“...who had pulled a gun to stop a fight where one girl pinned another girl on the ground and was punching her in the head repeatedly.”
Here in Washington State that is a felony assault, which can be legally stopped if necessary by shooting the person. Of course, just pulling the weapon often does the trick, as in this case.
In NC we reciprocate concealed carry with Washington state. But this is interesting because in NC it is against the law to shoot someone fighting with another person. I suppose it applies to strangers where you don’t know who is the ‘bad guy’
Nope - it can be in defense of a stranger, as long as everyone is legally where they are allowed to be. Weird wording - but covers private place, public, etc.
But yes - one best be sure of what the circumstances are. I have stopped a few times just to see where the yelling and screaming leads, but it has always been so chaotic (and never turned physical) it would be hard to determine what was what.
Although I suppose it doesn’t matter who/what started it, at some point the person having control over someone and beating them to a bloody pulp would be the criminal. Unless of course it was the dad of a recently raped daughter “trying to apprehend” the rapist.