He is both happy that a citizen cared about the community, and dismayed that the citizen cared about the community enough to take action. Prosecutor explains decision to not press charges in shooting at South Bend gas station
This article is basically a discussion between a journalist, someone who doesn't understand why self-defense would ever be legal, and St. Joseph County Prosecutor Kenneth Cotter, someone who, by his statements about this case, clearly indicates that he doesn't like self-defense even when it is legal.
A citizen took action early Thursday morning when an armed gunman pointed his gun at a clerk in the Phillips 66 on W. Western Avenue. As the would-be armed robber and the clerk struggled, the citizen pulled his gun and shot 24-year-old Glen Brooks.
There is video evidence showing the clerk struggling for his life before the bystander stopped the armed robbery attempt. It is so conclusive that it took essentially 1 day for the prosecutor to say, "I can't win this one." Doesn't mean he is happy about self-defense.
One of many reasons Cotter believes we should nearly always leave the business of firing weapons to “John Law.”
John Law wasn't there. John Law is (almost) NEVER there when something like this begins. I did only a small bit of research, but I couldn't find average 911 response times in South Bend, Indiana. My guess is that it is more than 5 minutes to a situation like this, but that is only a guess.
Cops don't save the day, not usually. SWAT officers MAY save the day, and they may act the way they did in Uvalde, Texas. But in general, when seconds count, police are only minutes away. If this concerned citizen hadn't stepped up to do the legal, right thing, there is a good chance that the store clerk would have been shot, and possibly killed, while all of the "good witnesses" were on the phone with the 911 dispatch center.
In the end, the prosecutor came to the correct decision, or rather admitted that he wouldn't be able to convince a jury that shooter did anything wrong.
When the courts repeatedly state that the government has no obligation to protect citizens, anyone who says leave self defense to the law has to be either a lawyer or a gender studies major.
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