Prosecutors Hate Self-Defense

Even in Florida they hate self-defense. Judge drops charges in Bradenton Stand Your Ground case | Bradenton Herald

Prosecutors said they charged 49-year-old Kevin Richard Armstrong with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon after they say he fired a shotgun at his girlfriend during a shootout at Sunny Shores Mobile Home Park in Cortez.

Except that isn't the whole story.

In the filing, Armstrong says one of the men with the woman called ahead and told him they were coming to retrieve her belongings and that, “if he didn’t cooperate they were going to kill him.” He said that when they arrived, she shoved him and the two men with her displayed firearms from a golf cart.

Armstrong said he fired a single shotgun blast into the air as a warning before one of the men shot back, hitting the woman and also shooting him in the foot.

SO he didn't shoot AT her. He didn't shoot her at all. "Don't clutter the issue with facts."

Then the DA switched to "he escalated the situation." Really. Two men show up with guns and threaten you, and he escalated the situation. Though this is why I don't like warning shots.

The judge dismissed the case. Though as "the process is the punishment" this happened in 2024.

Sunny Shores Mobile Home Park in Bradenton, Florida is about 25 miles south of Saint Peterburg, or about 18 miles from the south end of the Sunshine Skyway bridge. It is located on Palma Sola Bay, just off the Intercoastal Waterway.