One of the shooters, Michael Miller, right before firing on Aaron Howard. KTXS/Kara Box.
As you may know video of a shooting encounter between a father and son duo and their neighbors that ended up with one of the neighbors dead has gone viral. A local news station has more information on the attack, plus video of the encounter recorded by Aaron Howard's wife. Uncensored footage of the attack can be found here, but I won't embed the video due to Blogspot's user polices. Please note that the Youtube video is age restricted (and for good reason) so you will need to sign in to see it.
For those that are unwilling or unable to watch the video it shows the conflict between Aaron Howard and Johnnie and Michael Miller. In what has to be one of the stupidest reasons for a shooting ever, they were having a dispute over a mattress. In the video Aaron Howard is seen threatening both Millers and the Millers responding in kind. Both sides also threw homophobic slurs at each other as well. Eventually, a shooting happens and Howard is seen throwing a baseball bat at Johnnie Miller while Michael Miller shoots him with a shotgun. Both of the Millers were charged with 1st degree murder and are now out on bail.
Before I say anything else it is absolutely CRITICAL to note that the beginning of this encounter was not on the video. We don't know if Aaron Howard did something to provoke the Millers drawing their firearms and if he did it could very well change the outcome of this case. Remember, video isn't perfect as it can often times leave out critical context.
That being said, I don't think this was a good shooting. Why? Well, I am not a lawyer, but it seemed very clear that these men were egging on Howard instead of trying to deescalate the situation. Texas has a "Stand Your Ground" law and they had no duty to retreat but it seems as though the fact that they were threatening to shoot Howard as well might nullify that defense. They also drew their guns which seems to be what set Howard off in the first place and the video doesn't show why they did so in the first place but if it wasn't for a good reason then they are in the wrong. In Texas you can't provoke someone and then claim to Stand Your Ground. The key factor in this case is going to be whether or not the prosecution can prove that the Miller family didn't provoke Howard into attacking them.
As it stands right now, I can't see how the Millers can use the Stand Your Ground as a justification for shooting Howard. Howard may very well have been trying to murder the Millers as he used a baseball bat and said he was going to try and steal one of their guns, but if you draw your guns in a situation started over an old mattress you can't really claim self defense. Plus they were threatening him as much as he was threatening them.
Still, I do think that the Millers probably had a reasonable fear for their lives in this situation. Howard was clearly out of control and was threatening to kill them. He was also armed with a baseball bat which is a lethal weapon and made clear that he wanted to disarm and shoot them. I have always said that anyone crazy enough to charge someone who is pointing a gun at someone is also crazy enough to commit murder. If it wasn't for the question if this attack was provoked or not this would have been self defense and the Millers probably did stop themselves from being hurt or killed.
Of course you could make the argument that Howard was trying to invoke stand your ground as well. He was confronted by two armed men and probably had a reasonable fear that they could have killed him as well. He wouldn't have been able to say that he wasn't provoking this attack since it seemed like a mutual fight to me, but in the unlikely event that he managed to disarm and kill the Millers, he might have tried to raise the defense as well.
I do have to say that this is a great example of what not to do in this kind of case. Both sides made some very obvious and stupid decisions that they had no excuse for making. Getting into a fight over a mattress, of all things, is just stupid. The Millers never should have drawn their guns on this guy and probably should have called the cops and have them deal with Howard if they actually thought he was doing something wrong. Howard shouldn't have escalated things by attacking the Millers and was incredibly stupid in threatening people armed with guns.
This entire situation could have been avoided and reflects poorly on pretty much everyone involved. As a gun owner I would not have handled either side of this confrontation the way it was handled. I've always said that armed people should be the most polite and non-confrontational people in the world and should never go picking a fight. It's clear that both sides of this conflict did go looking for a flight and neither side wanted to deescalate, including Howard's wife. It will be up to a jury to decide if the Millers need to go to prison for the rest of their lives.
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