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NAU Shooting, Just Who is or Are the Victim/s Here?

Flagstaff, AZ—Overnight on the campus grounds there was an altercation between several male students.   The details of the altercation remain very elusive. We know four young men were shot, and one lad is being held right now by police for investigation.
Right now, the dead lad and his pals are being spoken about through tears and a way too early eulogy.   Can’t we simply wait for a fact or two before the Left Wing folks using this to promote their anti-gun political agendas?  
Just who was or were the bad guy/s here?   
What we know is right now is there was a winner of the altercation, 18 year-old Steven Jones and four losers.  Colin Brough was killed.   Additionally the other three that were wounded by gunfire included, Nicholas Prato, Kyle Zientek and Nicholas Piring.  They are receiving medical treatment at the Flagstaff Medical Center.
When police arrive to mop up these kinds of things they are very quick to arrest any winners and put the losers in the meat wagons. 
Cops rarely witness these altercations and must rely on their psychic abilities and wade through the wildly conflicting statements of survivors. Hopefully at some point thereafter they do a comprehensive and unbiased investigation.
The media is treating this like recent campus shootings like some we’ve had where mentally disturbed armed miscreants randomly attack people for no particular reason.  In this case reporters aren’t asking the right questions! 
Here we had students out at 1:20 AM.  Were they drinking and more importantly were the four lads shot because they were attacking Steven Jones?  There is absolutely nothing wrong with using deadly force to fend off multiple attackers.  That would be justifiable in all 50 states. 
If Jones violated the Gun Free Zone ban at NAU that does not change his right to use justified deadly force in any way.
The police have not disclosed whether any self-defense claims were made by anyone.  I don’t buy the story that the four shot by Jones are innocent bystanders for a second! 
Jones had and still has an absolute right to remain silent.  Like most people under police investigation I doubt that Jones was savvy enough to exercise that right.  I'd make an educated guess that he actually told police he was using self-defense to terminate the attack.   I doubt any university or police officials want those two words (self-defense) used in connection with this incident.
Instead they will pull out all the stops and make victims out of the dead lad and his three shot up pals. 
Soon a lawyer will answer up in court for Jones.  Prosecutors may still beg off from filing charges unless there is sufficient evidence of a crime on the part of Steven Jones. 
He may never be charged with a crime.   However some prosecutor may want to bankrupt Jones’ parents by forcing a criminal trial so a jury can decide who was right.
Perhaps there may be enough evidence to charge the wounded fellows in connection with an assault on Junes.
In any event my investigative services are available for Steven Jones if his defense is indeed self-Defense!

Comments

Anonymous said…
Another excellent review/analysis, Paul.

"Here we had students out at 1:20 AM. Were they drinking and more importantly were the four lads shot because they were attacking Steven Jones? There is absolutely nothing wrong with using deadly force to fend off multiple attackers. That would be justifiable in all 50 states."

I had a situation where I was assaulted in a basketball game with the basketball. It was a kind of public mugging done with the cooperation and consent of several other players. The perp had set the other guys against me. It was awful. I am still reeling from the injuries. It occured in a publically-funded gym where 50 year-olds play. Had I retaliated, I would have gotten jumped. The perp was acting on behalf of people from my previous place of employment.

I went to file a police report and the female officer told me that it would be your story against his. I thought, "Well, isn't that the job of the detective to sort through the stories to find out if a crime or an intention was malicious?" I have never had any confidence in the police. And given all of the prohibitions about not talking to the police, who knows how your rights might be further trampled upon? Don't mean to be too down on law enforcement. A few law enforcement in my family. It would just be nice to have some clue as to how to proceed when a person finds himself to bring perps to account.

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