The backstory here involves a man named Michael Dunn and a black teenager named Jordan Davis. Mainstream media is just catching a good wind of this story, but the details are just as frustrating and damning to Florida’s gun-happy laws that allow adults to manipulate teens into confrontation, then shoot them dead.
Is your child next? Walking down the street while eating candy or playing loud music may soon be ground for shooting and killing a teenager in Stand Your Ground states, where adults can harass a teenager into confrontation then shoot them dead in cold blood.
The tragic Jordan Davis story starts at a parking lot outside a Florida gas station. Davis — a bright 17-year-old student– and a group of his friends were sitting in the parking stall with their music turned up loud. They were laughing, singing and just being kids with loud music. We have all fussed about kids with their loud music before.
This evening, however, a man named Michael Dunn pulled into a parking stall next to Davis and his friends. Dunn was in Jacksonville for his son’s wedding and his girlfriend needed to run inside the convenience store to buy more alcohol.
While waiting for his girlfriend, the 45-year-old Michael Dunn demanded the teens turn down their music. Davis was sitting in the backseat, simply enjoying himself and his life. Davis’ mother reports that in November during Thanksgiving, he thanked God for his family, happiness and got himself an after-school job at McDonalds, to earn some money for himself.
This happy life changed forever because Michael Dunn suddenly pulled out a gun and fired 8 to 9 rounds into the car occupied by three kids. The bullets tore through Davis’ body and left him gurgling in his own blood.
Davis shot the kids apparently because they did not comply with his demands they turn the music down. Autopsy reports show that Davis was hit twice.
According to MSNBC, Dunn had already been drinking at his son’s wedding and decided he needed more alcohol. After shooting into the car, Dunn fled the scene of the crime with his girlfriend. They allegedly slept comfortably that night in their hotel and the next morning, saw news reports that a child died in a shooting. The couple then fled to Dunn’s beach home.
Jordan Davis and the two other children were left for dead. Davis did die. But now Michael Dunn has a new ally in the backwards Florida Stand-Your-Ground law. Dunn is building up a case for himself, where he is claiming that he felt intimidated and scared for his life, and therefore he had the right to shoot down Jordan Davis and his two friends if he had managed to shoot them.
Police reports indicate that no weapons were found in the vehicle or three children in the car. The only thing out of place where the 8 bullet holes and two bullets that tore Jordan Davis’ body apart to the point of death. Funn is claiming that he ‘saw a shotgun’ but no other report corroborates his story.
The Florida Stand-Your-Ground law is dangerous. It is giving people the idea that they reserve the right to shoot however they want if they are suspicious a person may be against them in any way. As we saw with George Zimmerman and Trayvon Martin, this gives the survivor of a shooting crime the ability to tell five different stories of lies about what happened, and no one can say otherwise because no witnessed survived and the laws allow you to reserve the right to kill whoever you want if you think you are threatened.