Posted on 07/28/2019 3:58:24 AM PDT by marktwain
On Friday, 5 July 2019, two young women attacked a third woman, Rojanai Alston, in a Walmart store in North Versailles, Pennsylvania. It was about 9:30 p.m. A an unknown man accompanying Alston intervened and tried to separate the two women attacking the victim from her.
Rojanai had a concealed carry permit, and a handgun, in her purse. As she is resisting the attackers, she manages to pull the pistol from the purse. The young man dives for cover, and the two attackers flee as she fires five shots. It is all shown in the video below.
Then Rojanai, in the heat of the moment, made what may be a significant legal error. She followed one of the attackers for a short distance. It appears one of the attackers is coming back. She fires two more shots. Those shots have landed her in trouble. They connected with her initial attacker. From pennlive.com:
“She was cold-cocked in the head, not once, not twice, but at least three times, and then they attempted to drag her to the ground. And if she didn't have a firearm on her to disperse her two assailants, I don't know if my client would even be alive right now,” Haber said.
Despite this, Alston was held for trial on a charge of aggravated assault, WTAE reports, adding:
Alston initially fired five shots. But seconds later, when the woman who threw the first punch comes back in Alston’s direction, Alston fired two more times,
(Excerpt) Read more at ammoland.com ...
I would give odds they will find it justified self defense.
Shows that every bullet comes with a lawyer.
Regardless of what the letter of the law might say about this particular incident I would give her the benefit of the doubt...unless,perhaps,there's an important point here that I'm missing (which seems possible).
“A normal,decent,person isn’t gonna behave entirely normally or rationally in the seconds (or even minutes) after having been attacked with a firearm.”
I agreee. She’ll walk.
Simple solution. When the other perp resumed the offensive the lady with the firearm yelled, “Stop or I’ll shoot!” Doesn’t really matter if anyone heard her. That is what she said...or that is what she said she said.
The thuggery and savagery is common these days and accepted as everyday occurrences
Think she needs some work on the range.
Yeah, and situational training.
One-handed shooting in a public venue, shooting after perp departed...
But, if she was hit in the head, she’ll have mental disorientation as a crutch, maybe.
Based on what little I know (just this article) I’d be hard pressed to convict her.
One handed shooting with a purse hanging from your arm. That would make an interesting IPSC course of fire.
In a situation like this, with multiple attackers, the victim does not have th point of view of the security camera. She does not know if there are other attackers in every direction. It is disorienting, and she is fighting for her life.
Nothing wrong with one handed shooting. I prefer it. Self-defense is not shooting at a range. At closer distances, why not?
Under10 feet yeah, OK. In a store at ? feet, under duress...I dunno. Glad I wasn’t around.
Wow, that was a LOT of yanking and flying fists before that gun came out..!
Yet yeah, the damning part will be how she advanced, firing, after she really got her dander up, which I totally understand.
The most shocking part for me:
The guy she was with seems to instantly recover, back to being unfazed, and begins “cleanup, on aisle 5” literally within seconds of the end of the shooting, the wafts of cordite still wafting around thick, I’m sure.
The level of violence that community is utterly resigned to is astonishing. For many, peace and violence are utterly unlike, one is zero while the other is one.
Yet for these other people it’s all a smooth continuum, and you never really get to full peace.
Someone lost a weave
“...Shows that every bullet comes with a lawyer. ...”
Absolutely perfect statement.
I regularly practice shooting at 30-45 feet one-handed. Maybe because I grew up shooting SA revolvers? Or maybe it is a variation of point shooting? Makes it easier to shoot around a barrier and easier to move before and after taking a shot.
By the time it becomes ineffective, it may no longer be necessary to shoot defensively.
Not saying anyone else has to do it that way, but if I had a place to go plinking again, I’d go back to practicing shooting with one hand at ranges out to 30-40 yards, at soda cans.
Time and situation permitting, I’d use both hands. And my sights, although my glasses require me to choose between a good view of my sights and a good view of an attacker.
Frankly, I doubt this woman spent much time practicing, ever. Seems to me she did as well as a lot of cops have done. She didn’t shoot anyone else, which is more than a lot of cops have done.
My concern after watching the video is with the question, “Was she in danger of death or serious bodily harm?” Looked like a scuffle to me, not a life-threatening attack.
PS: I think most of my likely self-defense scenarios would be at 5 feet or less. I’d rather run than shoot, and if I can’t run, then shooting is likely to be at very close range.
Pepper spray is an underrated option. This woman was having a pepper spray moment, and all she had was a gun. I’d cut her a lot of slack but her life would be better if she had sprayed some of her attackers with pepper instead of bullets.
Every scuffle can be life threatening
Your waffeling is good leftist thought
Your thinking is America’s downfall
This seems inside out ... or am I reading it wrong? She is in trouble for the last two shots when her attacker reapproaches??? I thought she was toast for first firing at the fleeing perps. Seems to me that the final shots were the most justified.
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