The pistol whipping wasn’t occurring when the incident took place according to the arrest warrant. It took place earlier in the day.
Or at least, that’s what YOUR favorite source (ajc) is saying.
Let’s read and quote from the ajc.
Quote: According to an arrest warrant, the group went to the North Park at Eagle’s Landing complex on Spindletop Way to confront the victim, Devontae Long.
Quote: On the morning of the shooting, Long and another suspect, Tyreek Farmer, were involved in a fistfight inside an apartment in the 600 building, according to the warrant. Investigators said Farmer claimed he was pistol-whipped by Long and called in several friends as backup.
Quote: They believe Hightower arrived at the complex with five others not long after.
So they showed up where the victim was… looking for a fight, and confronted the victim, not the other way around. This is coming from YOUR source, so don’t try to argue.
And according to the same source, the witness SAW Teshaun with a gun and heard shots. See here.
Quote: He (Hightower) is accused of pulling the trigger when the group confronted Long in a breezeway, according to the warrant. Long’s girlfriend allegedly saw Hightower with the gun and heard the gunshots.
So THEY confronted him well after any pistol whipping (if any even happened; the warrant says it was just a fistfight, not a “pistol whipping,” that’s just what Farmer said later).
And a witness saw Teshaun with a gun, and heard shots…and the guy lying dead is not one of the group of six.
Dig?
This was not, according to the warrant, a case of one guy beating another with a pistol, and five buddies just happening to fortuitously be nearby at the right place and time, and said buddies coming to save him and then shooting the assailant while the beating was in progress.
THAT might very well be a defense of others (not “self” defense) scenario, but that’s not what allegedly happened here.
On the contrary, it’s a case of a guy coming back after an earlier incident bringing his buddies (like six folks total) to take revenge on someone for a previous grievance, bringing a gun with them, and shooting the guy they were looking for vengeance against in the process of confronting (and most likely threatening) him.
Sounds like murder or felony murder to me!
Now then, could the girlfriend be lying?
Maybe. As a I said, we’ll see if she’s credible.
Is it possible that a pistol whipping by the victim was taking place at the time?
Again, maybe.
But that’s not what the warrant says.
The warrant says a fistfight occurred earlier and that these guys showed all showed up after that to confront the guy; as I said, apparently looking for a little revenge.
The notion that a pistol whipping was taking place at the time the others intervened/ the time of the shooting is hard to believe. The defense would have you believe that ONE guy is pistol whipping another guy out of a group of SIX right in front of them???
Come on now. You expect a jury to believe that ONE guy confronted and took on SIX other guys … and even managed to pistol whip one of them, and then they fought back against him in defense?
REALLY???
I don’t think that many people are going to pick a fight with SIX other people, unless they are completely suicidal. More likely the other way around.
That will NOT be an easy case to make.
If a pistol whipping even occurred, it most likely occurred earlier, with the victim coming back with his buddies later to exact a little pay back. That would NOT be self defense or defense of others scenario.
Oh, and coincidentally (chuckle chuckle) one of them had a gun and pulled a trigger on the other guy.
Come on now.
Self defense in a murder case is almost never an “easy” case to make.
And if the facts in the warrant are correct, it will be a VERY hard case to make here. It strains the limits of credulity. Even defense of others won’t work if there was no beating taking place at the time (which is what the warrant says).