“It was almost like looking in the devil’s eyes.”

On March 10, 28 year-old Michael McLendon began a shooting rampage at the ranch-style home in Coffee County, Alabama, where he lived with his mother. First, he shot and killed her and her four dogs, then laid them on and around the living room couch, which he soaked with paint thinner and lit on fire.

McLendon then got into his Mitsubishi Eclipse wearing a vest loaded with ammunition and armed with a .38 caliber handgun, a shotgun, and two assault rifles (an SKS and a Bushmaster). He drove south to the town of Samson to a white frame house where he had lived for years with his uncle, James White, 55, and aunt, Phyllis White. The two were sitting on the porch with their daughter, Tracy M. Wise, 34, her son, Dean, 15, and a family that lived across the street: Andrea Myers, 31 (the wife of a local sheriff’s deputy), and her two children, 4-month old Ella and 18-month old Corrine. McLendon’s great aunt, Virginia White, 74, was in a trailer parked in the White’s yard. McLendon exited his vehicle and opened fire on them all, killing everyone but Phyllis White and Ella Myers. Phyllis White ran to a neighbor’s house and was saved when McLendon’s gun jammed. Ella was rescued by a neighbor, but had to be taken to a hospital later for surgery for a gunshot/shrapnel injury. A neighbor who saw McLendon as he pulled away from the house in his Eclipse said of him: “It was almost like looking in the devil’s eyes.”

But McLendon was not done yet. He killed another man, James Starling, 24, on a nearby street, shooting him in the back as he tried to run away. Starling was the father of two children and had another on the way. McLendon then rounded the corner and killed Sonya Smith, 43, outside a convenience store. Two men, Jeffrey Nelson, 50, and Greg McCullough, 49, were injured at the store.

McLendon then continued on to the town of Geneva. At this point, police were in pursuit of him. McLendon was still spraying fire, and killed motorist Bruce Malloy, 51. When an officer tried to ram McLendon’s Eclipse, he fired into the officer’s vehicle, narrowly missing him. McLendon then evaded a roadblock and drove to Reliable Products, a metals plant where he once worked. There he engaged in a shootout with law enforcement officers before finally entering the business, turning a gun on himself, and taking his own life.

During the entire rampage, which lasted approximately 50 minutes, McLendon fired more than 200 rounds, killed 10 innocent people, and wounded six.

Subsequent investigation revealed that McLendon held a permit to carry a concealed handgun which had been issued by the Coffee County Sheriff’s Department. A friend of his, Cecil Knowles, told reporters that McLendon had a lifelong fascination with guns. Officials have yet to indicate where McLendon purchased the firearms used in the shootings, but have indicated they were all bought legally.

After the rampage, authorities who investigated the home McLendon lived in with his mother found notes he had left on a dresser and kitchen table. “The notes had lists of co-employees and employers who apparently had done him wrong,” said 12^th Judicial Circuit District Attorney Gary McAliley. “Along side of the names, he wrote notes on who had done what, for example, ‘turned me in for not wearing earplugs.’ The note also listed three different locations of employers.” Investigators also found 20 to 30 boxes of ammunition, a bullet-proof vest, and “dozens of soot-covered DVDs on how to commit acts of violence, including how to shoot into a moving car and building a homemade gun silencer.” McLendon stopped showing up to his job shortly before the rampage, spent his free time shooting guns at the local firing range and behind his home, and talked “about being depressed about his failure to become a Marine or a police officer.” He had also been involved in an argument with family members over custody of a family Bible, and had recently received a letter from a lawyer representing another family member telling him to back off. “He was excessively upset about that,” said McAliley.

“He had obviously planned to go out in grand style,” observed Colonel Chris Murphy of the Alabama Department of Public Safety.

Disturbingly, McLendon is not the only mass shooter in recent months who held a concealed carry permit:

• CCW permit holder and Neo-Nazi Richard Poplawski killed three police officers and wounded one in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on April 4.



• CCW permit holder Frank Garcia killed four and wounded one in a shooting rampage in upstate New York on February 14.



• CCW permit holder Randal Rushing killed three people in Scranton, Pennsylvania, on July 17, 2008, telling reporters, “I had fun.”

These incidents and others provide powerful evidence that screening procedures for concealed carry permit holders are as minimal and ineffective as those for gun purchasers in the United States. Hopefully, state legislators across the country will begin putting the safety of their citizens ahead of the interests of the gun lobby, which has consistently defended existing standards for permit holders—and even acted to weaken them further.

"This Kid's Nothing But Trouble."

On April 4, 23 year-old Richard Poplawski shot and killed three police officers who were responding to a 911 call at his home in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Poplawski, wearing a bulletproof vest and armed with a shotgun and an AK-47-style assault rifle, ambushed two officers who entered his house. He then managed to hold off police and SWAT team members who responded to the scene for four hours, firing approximately 100 rounds in the process. Poplawski has been charged with three counts of criminal homicide and nine counts of attempted homicide, including the wounding of a policeman who was trying to assist a fallen officer.

It was quickly learned that Poplawski is a White Supremacist with a long and disturbing history of violent behavior. He frequently visited, and posted messages at, the Neo-Nazi website Stormfront.org. Poplawski’s best friend, Edward Perkovic, stated that he “didn't like the Zionists controlling the media and controlling, you know, our freedom of speech.” On November 1, 2008, Poplawski wrote on Stormfront: “A revolutionary is always regarded as a nutcase at first, their ideas dismissed as fantasy ... If a total collapse is what it takes to wake our brethren and guarantee future generations of white children walk this continent, if that is what it takes to restore our freedoms and recapture our land: let it begin this very second and not a moment later.”

Poplawski’s problems date further back, however. He was expelled from North Catholic High School in his junior year for reasons that have not been fully disclosed. In 2004, Poplawski enlisted in the Marines and entered boot camp at Parris Island, South Carolina. He was discharged from the service just 23 days later, apparently for assaulting a drill sergeant. A year later, Poplawski’s former girlfriend, Melissa Gladish, received a protection from abuse order against him. “He was a violent, abusive man,” she said. “He dragged me by the hair, pulling me across the floor. I saw him choke his own mother. He was controlling.”

Despite this history, subsequent investigation has revealed that Poplawski passed the required background checks and bought his shotgun and two handguns at Braverman Arms Company in Wilkinsburg, Pennsylvania. Poplawski’s best friend, Edward Perkovic, has also reported that Poplawski possessed a permit to carry a concealed handgun in the state of Pennsylvania. "I've seen it. He showed it to me. He said, 'Eddie, get one of these,'" remembers Perkovic. Poplawski also posted on the Pennsylvania Firearm Owners Association website under the username “RWhiteman” and in one thread complained that the state of Maryland did not recognize his concealed carry permit when he traveled there.

If Poplawski was dishonorably discharged from the military (citing privacy laws, the Marines have refused to divulge this information), then he would have been barred under federal law from owning or purchasing firearms. He also would have been barred under federal law from purchasing or owning firearms while he was the subject of Melissa Gladish’s protection order. It is unclear at this time exactly when Poplawski purchased his guns. It is also not known where he obtained his AK-47 assault rifle, although he frequently bought and sold guns online through unregulated private sales.

What is more baffling is how Pennsylvania authorities could have issued Poplawski a permit to carry a concealed weapon. Pennsylvania is a "shall issue" state, meaning that local law enforcement must issue a concealed weapons license if the applicant passes a computerized background check and meets certain basic qualifications. Nonetheless, these guidelines state clearly that an applicant should be denied a permit if he/she “has a character and reputation indicating the applicant would be likely to act in a manner dangerous to public safety.”

Poplawski not a threat to public safety? Even a cursory investigation into his background would have revealed that he was a violent individual with racist, anti-government views. In the words of one of Poplawski’s neighbors (whose stepdaughter was threatened by him), “this kid's nothing but trouble.” Why that wasn’t patently obvious to Pennsylvania authorities is worth examining.

The Fake Cop

On March 5, at 9:50 a.m., a woman traveling south on U.S. 1 in Florida saw 25-year-old John T. Colucci race by her on a motorcycle, pull up next to a white pickup truck at a stoplight, and begin threatening the driver of the vehicle. “I’m a [expletive] cop, you could have laid me out on the street,” Colluci was quoted as saying, as he simultaneously raised his jacket and exposed a handgun. Colluci then held a badge in his wallet up at the truck driver and screamed, “I’m a [expletive] cop!” He then sped off on his motorcycle "pulling his front wheel off the ground."

The woman followed Colucci to the Port St. Lucie Civic Center while dialing 911 on her cell phone. Colucci, noticing that he was being followed, turned around and raced towards her vehicle as if he was “playing a game of chicken.” The woman was “terrified of a head-on collision,” but thankfully Colluci turned his motorcycle and sped away from the scene.

Investigators later apprehended Colucci at the Self Defense Gun Shop and Pistol Range in Port St. Lucie, where he worked. He denied knowing anything about the incident, but admitted to having a “security badge” in his wallet. The badge looked almost identical to the badges worn by Port St. Lucie Police Department officers. Colucci was arrested and charged with falsely impersonating an officer, openly carrying a weapon, unlawfully using a police insignia, and driving recklessly. Police confiscated his Glock 30 handgun and “security badge.”

A call to the Public Affairs Office at the Port St. Lucie Police Department confirmed that Colucci holds a permit to carry a concealed handgun in the state of Florida. Due to a law passed at the behest of the NRA that shields the identities of permit holders in the state , however, the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services refused to say whether Colucci’s permit had been suspended or revoked by authorities.

That might leave residents of Port St. Lucie unsettled, because Colucci is currently out of jail on $3,500 bail. A court date is expected to be set sometime soon.

It is ironic that an individual who works for the “Self Defense Shooting Center” would use his handgun instead to intimidate and threaten the residents of his own community. If Florida officials have respect for the brave men and women who have taken an oath “to serve and protect” as law enforcement officers in the Sunshine State—and even a passing interest in safeguarding public safety—they will make sure this fake cop never carries a concealed weapon again.

If at First You Don't Succeed...

On Valentine’s Day, 35 year-old Frank Garcia drove into the parking lot of the Lakeside Memorial Hospital parking lot in Brockport, New York, at approximately 5:00 AM. Just four days earlier, Garcia had been fired from his nursing position at the hospital, and he wasted little time before exiting his vehicle and physically attacking Mary Silliman, 23, a former co-worker who was on a break. Two individuals who were driving by the hospital at that moment, Randal Norman and Audra Dillion, saw Garcia beating Silliman and stopped to help. When they got out of their car, Garcia opened fire with a .40-caliber Glock pistol, killing Norman and Silliman. Audra Dillion was also shot, but she managed to drive herself to Strong Memorial Hospital in Rochester, where she recovered from her injuries.

Garcia was not done yet. He then drove 50 miles to Canandaigua, New York, where he went door-to door looking for the home of another former co-worker. Garcia eventually found Kimberly Glatz and her husband Christopher and shot the couple execution-style after terrorizing the entire family, including Glatz’s 14 year-old daughter and 13 year-old son. Kimberly Glatz worked with Garcia while he was a part-time nursing supervisor at Wesley Gardens nursing home in Rochester. Garcia was fired from this position in October 2008.

The rampage finally ended when Garcia was arrested after negotiating his surrender by cell phone. He has been charged with a total of four counts of first-degree murder, two counts of second-degree murder, two counts of second-degree kidnapping, and one count of attempted murder.

After the shootings, it was revealed that Garcia possessed a permit to carry a concealed handgun in New York. Officials reportedly denied Garcia’s request for a permit three times before granting him one in 2007. He was first denied a permit in 1994 after omitting information about his criminal record on his application, including arrests for criminal possession of a weapon, assault, and harassment. He then filed two more permit requests in 2001 and 2006 that were denied because of “omission[s] of fact” and because it was determined that Garcia “lack[ed] moral character.”

In a letter written prior to the 2001 denial, Garcia told a local judge about his enjoyment of the “works of Jefferson, J. locke, madison, and Hamilton” and “the organic Constitution and the Bill of Rights.” Garcia also discusses his need to protect himself with a gun in light of his view that “executive atthoraties/police officers are not bond to protect me. 95% of the time there are in pursut of the perpetrator and 5% arrive late when needed. So you see. I have no-one but myself for my own protection, especially in the city of Rochester.” At the end of the letter, Garcia offers to produce “Public-law 89-297” at an upcoming hearing, which, he claims, “calls for the total disarmament of our sovereign nation, from citizens to the military. This is all part of the New world order agenda.”

Garcia’s successful 2007 request for a permit was initially denied. However, judicial hearing officer and longtime Judge Charles Maloy reversed the denial and granted Garcia the right to carry a concealed weapon. The county court judge who initially denied the permit had the right to review the case but instead signed the permit in April 2007.

Judge Maloy has yet to explain why he issued Garcia a concealed carry permit, but it is clear that this permit offered no “protection” to Garcia or anyone else. Instead, it endangered an entire community that has now paid a terrible and unimaginable price.

Parking Violation

On February 6 in Memphis, Tennessee, Robert “Dutch” Scherwin was leaving Villa Castrioti, a restaurant where he and his three children were celebrating the birthdays of his father and father-in-law. In the restaurant’s parking lot, Scherwin began arguing with Harry Coleman and his wife about how close Coleman’s Hummer was parked next to his car, a GMC Yukon Denali. According to Scherwin’s son, the argument boiled over, leading Coleman to reach into the Hummer for his handgun. Coleman then shot Scherwin, who was unarmed, in the torso. Scherwin died in the parking lot in front of his three children.

One witness at the scene, Joseph Sneed, tried to intervene during the argument but backed off when Coleman drove his handgun into his chest. "From seeing the look in his eyes, without him saying it, I felt he was telling me, 'I'm going to kill this man. If you decide to get in the way, you're going to get hurt, too,’” said Sneed.

Police found the handgun used in the shooting in Coleman’s back pocket when he was taken into custody. Coleman, 59, was granted permit to carry a concealed handgun by the state of Tennessee in 2006. That permit has now been suspended. In addition, Coleman faces second-degree murder charges for the slaying of Scherwin. He has been released from jail after posting $50,000 bond and has indicated he will plead innocent to the charges and argue that he acted in self-defense.

Scherwin’s death has made orphans out of his three children: Dallas, 21, Colt, 19, and Savannah, 15. Their mother passed away in 2004 due to complications from rheumatoid arthritis.

Four days after the shooting, Shelby County Mayor A.C. Wharton publicly called for a statewide gun offender registry and felony penalties for first-time offenders who illegally carry guns. Though not without merit, it is unclear how either measure would have prevented Robert Scherwin’s death. Furthermore, Mayor Wharton curiously failed to mention the extensive problems experienced by Tennessee’s concealed carry permitting system. An investigation by the Memphis Commercial Appeal revealed that the Tennessee Department of Safety sent out 99 permit-revocation letters in 2008 to individuals who had successfully renewed permits despite being disqualified from owning firearms due to felony convictions, DUI charges, orders of protection, etc. Mayor Wharton might have also drawn attention to the minimal training requirements for Tennessee concealed carry permit holders—a one-day, one-time class that typically lasts 10 hours.

Shortly after his brother was shot and killed, Butch Schwerin wondered, "Why did it have to escalate? This was a parking space. All you had to do was go out and move your car. That would have been the end of it, not my brother being murdered." Clearly, had a gun not been present, the result of the argument between Robert Scherwin and Harry Coleman would have been, at worst, a fistfight. Nonetheless, there has been no indication from Tennessee’s elected or appointed officials that they are ready—or willing—to address Butch Schwerin’s important question.

Bottoms Up

On January 13, a 26 year-old Salt Lake City man was using the restroom of a local restaurant when his concealed handgun went off unintentionally. The gun, a .40-caliber Kahr P40, apparently fell out of the man’s pants as he was pulling them up, hit the tile floor, and fired. The bullet struck the toilet beneath him, sending sharp pieces of porcelain flying. Some of this shrapnel lodged in the man’s arm, causing minor injuries. While no one else was hurt, an employee of the restaurant in the next-door women’s restroom was treated for chest pains after hearing the gun shot and panicking.

The man, whose name is being withheld by authorities, holds a permit to carry a concealed handgun in the state of Utah. Utah is a “shall issue” state, meaning that concealed carry permits are issued to applicants who pass a background check and complete four hours of firearm safety training.

According to Centreville Police Lieutenant Paul Child, “the accident would have been prevented if the man had used a secure holster. A good quality firearm also should not fire if it is dropped.” Several visitors to the Deseret News website, however, questioned why an individual would need to have a loaded handgun in the bathroom of a fast food restaurant.

Police confiscated the man’s handgun at the scene, but have indicated that the firearm will soon be released back to him. No charges have been pressed against him nor is there any indication that authorities will seek to revoke his concealed carry permit. There is apparently little concern that the man could have killed an innocent bystander, or that he violated several of the National Rifle Association’s most basic gun safety rules, including “ALWAYS keep the gun unloaded until ready to use” and “Remember, a gun's mechanical safety device is never foolproof. Nothing can ever replace safe gun handling.”

One Deseret News commenter mocked the gun lobby’s talking points in capturing the absurdity of the incident: “Guns don't kill people,” he/she said. “Toilets do.”

Forgot Something?

Today’s “Ordinary People” blog features two stories that involve curious episodes of memory loss.

The first story involves a concealed carry permit holder who was shopping at a Wal-Mart in Steubenville, Ohio, on December 3. When he departed the store that day, he had his purchases in hand, but not his firearm. His .40 caliber Glock handgun was left sitting in his shopping cart, conveniently marked down for a five-finger discount.

Authorities are now searching for a “man driving a red Dodge Ram pickup truck” who apparently found the gun later in the day and drove off with it. Hardly comforting, but better than the real possibility of a child finding the gun at the popular family store… Apparently, this permit holder forgot not just his gun, but one of the National Rifle Association’s cardinal rules of gun safety: “Store guns so they are not accessible to unauthorized persons.”

Our second tale comes from the state of Tennessee, where authorities recently reported that 200 hundred state residents who have permits to carry concealed handguns might have their permits revoked or suspended because they have active restraining orders against them. Apparently, several counties in the state were failing to inform the Tennessee Department of Safety of such orders of protection. The Department of Safety did not realize this oversight through their own investigation-they were alerted to it by a Nashville television station.

Restraining orders are typically issued to protect spouses in abusive relationships. Charlotte Boatwright, President of the Coalition Against Domestic and Community Violence of Greater Chattanooga, commented, “We do know that there is a direct correlation between having weapons available in the home and lethality.”

Hopefully, the Tennessee Department of Safety will act quickly to revoke the permits of the 200 individuals in question. Public safety will also be better served if they remember in the future to audit their permit holder database to screen out potentially dangerous individuals who are prohibited under state statue from carrying concealed weapons.

"I blew her away."

Richard Peters’ cavalier attitude towards the safe handing and storage of firearms caused a tragedy on November 16 in Marysville, Washington, when he shot and killed his six-year-old daughter while cleaning a firearm.

That night, Peters asked his daughter, Stormy, to retrieve a Colt Double Eagle .45-caliber handgun from a nightstand in his bedroom. The accident occurred when Peters removed the magazine from the weapon to prepare it for cleaning and pulled the trigger. Peters, who was apparently unaware that a live round was in the chamber, told detectives responding to the accident, “I blew her away.” He is being held in lieu of $250,000 bail while under investigation for first-degree manslaughter.

Peters, who is a concealed carry permit holder, told investigators that prior to the fatal shooting he drank up to five double shots of vodka and believed that he would have been too intoxicated to drive a car. He also revealed to investigators that he regularly allowed all three of his children (ages 3, 6 and 8) to handle his firearms, including the .45-caliber handgun with a “hair trigger” involved in the fatal accident. Child Protective Services took custody of Peters’ two surviving children and investigators have recovered a “large” number of firearms from his residence.

The fatal shooting wasn’t Peters’ only accident involving a firearm. As recently as November 1, he accidentally discharged a shotgun that was handed to him while shooting pumpkins. Thankfully, no one was harmed in that incident.

Peters told deputies responding to the shooting of his daughter that he was "very proficient" with firearms. His pattern of irresponsible behavior, however, demonstrates that nothing could be further from the truth. Peters broke almost every rule in the book related to gun safety. He handled firearms while drinking alcohol. He pulled the trigger on a gun on multiple occasions without inspecting the weapon’s chamber to make sure it was clear of ammunition. He allowed his children—one as young as three years old—to handle firearms without direct adult supervision. He even violated the cardinal rule of gun safety—ALWAYS KEEP A FIREARM POINTED IN A SAFE DIRECTION.

Rather than being an unpreventable or unexpected tragedy, the death of Peters’ daughter was foreshadowed by his reckless attitude towards guns.

Cowboy Up

On September 19, Gerald Deaguiar risked his own life as well as the lives of other motorists as he raced his 2007 silver Jaguar at speeds of up to 90 mph against a motorcyclist. To make matters worse, Deaguiar was drunk and carrying two handguns, one on each hip. A Florida Highway Patrol trooper arrested Deaguiar and gave him a breathalyzer test at the Hernando County Jail. Deaguiar registered a Blood Alcohol Content (BAC) of .309—almost four times the legal limit. He was so drunk that he had to be hospitalized before being taken to jail.

After posting $1,250 bail, Deaguiar was released early the next morning. He has since been charged with driving while intoxicated, racing, and possessing a firearm while intoxicated.

Deaguiar holds a concealed carry permit that was issued by the state of Georgia. The state of Florida has a reciprocity agreement with Georgia, meaning that anyone who possesses a valid concealed carry permit in that state may carry a concealed weapon in Florida. Florida has an extremely liberal reciprocity policy that recognizes concealed carry permits from 33 other states.

An individual in Georgia only has to pay $15 dollars, show a photo ID, and submit to a basic background check to receive a concealed carry permit valid for five years. Applicants are not required to demonstrate proficiency with a handgun or knowledge of firearm safety as there is no written test or training requirement. Florida’s requirements aren’t much tougher. Florida prohibits applicants from obtaining a permit if they have two or more drunk driving convictions in the previous three years (one, apparently, is fine). The Sunshine State also requires applicants to take a two-hour firearm safety course or present evidence of military service.

There is no word yet on whether Deaguiar’s concealed carry permit will be suspended or revoked due to his criminal behavior.

Commentators are increasingly comparing America’s liberal concealed carry policies to the frontier days of the “Wild, Wild West.” In this case, such a comparison seems particularly apt. Deaguiar acted as the quintessential “Wild West” gunslinger—as if he were The Man With No Name in “A Fistful of Dollars,” riding through town with a pistol on each hip after taking shots of whiskey at the saloon. Armed, drunk and dangerous, he displayed a reckless disregard for public safety that belied the gun lobby’s best arguments about “law-abiding” behavior and responsibility.

Road Rage

On August 5 in Pembroke Pines, Florida, a quiet morning erupted in tragedy when Special Agent Donald Pettit was shot and killed in the parking lot of a post office by James Patrick Wonder. Pettit, who was employed by U.S. Customs and Border Protection, was traveling along a Florida highway with his 12-year-old daughter when an incident of road rage led to a needless death.

For miles, Pettit and Wonder participated in an aggressive game of “chicken,” cutting off each other’s cars, slamming on brakes, and cursing heavily. When Wonder pulled over into the parking lot of a local post office, Pettit followed him.

The two men exited their cars and an argument ensued. Wonder, a concealed carry permit holder in the state of Florida, then drew his handgun and shot Pettit, who was unarmed, in the back of the head. While Pettit’s daughter looked on in horror, Wonder went back to his vehicle and fled the scene, leaving the federal agent to die.

Wonder attempted to elude police by dying his hair and driving in a rental car, but after a massive 24-hour manhunt, he was apprehended by authorities at a dialysis clinic thanks to an anonymous tip. “We told you we would get you,” said Pembroke Pines Deputy Chief Mike Segarra to a cheering crowd of law enforcement officers at a press conference later that evening. Police recovered several handguns from Wonder’s home, including the weapon they believe was used to shoot Pettit.

While Wonder was initially charged with premeditated murder and held without bond, on August 28, a Broward County grand jury indicted him on a lesser charge, manslaughter. Wonder then posted $10,000 bond and was released from jail. He now faces a maximum of 15 years imprisonment. Had he been charged with premeditated murder, Wonder could have received life in prison or the death penalty.

Frank Maister, an attorney for Wonder, expressed disappointment that the grand jury chose to indict his client. He also indicated he will argue his client acted in self-defense. He might have a strong case due to a Florida law that lowered the standard for using deadly force in public places. Previously, Florida law required citizens to retreat from a situation in which they felt threatened if they could do so safely. Florida’s 2005 “Shoot First” statute, however, changed the law so that, “A person who is not engaged in an unlawful activity and who is attacked in any…place where he or she has a right to be has no duty to retreat and has the right to stand his or her ground and meet force with force, including deadly force, if he or she reasonably believes it is necessary to do so to prevent death or great bodily harm to himself or herself or another or to prevent the commission of a forcible felony.”

Clearly, both Wonder and Pettit were at fault that day for allowing their road rage to escalate into dangerous behavior, and Pettit was wrong for following Wonder into a parking lot and confronting him. Beyond that, however, we are left with several important questions… Why didn’t Wonder call the police or drive to a police station if he was being followed by Pettit? If he was being actively attacked by Pettit, then why was Wonder uninjured, and why was the fatal bullet wound in the back of Pettit’s head? Most importantly, why would a man who acted legitimately in self-defense flee a crime scene (leaving a child to deal with her dead father) and attempt to evade police capture by ditching his car and disguising his appearance?

No matter what answers we eventually find, the sad fact is that no one had to die that day. The presence of a handgun during a moment of passion turned what should have been a shouting match or at worst a scuffle into a fatality that has left a family “destroyed.”