California cops shoot stupid crook: "The Hanford police swat team acted in self defense when officers shot and killed a murder suspect in Kings County. That's the ruling from the Kings County district attorney's office. The DA's office has closed its investigation in the death of Abel Gonzales. He was killed by swat officers back in June. Gonzales reportedly pointed a gun at officers who tried to take him into custody. He was a suspect in the murder of a woman whose body was found a day earlier inside a truck at 13th and Iona Street. A trail of blood led investigators into several orchards nearby where they eventually found Gonzales."


Virginia gangster quarrel: six shots fired "in self-defense": "William McCray Jones fired six bullets at a friend who picked a fight with him. "As I'm shooting, this guy is not jerking, not falling. He's still coming," Jones testified Thursday. Five bullets hit that friend, Roosevelt Jones III, 29, who goes by the street name "Five" and is not related to William Jones. He lived. One of those bullets hit another friend, 25-year-old Winston Carr, and killed him. It was self-defense, William Jones told jurors. Had he not fired, it could have been him to end up dead. "Look, I'm trying my best," said Jones, 25, his voice raising and tears starting to fall. "These are friends of mine. I've got to live with this for the rest of my life, man." Danyell Knight, who was at the Western Tidewater Regional Jail in Suffolk the same time William Jones was, testified that Jones admitting shooting Roosevelt Jones, saying he would "tolerate no disrespect." William Jones said it all started when the two men accidentally bumped into each other and a drink spilled on Roosevelt Jones. Roosevelt Jones wouldn't let it go and got up in William Jones' face, William Jones testified. Roosevelt Jones followed William Jones outside, where William Jones' girlfriend's car was parked. William Jones grabbed a gun from the car and was going to put it in the trunk, but Roosevelt Jones tried to grab it, William Jones said.


California robber shot down: "A man died Friday night after allegedly robbing a Yuba City grocery store and trying to flee. Police responded to the Percy Avenue Market at around 8:30 p.m. after they received reports of a man who had been shot. Deputy Police Chief Rob Landon said the suspect robbed the market, but never left the premises. “He made it to the other side of the parking lot and expired,” Landon said. Landon did not release the identity of the shooter, but friends of the store clerk said weapons are kept in the store. The deputy police chief would not say whether a store clerk shot the alleged robber nor confirm that the deceased died of gunshot wounds. “It’s been robbed before,” said Matthew Lewis, 26, a neighbor of the market... Landon did say, however, the alleged robber had a handgun and money from the store on him."


Arkansas Wal-Mart shooting justified: "Fifth Judicial Prosecuting Attorney David Gibbons has declined to prosecute a man who shot an acquaintance in the leg July 18 in the Wal-Mart parking lot on East Main Street. William Garfield Farr, 50, was arrested later that night in connection with the shooting after he fled the scene without notifying authorities of the incident, a circumstance Gibbons called “troubling” in a memo sent Wednesday to Russellville Police Department Det. Mark Frost, which was provided to The Courier. A witness recorded Farr’s license plate number as he drove away, according to a July 20 article by Scott Perkins and Janie Ginocchio. In a July 20 bond hearing held at the Pope County Detention Center, District Judge Don Bourne ordered Farr held on a $25,000 commercial bond. At that time, the alleged victim, Ben Lopez, was in stable condition at St. Mary’s Regional Medical Center, according to testimony by Frost. Gibbons cited Arkansas Criminal Act 5-2-607 in the memo, which provides that “a person is justified in using deadly physical force upon another person if he reasonably believes that the other person is: (1) Committing or about to commit a felony involving force or violence; (2) Using or about to use unlawful deadly physical force; [or] (3) Imminently endangering his or her life.” In the memo, Gibbons wrote despite Farr’s failure to call police and fleeing, “from the evidence, it is clear that Lopez was the initial aggressor and entered Farr’s vehicle while possessing a knife. Farr retreated to the passenger side of his vehicle, a point beyond which he could go no further with complete safety.” “Although disputed by Lopez,” Gibbons continued, “the credible evidence is that Lopez struck at Farr with the knife injuring Farr’s lip. At that point, Farr shot Lopez in the leg with a handgun which he was authorized to carry under Arkansas Law.”