Defensive Gun Use Turns Into Murder
What started out as an act of valor turned into an act of murder, investigators say that Edward Bushnell intervened in an altercation between William Poindexter and his girlfriend. Police say Poindexter was assaulting his girlfriend on the sidewalk along Altamont street in Spokane Washington on Tuesday when Bushnell came along and tried to stop the assault. There was a physical altercation between Poindexter(armed with a small bat) and Bushnell(armed with a knife) which left Bushnell injured, at that time Poindexter grabbed his girlfriend and continued along the sidewalk, Bushnell then walked over to his backpack which was not in his immediate vicinity and took out his handgun and shot Poindexter twice in the back.
Police said in a statement “We don’t want to say that what he did by trying to stop the assault was wrong, we’re not going to say that. Where it went south was after the confrontation happened, he had a telephone with him we would urge people to call police.” Defensive gun use is an important, valid deterrent to crimes like this but it crucial to know the laws in great detail in your own state and always keep you wits about you.
Nothing can make up for training with firearms and with self-defense situations, when these situations become heated people are in a state of mind that they are not familiar with and can quickly lead to a situation where our judgement is clouded. Bushnell should have led with his handgun in this situation, detaining Poindexter and asking one of the many witnesses to call the police. If this had been the case and Poindexter came at him with the bat then Bushnell would have been justified in shooting him.
I urge you all to not only spend a lot of time at the range with you carry weapon but also if you have never had any formal training in hand to hand combat or specific self-defense training while armed with your handgun to find a course in your area and get registered today.
