Originally Posted by
njkayaker
And (in his mind) Diaz was using the gun for self defence. If people carry guns, crap like this case are going to happen.
Firstly:
That's probably true of a lot of homicides. It should be taken into account in sentencing, but only in that being an irresponsible cretin or coward is better than being a calculating killer. Being shouted at (shouted back at, in this case) is NOT assault, so there is no right of "self defense". When this moron decided to carry a gun he made a contract with society to use it responsibly. "In his own mind" was not part of the deal. For goodness sake - there are tens of thousands of people in US jails serving life sentences for victimless crimes.
Secondly:
According to the second link give, "When Simons began to walk away, Diez shot at him."
It isn't self defense if you shoot at someone who is walking away.