Detroit pastor shoots, kills man during church service

Bobby is right on this point.

You do not play with guns, you only pull a gun out if you intend to use it, and you only use a guy as a last resort... and if you have to pull a gun out, you use it to kill, not to scare some or or just injure them. The use of a gun is an absolute last resort.

An argument can be made that the Pastor did not need to pull a gun..... but once a determination was made to pull the gun, you aim center mass and you accept that you are trying to kill the other person.

 

I swear, every time one of these self defense debates arise, the keyboard commandos come alive.

This isn't debatable; you can can cover over 20 feet in ONE second. ONE. SECOND.

When faced with an assailant coming at you using deadly force, the ONLY responsibility you have is to STOP THE THREAT. You didn't create the situation, and you aren't responsible for the assailant's welfare; HE created the situation.

You shoot center mass; it's easy to hit. After all, you have a mere second or two to react (if they're advancing on you). You don't have time to shoot, assess the situation to see what the offender is doing, how he's doing, if that leg injury has put him down yet, and then send another round down range.

When seconds count, you better be ready.

Often when people are on drugs or amped up with adrenaline, the only thing that will stop them is a spinal shot, heart shot, head shot or they lose enough blood to make them pass out. This was a common issue when the US first invaded Iraq and took over Baghdad; the opium driven extremist wouldn't stop coming at troops until they had been DISABLED. A through and through bullet wound to the stomach, etc isn't going to stop someone dead in their tracks. If their finger still works they're still going to keep shooting.

So please, as you explore this question at leisure from the safety or your desk, probably never having used any kind of force against someone in your life, ever, be familiar with the subject.

 

Re-read the 2nd page dude.

 

If it's not a serious threat, you shouldn't be pulling a gun in the first place, that's what I was saying.

When it comes to a brick, if someone has one in their hands and they are acting in a threatening manner towards others, that can be a deadly situation that warrants pulling and potentially using a gun. Now, we don't know exactly how this instance happened, but if the guy pulled the gun and it didn't deter the angry man with a brick....odds are that his intentions were pretty bad. Now if the guy pulled the gun and used it instantly we'll never know if the threat of retaliation would have been enough.

As to aiming at the legs or whatever, that's not something you want to be doing, TV has made shooting people in the legs look really easy, but that's not the case. You aim center mass if you are shooting someone and you pull the trigger till they go down.

Now I don't know about how things are done in Europe, but in America in most cases you can respond with deadly force if you or others are in immediate danger and that seems to be the story in this case. It's too bad there isn't video so we could dissect it further, but since there's not video, we have to go on what the people there say happened.

 

Given the backstory of the encounter, you have to wonder about his assessment that any credible threat existed. Dude had a brick and certainly one scenario is that he came meaning to bash the pastor's head in. But, it could just as well be that the pastor took an opportunity to eliminate a rival because that rival foolishly gave him the excuse he needed. But yall will have to excuse me if I approach his need for self-defense with a measure of skepticism.

 

Skepticism is fine, but like you said, the guy did foolishly give him an excuse. If the guy was unarmed and he just shot the guy, he'd probably be in jail right now.

I think we need to realize that the most dangerous animal on the planet is Humans....when dealing with Humans, don't give them a reason to justifiably kill you. I think life would be a lot better if people approached things this way. If people realized that other people were as dangerous as they really are, they might treat them with more respect.

 

Do you America bro?

Because he gotdamn well can carry a weapon if he wants, no explanation needed, and no one's damn business.

Don't bad guys come into places you don't think you'll need a weapon and kill unarmed people?

If you charge someone with a brick (yes, we don't know exactly what happened), you're fair game and have shown how much you value your own life. I don't charge people with bricks because they may be carrying a gun. Well, and I'm not an idiot that attacks people to get even.