Posted on 05/28/2016 12:38:08 PM PDT by BBell
A legally-armed citizen who fatally shot an attacker at a Mandeville convenience store in April will not be prosecuted, St. Tammany Parish District Attorney Warren Montgomry said Friday (May 27). Mandeville police investigators concluded Shawn Breland, 42, of Folsom, was the aggressor at the Shell gasoline station and convenience store at 3959 Louisiana 22.
"Although Mr. Breland's death is a tragedy, this office agrees that the shooting was legally justified under the circumstances and will not pursue criminal changes based on the evidence submitted to date," Montgomery said in a news release that included surveillance camera video of the incident. (See video above. Warning: graphic content).
Police Chief Rick Richard has said the customer was lawfully carrying the firearm on his side in plain view. "Louisiana is an open-carry state. The guy was straight-up legal," Richard said on the day of the shooting.
Neither police nor the district attorney's office has publicly identified the armed citizen. Breland died at Lakeview Regional Medical Center shortly after the 10 a.m. shooting on April 4.
The customer, carrying a holstered handgun on his side, fatally wounded Breland after Breland attacked him, police have said. They described Breland as "highly agitated" during the incident.
(Excerpt) Read more at nola.com ...
I'm glad this guy will not be charged and I'm glad our laws support him and open carry.
Mandeville is a very nice area of Louisiana. The police handle things well there. I would not have shot the guy as I would not have put myself in the position this armed citizen put himself into.
911 and observe the situation until the police arrive.
By the way, had the victim been black this would have been a whole other ballgame.
The deceased was definitely the aggressor. Still too bad it had to turn out that way
Why does Warren Montgomery believe Mr. Breland’s death a tragedy?
Probably because this did not have to end up in a shooting.
There is stupid and then there is STUPID. But I am not sure that I understand your criticism. The intention of the shooter was just to get the guy’s license plate and wait for the police. He WAS trying to observe the situation until the police arrived. When the belligerent idiot noticed, he got out of his minivan and followed him into the store, pushing and shoving the entire time.
To me your arm chair assessment indicates only that you probably have not been in a similar situation. Because of my former profession I have been in the path of idiots on many occasions and it is often not easy or even possible to avoid a serious confrontation.
Open carry, and pulling the gun very early affected the outcome. The same thing can happen to a police officer. A furtive move from a odd behaving individual can lead you to draw your weapon. If that same bizarre behavior continues, your options for self defense are limited by having the gun out. Drawing a gun and getting a non-compliant response (”go ahead and shoot me!”) definitely makes things a lot more dangerous.
“...had the victim been black this would have been a whole other ballgame.”
How so? If it’s film documented and witnessed, how would that change things?
“pulling the gun very early”
Were you watching the same video as me?
Good shoot.
If you don’t think the community agitators would have likely been organizing a march and rioting, you haven’t been paying attention. The video means little.
The attacker was going for the citizen’s gun. The citizen had little choice having backed away into the store to avoid this confrontation, where he was attacked repeatedly and continuously. Unfortunately he had few other options besides being disarmed.
What am I missing here?
The police in this area have a pretty fast response time. I do not know when a 911 call was placed and the article states that the armed citizen was getting the license plate to give to the police. It does not say the police had been called.
Maybe you like armed citizens playing cops but I don't. As to my "armed chair assessment" I have witnessed and been involved in a number of situation like this and there has never been a shooting. Just observe and let the cops handle it.
No one cares about facts when a white guy shoots a black guy.
The armed citizen made a very poor judgement by getting himself involved in the situation in the first place.
Wonder if it was this guy. The date of death and the date of the funeral seem to match up.
http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/name/shawn-breland-obituary?pid=1000000179558253
PTSD, mean drunk, or just a bully? I guess he didn’t learn anything about firearms in the army.
Are you sure the shootee wasn’t black? The looks like the funeral was at a Missionary Baptist church, and in Louisiana, you can’t always go by appearances.
The armed citizen made a very poor judgement by getting himself involved in the situation in the first place.
I want to know who the bum looking guy was that stole the deceased guys beer, that’s what probably started this whole unfortunate incident.
You can see it when the guy who got shot comes to the checkout counter.
He sets down a bag of chips (probably) and a tall can.
Clerk bags tall can and sleazy, trashy, looking white guy swipes the can and walks out.
Why the clerk or the customer didn’t notice that is beyond me.
They both looked white, on the video.
I find it interesting that the shooter had a Punisher-style shirt on.
I’m curious if they’ve decided what kind of controlled substance the shootee was on. It takes a special kind of stupid to attack someone who is pointing a gun at you; stoned usually plays a part.
I’m not a know it all. I’m just cautious.
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