Aftermath of a shooting, part two

 This is part two of yesterday’s post.

Just after midnight, two cars full of people pulled down my dead end street. The
car closest to me had 4 teenagers inside. It was later determined
that this car contained one female and three males. They
were all known gang members with lengthy arrest records for various
offenses, including drug offenses and weapons charges. One of them had
been arrested 22 times before his 17th birthday.

I didn’t know any of this. All I knew was that a car load of people who
had threatened violence was 10 feet from me, and the front seat
passenger had what appeared to be a long gun in his hand. (It turned out
to be an SKS- at the time, one could be bought for $95) I ran to the
car and stuck my shotgun into the window of the car. I said something
along the lines of “If anyone moves, I will kill you.”

It was at that moment that I heard a gun shot. I looked up in time to see the other car peeling
away, and my neighbor lying on the ground. The car closest to me sped
away. As they drove away, another neighbor (who HAD been drinking) ran
out of his house and fired a shotgun at the car. (It was a 12 ga
Mossberg 500 with a 3″ magnum barrel, found at the scene by the police) I dragged my downed neighbor into
my house to find my sobbing wife on the floor of the kitchen, talking to the
police.

It turns out that my neighbor dove when he saw a handgun, and was not hit when the shot was fired.

They arrived less than 5 minutes later, but it seemed much longer. We
told them our story. While we were doing so, the car came back. This time, the
teens were all unarmed, and claimed that they were sitting at the light
when I shot at them for no reason. They showed a pattern of holes in the
driver’s side door of their car.

I pointed out that the pellet count in their car was too high for my 2
3/4″ shotgun, and that the incident could not have happened they way they said, because the bullet holes were on the wrong side of the car. The cops told me
not to tell them how to do their job. I was photographed, and my guns
taken. An SKS was found in the trunk of the teens’ car, which the cops
also took.

Three days later, I got a call from a detective with the VA Beach police. He
said that he had a warrant for my arrest, and that if I came in that
afternoon, he would get me released on my own recognizance. He said if
he had to look for me, the bond would be high, considering the charges. I
was stunned. I drove to the police station, where I was arrested for
brandishing a firearm, discharging a firearm within city limits, discharging a firearm into an occupied vehicle, and aggravated
battery.

I went to see the attorney that helped me get my CWL (he had been
recommended by the NRA) and we went to the prosecutor’s office and filed
charges ourselves against the teens for aggravated battery (the cops
refused to- they said that they had not seen them brandishing a weapon, and also stated that a bat is not a deadly weapon).

part three is here