Posted on 07/15/2013 12:38:15 PM PDT by BO Stinkss
Nine months after the shooting of Trayvon Martin, a White man has killed another Florida teen under troubling circumstances.
The Orlando Sentinel reports that on Friday night, 17-year-old Jordan Russell Davis and a group of friends were sitting in an SUV in the parking lot of a Jacksonville convenience store when they were approached by another vehicle. Michael David Dunn, who was accompanied by his girlfriend, asked the teens to turn down their music.
According to Lt. Rob Schoonover of the Jacksonville Sherrif's Office, Davis and Dunn exchanged words. Allegedly, the 45-year-old then drew a gun and fired into the SUV eight or nine times, striking the young boy twice. He then drove off, but a witness inside the store wrote down his license plate number.
The following morning, the couple learned that one of the passengers of the car had died via a news report. They then returned home to Brevard County, where Dunn was arrested later that day and charged with murder and attempted murder.
Jordan Russell Davis was a student at Samuel W. Wolfson High School, a magnet school. He worked at the local Wynn Dixie grocery store. Frankly, I would not care if he was a member of Three Six Mafia who had stopped at the convenience store to re-up on blunts and 40 ounces. If a group of people is sitting in a car listening to loud music, it is not the job of a private citizen to demand that they turn it down. Furthermore, there is nothing justifiable or excusable about Dunn drawing a gun on a group of people whom he had accosted.
Michael David Dunn, likely high off the excitement of his son’s wedding, perhaps a few too many gin and tonics at the reception and certainly the feeling one gets from being White, male and armed, felt it was his place to approach these young people aggressively over the volume of their music.
And this gun wielding person, who allegedly APPROACHED THE CAR without provocation (much like George Zimmerman hunted down Trayvon Martin without provocation), felt threatened by the presence of teenagers in a car with whom he started an argument because HE THOUGHT THEIR MUSIC WAS TOO LOUD.
White privilege is just so, so real.
Dunn’s daughter has come forward to defend her father as “a good person.” While we all make mistakes, I’m inclined to say that picking an argument with a car full of teenagers and then shooting into the vehicle is the first step a “good person” makes off of the path of righteousness. I’m inclined to assume that the gun collector wasn’t a big fan of young Black men and had probably done other non-“good person” things before.
The shooter’s lawyer, Robin Lemonidis, originally stated that her client was not guilty and had acted responsibly, adding that the full story had not yet been made public. A report late Tuesday night included claims that Dunn had “seen a gun.” While he certainly is entitled to his day in court…why was the gun claim not made until two days after he was arrested? Why didn’t he turn himself in if he felt he’d done nothing wrong? Where was the “good person” his daughter swears he is then?
Dunn harassed a car full of young people, shot into the car and drove away. Upon learning that someone had died, he fled town and waited for the police to come find him. The only bit of hope here is that there was a car full of witnesses, in addition to the people in and around the store who saw the incident.
Alas, in a country that is dealing with increased racial tensions and the insane paranoia of White men who seem to feel that their country has been stolen by a burgeoning ‘minority’ population and a Black president who won the popular vote, it seems inevitable that we will hear more stories like this. And as a community that has been ravaged by not only external abuse, but our own inability to get any sort of handle on our issues with Black-on-Black violence, one cant help but to feel like we are stuck in a sense of perpetual outrage, grief and trauma.
And so Jordan joins Trayvon as one of many, many Black boys and girls to be felled by senseless violence. Death by White hands, death by Black ones…one thing seems to remain constant: our lives simply do not matter enough to be protected. We march, we pray, we cry and still, we die for no reason.
When does it end?
Dunn’s own statement is enough to convict him of murder.
More of a get off my lawn and stop stealing my stuff case
Yes, the cases not at all the same. No justification whatsoever to use deadly force. Reveals exactly the sort of nut who should NOT be walking around with a gun.
I don’t have all the facts about this case, but this was a convenience store. People usually run in, pick up a few essentials items and go their merry ways. Why did this man approach a car full of teens with such a request? Granted, he may not like their music, but I don’t think they were breaking any laws. He would have been better served to transact his business and leave. And, NO this wasn’t anything like the Zimmerman case.
He claims the teens had a shotgun in the car and it was pointed at him.
The car with the teens did drive some distance away from the scene, ostensibly to get away from the gun-wielding cracker, but any weapon could possibly have been discarded then.
I'll reserve judgment, though enforcing noise ordinances in a convenience store parking lot seems like a thankless task.
I imagine that black killers in Chicago get prosecuted if they shoot into someone’s car when they are not being shot at and someone writes down the killer’s license number.
“It’s pointless to ask the kids to turn down their music. You tolerate it as long as you are at the store, or the stop light, and enjoy the quiet when it’s gone. It doesn’t matter what color the kids are, you simply ignore it as best you can.
It is never worth firing shots over. If in fact the kids all remained in the car, the perp will get serious prison time and he should.”
My sentiments exactly.
“It’s racist to ask them to turn their music down!!!!!”
LOL I simply open my windows and blast the Christian music station right back at them. (OK—so it’s not a very Christian thing to do)
If that's the best he can say to defend his actions, he has basically confessed to murder.
I am shocked that they have the stupidity to write all the details of this crime and then compare it to what happened to Skittles. It is like night and day, and only proves that there was no evidence and no case with GZ.
Happened in November
How were they menacing? Why does it matter how many teens were in the SUV?
How many weapons did they display?
Read Dunn's own statement above - there is no indication that any of them had, much less displayed, a weapon.
What are the sound and noise ordinances in Jacksonville?
Irrelevant. You can't use deadly force to enforce sound and noise ordinances.
What made Dunn so fearful of his life that he had to escape the danger?
I'm guessing that Dunn was a drunk idiot.
If this account is accurate, it is nothing like the Zimmerman account.
This shooting occurred the end of November 2012. He was indicted on December 14, 2012.
“this is just the racists trying to make people guilty of being white.”
Exactly!
Above is Dunn's side of the story.
Well in this case unless the other blacks kids admit that Davis was pulling a shot gun on Dunn, Dunn's toast.
Dunn is probably toast anyway, because he fired after the black's SUV was pulling away.
He was arrested and charged with first degree murder in Dec 2012.
That was done by a grand jury:
Doesn’t sound anything like Zimmerman:
“”When she came out [of the convenience store], she asked him, ‘What’s going on?’” Schoonover said. “Supposedly his statement was, ‘I just fired at these kids.’ I don’t know if he knew that he struck anyone in the vehicle. The next morning, I guess when they woke up in the hotel and saw on the news that someone was killed, that’s when they got in their car and fled.”
Everything I’ve been able to find makes murder sound plausible. Goes to trial in September?
http://www.wtsp.com/news/article/310162/82/Michael-Dunn-claims-fear-led-to-slaying-over-loud-music
I AM CRAYON.
;-\
I’m sure the author would like to draw parallels between Dunn and Zimmerman but I’m not seeing any. Zimmerman had a reason to fear for his life and use his pistol. Dunn did not. It’s murder. Try him, convict him, and lock him up.
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