Posted on 09/24/2005 8:19:51 AM PDT by Mr. Mojo
A Staunton man hospitalized with a bullet in his back early Friday had been shot when his street gang attacked an armed victim, authorities have tentatively ruled.
Police who found Joseph Antonio Coakley, 24, sprawled near downtown Staunton at the intersection of Lewis and Baldwin streets about 2 a.m. initially thought he was drunk in public. They soon realized he had been shot.
As doctors listed Coakley in critical condition hours later, investigators had 26-year-old Jeremy Kyle Bryant, of Staunton, in custody as the shooter. They charged him with carrying a concealed weapon because he lacked a permit, and released him.
Investigators didn’t charge him as the shooter, however.
That’s because Bryant, surrounded by a group of men at the intersection of Fillmore and Frederick streets, pulled out a concealed pistol after someone else brandished a knife, Staunton prosecutor Ray Robinson said.
“From what I understand, it was self-defense,” Robinson said. “It was apparently some gang members that had been harassing Bryant.”
Neither police nor Robinson would explain how Coakley was shot. Police found Coakley one block from the scene of the gang confrontation.
Bryant could not be reached at his Trout Street home for comment Friday afternoon.
Police also refused to comment on the cause of the shooting, instead referring questions to Robinson.
“We probably won’t have that information for a while,” Staunton Officer Amy Pultz said. “It’s still under investigation.”
It could mark the latest escalation in gang violence to strike this region. The first attack came May 22, 2003, with the Augusta County stabbing death of Christopher Scott Kennedy by members of his own gang. On July 22, a 17-year-old boy shot to death David Pannell Jr. in Staunton, allegedly for wearing a blue bandanna - rival gang color of the gunman.
Since Kennedy’s murder, area police steadily have registered gang members in a national crime database and formed a regional gang task force with members of Waynesboro, Staunton and Augusta County law enforcement. Its creation came within weeks of Pannell’s death.
Police early Friday found Coakley after responding to a possible drunk-in-public tip.
“The initial call was for a male lying in the street … and that he may have been drinking,” Pultz said.
Upon realizing he had been shot, rescuers rushed Coakley to Augusta Medical Center in Fishersville, and from there to University of Virginia Medical Center in Charlottesville.
This is the only thing wrong with this story.... The shooter left the scene and apparently DIDN'T (1) call to report it and (2) explain that there had been a shooting and why?
Probably got spooked because he had no permit, but it erodes some of his credibility. Get legal everybody. If you ever need to use it in self defense, you don't want to be arrested on some silly avoidable gun violation.
Good break.
With the bullet going in the guy's back it might have gone the other way. Here in Atlanta police charged a convenience store manager with battery for defending himself with a sword with shoplifters who shoved him and brandished a bottle as a weapon first.
Very sad.
http://www.ajc.com/blogs/content/shared-blogs/ajc/cop/
The story is about half way down - notice they called it "Angry Samurai, cringing shoplifter"
Those of us who can get legal, anyway. NE, KS, WI, and IL are "no issue" states and CA, NY, MA, IA, MD, DE, NJ, and RI are "may issue" states.
What is the NRA doing in NE, KS, and WI? Obviously, they're fighting an uphill battle in MA/CA/NY, etc. But EVERY red state should be concealed carry.
I can only sympathize, we've been 'shall issue' in WA since long before it was fashionable. I am all for concealed carry, but I wouldn't take lightly risking arrest for a gun crime which ~will~ disqualify you from a future permit.
"CA, NY, MA, IA, MD, DE, NJ, and RI are "may issue" states"
Yeah, if you dump a lot of money into some local Dem politcians election campaign.
That sure sounds like self defense to me. The only problem I have with this is that he didn't shoot them all.
Ok. I'll be the first to say it: "don't bring a knife to a gun fight"!
That said, the one who brung the knife probably didn't realise his intended victim brung the gun - one of the advantages of 'concealed carry'. It keeps 'em guessin'.
"politcians"
Nice spelling on my part...
> What is the NRA doing in NE, KS, and WI?
In KS, the roadbloack is the (D) gov, otherwise we'd
have it already. And we only have (D) gov because the
GOP fielded a yawner to run against her.
Could be he thought he needed to get the h*** out of dodge before the rest of the gang decided to jump him and take his gun.
OK - retreat back.... then go make a phone call! You can't just go home after shooting somebody.
Agreed...but I don't see where it says he went home. Maybe he went to the police station and told them he shot someone and that is how they knew it was him. The article isn't very clear about how they found the shooter.
Well, there's a lot of folk involved here who don't like to make phone calls or do the right thing... the guy's 'friends' all bugged out on him, and the police or medics end up responding to some other bystander reporting there was a guy down in the street.
"Bryant could not be reached at his Trout Street home for comment Friday afternoon"
So, he should probably get another gun or two......
Still, would be better to be charged with a gun crime than to be dead. Risk is relative to the consequences.
I agree with you that someone should have stayed with the guy and did the right thing. Unfortunately, gang members don't normally hang around to be implicated.
The shooter should have been the one who called, but he was carrying illegally, he probably freaked out.
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