not facing the threat of imminent bodily harm. So “self defense” is a pretty absurd claim.

Sounds like the mother was upset about whatever happened, but unless she was herself armed or tried to actually break in, it’s hard to imagine justification to shoot through the door.

 

Terrible.

Apple “find my device” shows up inside suspect’s house… how is that “stand your ground”?

 

It is odd but I saw the shooting part of the story a couple of days ago and wondered why it wasn't posted on too hot yet.

 

Appears to be an ugly person acting irresponsibly. Hence, the need for law and order to obtain some modicum of justice. Tough on the kids.

If the lady earlier also yelled racial epithets at the children all she’s done, in addition to apparently murdering the mother, is increased the likelihood that four black people (the kids) will hate white folks.

 

This guy got acquitted in Florida.

Ex-cop acquitted for shooting fellow moviegoer who threw popcorn during argument defends actions

she will probably get a statue.

 

We all know how this will most likely end.
Would love to be wrong.

 

Florida is pretty inconsistent in how it's enforced "stand your ground". That guy in Clearwater got convicted in the shooting where he shot the man that had just pushed him to the ground... The guy in Tampa got acquitted for shooting the guy that threw popcorn at him. All in all, the Clearwater shooting actually seemed more justifiable. It seems like how the shooter is perceived made the difference. The guy in Tampa was an elderly ex-cop... the guy in clearwater was known for stirring up trouble ... If that holds true, the lady yelling racists crap at kids might have problems in court, let's hope so, anyway.

 

I don’t think the shooter owned the field as they both lived in the apartment complex according to the story in this morning’s Sentinel

 

Interesting takeaway

 

The guy in clearwater also screwed himself over and made the prosecution's case with his interview with the police afterwards without counsel present.

The ex-cop actually was denied use of stand your ground but otherwise literally had the justice system doing backflips to avoid bringing him to trial and knew enough to shut up and get a lawyer.

One thing that is abundantly clear is that SYG and justifiable homicide are no different than any other legal proceeding: the facts often are only part of the outcome. The defendant keeping their mouth shut and getting effective counsel is the other part. It's the system we've got and it is less than perfect. Doesn't mean the laws themselves are bad or wrong.

 

The facts of the Curtis Reeves case, a Pasco County case, are not even remotely close to what happened in Ocala.

That's not true at all. I'm good friends with Reeves lead trial counsel. That case was very vigorously prosecuted.

 

Of course, it was a somewhat tongue in cheek, but it was also to make the point (and there are other of cases) that the allegedly aggrieved seem to get deference beyond what one would think reasonable in Florida.

 

Agreed. The mom should have called police once they knew the lady had the iPad, and certainly done so once the white lady hit her kid with the iPad rather than attempting to confront the lady. I don't blame her for her actions, as I'd be seeing red if someone did that to my kids, but confronting an obviously racist, crazy lady was not going to end well.

That said, based on the facts so far, I would vote murder and wouldn't at all buy an argument that she had a reasonable fear for her life behind a closed door with no legitimate evidence that the mom was armed or had an immediate means to break through the door.

 

The fact that Reeves was a former cop and had friends with influence in the justice system likely had more to do with the deference than anything else in his case.

 

its a shame that default is going to be …call law enforcement for any interaction with a neighbor.

A hothead lives one street over. parks his huge boat in driveway partially blocking street… neighbor knocked on door… almost had a fist fight


now cops get called every weekend…

 

Tends to be what happens when folks completely lose the ability to empathize with others.

 

This needs to be turned into a racial incident pronto.