Odd Story: Mom turns in son in Walmart pellet gun shooting

[Calamari]

http://www2.tbo.com/news/pasco-news/...lut-ar-597964/

A 25-year-old man charged in the pellet-gun shooting of a man he mistakenly thought was a Muslim showed no remorse and made racist statements even as he was arrested, a detective who investigated the case said Friday.

"The only thing the world cares about is those Muslims," defendant Daniel P. Quinnell reportedly said as he was taken into custody.
...

If the gun had been anything other than a pellet gun, Mohammed most likely would have been killed, Schoneman said.

Probably one of the most interesting parts of this story is that Mohammed was supposedly carrying himself, but did not shoot his attacker. His attacker was carrying a pellet gun because of an earlier conviction.

[Calamari]

Ah, here it is:

Victim in Pasco hate crime had gun, decided not to use it

LUTZ — Cameron Mohammed stood there in the Walmart parking lot, blood spouting from his head and his neck, his hand on his gun, while he watched the man who had just shot him dash into the night.

The opportunities for self defense or vengeance were plenty. He could have pulled out the .45-caliber Taurus pistol right then and put a bullet in his assailant. He could have done so when Daniel Quinnell craned his gun at point-blank range and squeezed the trigger for the first of 20 times. Or even before the attack, when deputies say Quinnell approached Mohammed and his girlfriend from behind, yelling racial epithets. Any of those instances would have been defensible in court.

But Mohammed, 24, kept his gun in the holster. Because his attacker used a pellet gun. Mohammed's was real.

"I don't know. I just couldn't do it," Mohammed said, recovering at his Tampa home two days after the attack. "I couldn't blow this guy away for something he could change later in life. I'm not going to decide this man's fate."

[Gopher]

Schoneman said Quinnell has been arrested numerous times and over the years the sheriff's office has had contact with him 51 times for various reasons, but she was not aware of any that involved a hate crime.

The dude appears to be more trouble than he's worth. Mr. Mohammed should have dropped him right there in the parking lot. End of story.

[ms maggie]

Man you just never appreciate the problems other people have. The parents of this kid, what a nightmare. Happily he wasn't carrying a real gun.

[gonzoliberal]

Carrying is serious business.

It's great that this particular time, discretion was the greater part of valor.