ABILENE, TEXAS — Imagine walking down the street and being suddenly shot in a drive-by attack. That is what happened to our armed citizen in this story out of Abilene. The armed citizen claims that he was a random victim of a drive-by, but then shot back in self defense.
According to an APD incident report, a 36-year-old male told police he was “shot randomly in a drive by.”
Via Bigcountry
The incident happened between 2:30 and 3:30 Friday morning in the 700 block of Plum Street, according to the report.
The victim, who went to the hospital with a gunshot wound to the leg, told police that he shot back in self defense, according to the report.
Police say multiple shell casings were located at the scene of the incident.
The Breakdown:
The above snippet pretty much tells the whole story. Our victim was outside wandering the streets after 2am. Suddenly a car zooms by him, and for no apparent reason, begins shooting at him. He is struck by one of the rounds coming from the passing car.
In response to being shot, the victim pulls out his own gun and begins shooting at the car as it drives away. Fortunately, the victim survived the incident and was treated at a nearby hospital. He told police he shot back at the vehicle in self defense.
What Would You Have Done?
Since there isn’t a ton of information to do a good/bad analysis, we are going to do something a little different. If you were in this situation, what would you have done?
Put yourself in the situation of the victim for a moment. Disregard the time of day, and just imagine you are out on the street. A car zooms by, you hear gunfire, and suddenly you’re shot.
Do you look for cover and try to get out of harms way? Do you check to see what the car is doing before deciding on your next move? If the car doesn’t stop and continues driving, do you still retrieve your firearm and fire?
There are a lot of things the victim here could have done. I don’t know if shooting at the fleeing car is really self defense, or an attempt at vengeance. That is why I am curious what some of you would have done in this situation. Was the victim right to shoot back or should he have restrained himself since the car was leaving the scene?