Walton Beach, FL man arrested and charged with murder in deadly shooting; claims self-defense

There are two separate shootings. The passenger died from a gunshot wound to the chest. That was the first shooting. There was, in my view, no statutorily authorized right for Bennett to use deadly force based on those videos and other reporting. The driver was shot in the arm. Bennett has a better argument as to that second shooting, but I anticipate the case will survive a SYG motion.

Florida Statute 776.012 Use or threatened use of force in defense of person.—
(1) A person is justified in using or threatening to use force, except deadly force, against another when and to the extent that the person reasonably believes that such conduct is necessary to defend himself or herself or another against the other’s imminent use of unlawful force. A person who uses or threatens to use force in accordance with this subsection does not have a duty to retreat before using or threatening to use such force.
(2) A person is justified in using or threatening to use deadly force if he or she reasonably believes that using or threatening to use such force is necessary to prevent imminent death or great bodily harm to himself or herself or another or to prevent the imminent commission of a forcible felony. A person who uses or threatens to use deadly force in accordance with this subsection does not have a duty to retreat and has the right to stand his or her ground if the person using or threatening to use the deadly force is not engaged in a criminal activity and is in a place where he or she has a right to be.

That being said, I completely agree with the OP's last sentence. Those two bottom feeders were clearly the aggressors.

 

The first shooting seemed more like self defense. They came back to the scene and scared the guy - he fired. The second shooting occurred as they were trying to flee. He literally ran around to the driver side to shoot the driver. That one doesn’t seem like self defense to me.

 

Read subsection 2 of the statute I quoted above. It is the one applicable to these shootings. The dead guy was wearing shorts with no shirt and clearly had nothing in his hands. He was was not threatening IMMINENT death or great bodily harm.

 

Yeah I understand the law and that it doesn’t agree with me. In this case, from what I saw, I felt the first shooting was more justified than the 2nd. The first guy he shot came at him and threatened him - so he shot him. I can understand that even if I don’t condone it. The 2nd guy was trying to flee. Neither had a clear shot at each other which is why the shooter ran around the car to shoot into the driver window. Nothing about that second shooting seems like self defense - again I understand the law wouldn’t agree but that’s just how I see it.

 

Bennett told the police he fired because he thought they were going to shoot him. In the second shooting, the "victim" was in grabbing distance of the firearm that was found in the car. Shooting the first guy was pretty clearly not justified...the force you use to defend yourself has to be commensurate with the force threatened against you.

Here is the arrest affidavit:

ONLINE COURT RECORDS SEARCH

 

Again I understand but the second shooting required the shooter to aggressively pursue the driver who was attempting to flee. Had he not run towards the car, the driver is in no way a threat to him. The window was down so he wasn’t verbally threatening him and no weapon was visible.