Gaston man shot, then charged with assault

[Bold Lib]

http://www.gastongazette.com/news/miller-51508-police-cherryville.html

A Cherryville man was shot in the arm Friday then charged with assault Saturday.

Police responded to a report of gunshots. When they arrived on the scene, Ricky Clyde Blattau said he shot Reginald Eugene Miller in self-defense, according to a press release from Cherryville Police.

Blattau told police that he went to the mobile home park with his girlfriend who lives next door to Miller. The couple drove up and Miller instantly grabbed a pipe and approached them, the press release states.

Miller swung the pipe at the couple, and Blattau pulled out a .22-caliber handgun and shot the man.




Wonder how this would have turned out had the guy not been armed.

[Name removed]

1. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[petronius]

2. If the guy had not been armed with a pipe, he wouldn't have been shot

:)

I do hope there's a witness or two other than the shooter and his girlfriend to confirm that the shot guy actually did attack first. Reading between the lines, I have to assume there's some kind of back-story here, and the shooter may have just as much motive to start a confrontation as pipe-dude...

[Bold Lib]

3. What great points you make, all of them.

I'm sure there is much more to this story. I'd even guess that there is some sort of romantic relationship between the shootee and the woman. I can see all kinds of BS going on here - mostly because I've seen it happen in my life. BUT, no matter what has transpired before hand we must consider this as a single incident in the eyes of the law. If the testimony is true that the man came at the shooter with a pipe as described then the shooting was justified.

[TheWraith]

5. The fact that he was armed with a pipe makes it likely he did initiate.

Nobody is going to attack someone who has a firearm if all they have is a pipe. But against someone who you think is unarmed, a pipe would be plenty.

[petronius]

6. I'm not actually doubting the story, and as it's presented the shooter probably

had no choice.

However, it's pretty easy to say that someone approached you with a pipe, so it would be nice if there were other observers. Unless, of course, the shootee's story is the same: "I saw the dude roll up so I grabbed my pipe and went after him - but the asshole had a gun! That's totally unfair!" :)

[shadowrider]

7. NEVER bring a pipe to a gunfight n/t

[backwoodsbob]

9. never bring handheld steel

to a fight where I can project steel at 3k fps

[Bold Lib]

4. Wow, first post deleted right out of the gate. Sorry I missed that one, I think.

[spin]

8. We need far more info before commenting ...

in this case, at this point, I would believe the police were correct in charging the individual. Time will tell.