Questionable - Many Issues - No criminal charges to be filed - Basket Ball Shooting

[ANGLICO]

No criminal charges to be filed in Sportsman's Park shooting
By Will Greenlee

TCPalm

NOTE: This one has a bunch of issues.

NOTE (2): This post has been edited to comply with Forum Rules (thank you for those of you who offered advice to do it correctly :-). Link to the entire article at the bottom.

Posted May 11, 2012 at 1:08 p.m., updated May 11, 2012 at 8:08 p.m

PORT ST. LUCIE — Investigators faced conflicting accounts in the March Sportsman's Park shooting that left Marcus Samuel dead, and couldn't overcome Terry McEliver's contention that he fired on Samuel in self-defense.

Assistant State Attorney Steve Gosnell Friday discussed the March 14 incident as officials announced no charges were being filed against McEliver, now 23, in connection with the death of Samuel, 25.

..............

"At the end of the day, you have a lot of conflicting evidence showing exactly what happened the seconds before the shooting," Gosnell said. "What is not in dispute is that Samuel was armed and Samuel retrieved his gun first.".........

Port St. Lucie police have said the shooting happened after an altercation involving Samuel and McKeliver, who were playing basketball at Sportsman's Park.

McKeliver and Jean Yves Toussaint fled in a vehicle after the incident. The driver, McKeliver, eventually stopped in Fort Pierce following a pursuit by St. Lucie County Sheriff's Office deputies. McKeliver and Toussaint, who was found with more than a dozen bags of marijuana, were arrested, but not in connection with the death.

Officials learned Samuel ran to his car and got a .22 caliber handgun he is said to have purchased in February."Prior to retrieving said gun, Samuel allegedly made the statement, 'You're dead,'" police records state. "Samuel did return back to the park and fire his handgun prior to being shot by McKeliver."

McKeliver said he bought the weapon after being shot at while walking in Fort Pierce and after his cousin was shot months earlier.

McKeliver said he and Samuel argued, and that at one point Samuel pushed McKeliver on the throat. McKeliver said his cousin punched Samuel from behind. He said Samuel asked who hit him. He said Samuel ran toward the parking lot and heard a person or persons say Samuel was going to get a gun.

McKeliver ran to his own car to try to leave, and as he approached the car he realized Samuel already was in his car. McKeliver got his gun and saw Samuel run to the park with a gun in his hand.

He said Samuel turned in his direction and pointed a gun at him. McKeliver first fired a shot — intentionally aimed high — to scare Samuel, but Samuel still pointed a gun toward him. McKeliver fired a second shot that struck Samuel.

"McKeliver was adamant and insistent he only fired his gun at Samuel because Samuel had turned onto him and raised his gun at him," police records state.

Told by police that Samuel died, McKeliver started crying and said he didn't intend to kill Samuel.

Police learned someone took Samuel's gun after the incident, records show.

McKeliver said he didn't see or hear Samuel fire, but a gunshot residue test yielded "positive findings" on Samuel's right hand.

McKeliver's cousin was arrested March 30 by sheriff's investigators "for being in possession of Samuel's ... missing gun." The cousin said he found it behind a housing complex in Fort Pierce. The cousin didn't match the description of the person who took the gun from the shooting scene.

Some witnesses heard two groups of shots with "a distinct sound in calibers fired," records show. Others heard three shots that sounded like they came from the same gun. Some saw Samuel turn and point his gun at McEliver, while others didn't.

"Right now there's not enough evidence to show that it was not a self-defense case, because there are conflicts in what different people have said during the course of the investigation," Gosnell said.

In searching McKeliver's vehicle, police found a loaded 9mm handgun, about 2.8 ounces of marijuana and $1,500.

.......


Read the whole article at: No criminal charges to be filed in Sportsman's Park shooting » TCPalm.com

[DefensiveCarry.com]

[ArkhmAsylm]

-
If the information given is correct, the fact that Samuel ran to his car to retrieve a firearm would seem to support the self-defense claim of McKeliver. Running away from, & then returning to the scene of the tussle...with a firearm, no less, is a recipe for disaster.

Why McKeliver's cousin ended up with the dead guy's gun is less clear. Suffice it to say that those two aren't lit with very bright bulbs.

[gasmitty]

Too many divergent "facts" to deal with here, and precious little truth from the surviving participants. I just mentally file this in the "Darwin was right" folder.

FYI for Anglico - to avoid copyright infringement, the accepted practice is to paraphrase the news story, or post selected lines from it, and provide a link, but not copy and past the whole article here. I couldn't find the specific advice from our mods, but I'm sure you understand.

[ANGLICO]

Too many divergent "facts" to deal with here, and precious little truth from the surviving participants. I just mentally file this in the "Darwin was right" folder.

FYI for Anglico - to avoid copyright infringement, the accepted practice is to paraphrase the news story, or post selected lines from it, and provide a link, but not copy and past the whole article here. I couldn't find the specific advice from our mods, but I'm sure you understand.

Thank you sir - for the advice. WILCO!

I also try to always cite the Source. Will truncate.

Semper Fi,

[Rock and Glock]

13. Copyrighted material. If you are posting a copyrighted story, our rules permit the first paragraph being copied verbatim with a link pointing to the rest of the article/story's original source. You should summarize the rest of the story, in your own words, after the link. DO NOT cut and paste a complete article or story and DO NOT simply provide a link without further comment. Violations of this rule will receive one warning and then receive an infraction of no less than 10 points. Additional infractions will have their points doubled.

Click on Forum Rules, above.

Please get it edited down asap. Thanks!

[Cold Shot]

Like that scene in "White Men Can't Jump"

[msgt/ret]

-
If the information given is correct, the fact that Samuel ran to his car to retrieve a firearm would seem to support the self-defense claim of McKeliver. Running away from, & then returning to the scene of the tussle...with a firearm, no less, is a recipe for disaster.

Why McKeliver's cousin ended up with the dead guy's gun is less clear. Suffice it to say that those two aren't lit with very bright bulbs.

My thoughts exactly, the fact he went back to his car to retrieve a gun proves his intention to escalate the altercation.

McKeliver's cousin was arrested March 30 by sheriff's investigators "for being in possession of Samuel's ... missing gun." The cousin said he found it behind a housing complex in Fort Pierce. The cousin didn't match the description of the person who took the gun from the shooting scene.

Even though he does not match the witness’s description I really question how the gun wound up in his possession.

[Eagleks]

Well ... Willy chased Sam, who chased Harry, right before Frank hit him, then....

Sounds like a lot going on in this situation. Bottom line, seems Samuel retrieved a gun and pursued, and created the initial threat... as well as escalated the whole situation. So, sounds like the end result is a correct one.