On April 4 a citizen openly carrying a handgun shot and killed a suspect who allegedly attacked him for trying to deescalate a verbal assault on a Middle Eastern man.
The incident occurred in Mandeville, Louisiana, around 10 a.m.
According to The Times-Picayune, 42-year-old Shawn Breland entered a convenience store in “a highly agitate state” and allegedly began verbally assaulting the store clerk, who is of Middle Eastern descent. This reportedly included the use of “verbal slurs.” The clerk ordered Breland to leave and threatened to call police.
Breland allegedly “left but re-entered the store several times, becoming more aggressive each time,” leaving the clerk no choice but to call police.
In the meantime, an armed citizen who was openly carrying a handgun walked outside to try to get the numbers off Breland’s license plate. Breland then allegedly focused his anger on the armed customer and “attacked him.” The customer drew his gun and warned that he would shoot, but Breland allegedly refused to relent. The armed customer shot three times. Breland was pronounced dead at a medical center a short time later.
Police Chief Rick Richard explained that the customer was within his rights to carry the handgun openly. Richard said, “Louisiana is an open-carry state. The guy was straight-up legal.”
AWR Hawkins is the Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.