Myers, who says he’s a licensed security guard, was sitting in his car Wednesday to conduct “overwatch” while his son trains because “he has seen numerous crimes occur” in the parking lot, according to the probable cause statement.

The surveillance footage shows Myers approach the teens with a gun in his hand, point it directly at them and then move quickly toward them, police said. One of the boys pulls a BB gun out of his pocket, lays it on the ground and extends his arms out as if to show he has nothing in his hands, police said in the document.

“Immediately after … it is clear that he has been shot because he abruptly jerks his body away from Myers and falls to the ground,” the document says.

  • bane_killgrind@lemmy.ml
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    5 months ago

    It’s not dumb to call out apologetic framing in commentary. This dude doesn’t need kid gloves, and what other people like him need is a very clear description of what’s right and wrong here. This isn’t a grey area. If you go out and use your personal firearm to police other people, you are a vigilante. If you don’t think you are engaging in vigilantism, you are delusional.

    Main stream news should be responsible enough to call a spade a spade in these cases.

    • jpreston2005@lemmy.world
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      5 months ago

      The guy saw people with what looked like guns going towards a shopping center that contained, among others, his child in a karate class. If the situation had been real, then his actions could have potentially saved lives, which is what his intention obviously was. I said that phrase specifically to evoke in the readers mind, how they have similarly been well-intentioned in the past, but the situation turned out doing harm. We’ve all had instances where we tried to do something good, and it turned out bad. This guy tried to be a hero, and instead he’s the villain. Calling him well-intentioned isn’t “apologetic framing,” it’s what happened. And it should serve as a stark reminder to everyone still walking around with guns, that their good intentions mean absolutely nothing.

      • bane_killgrind@lemmy.ml
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        5 months ago

        The situation of returning guns to a gun store?

        He intended to confront other people open carrying while he was openly carrying.

        This same mindset, you could describe cross burnings or working at the DMV as well intentioned.

        • shottymcb@lemm.ee
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          5 months ago

          I feel like you’re being deliberately obtuse, or just trying to be adversarial for the sake of it. His point is that what was going on in the asshole’s head was that he was stopping an active shooter situation. He thought that because he was a moron. Had he not had a gun, the moron couldn’t have murdered people.

          There’s always going to morons, so the problem here is that he was allowed to have a gun. Unless your position is that morons should be euthanized, then you must agree that the solution is gun control, or that morons murdering indiscriminately is 👍

          • bane_killgrind@lemmy.ml
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            5 months ago

            For a bunch of types of people, good intentions legitimise behavior. It wasn’t legitimate behavior.

            Gun control absolutely needs to happen. Until it does, news and discussions should center around decrying vigilante behavior.

            It doesn’t matter what he thought. It matters what he did.