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Summary

At a Lafayette, Indiana anti-Trump rally Saturday, a man pulled an assault-style rifle after clashing with protesters who blocked his truck at a Third Street intersection.

Video shows the man in a MAGA hat yelling at protesters, prompting another man—angered by the confrontation with women—to intervene.

The two exchanged shouts before the protester headbutted the man. He returned to his truck, retrieved a rifle, and reentered the crowd.

Police detained but released him, citing self-defense. The “Hands Off!” rally drew nearly 1,000 people and ended early amid safety concerns.

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[-] ToadOfHypnosis@lemm.ee 174 points 1 week ago

If you can leave the situation safely - like being able to go back to your truck - it’s not self defense.

[-] adarza@lemmy.ca 114 points 1 week ago

yup. as soon as he grabbed the gun and went back to threaten people with it.. he committed the felony.

[-] thedruid@lemmy.world 44 points 1 week ago

Louder. For the people in the back.

[-] aramova@infosec.pub 44 points 1 week ago

Fat fuck wants to be another Rittenhouse

[-] breezeblock@lemm.ee 40 points 1 week ago

Tell that to the police...

[-] curbstickle@lemmy.dbzer0.com 36 points 1 week ago

They are too busy ~~fabricating~~... ~~planting~~... finding the evidence they need to arrest some protestors.

[-] barneypiccolo@lemm.ee 56 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

Self-defense isn't going back to your vehicle to get a weapon to come back and terrorize people. That's assault.

If he had returned with his weapon, and someone killed him, THAT would be self-defense.

[-] MBech@feddit.dk 37 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

Doesn't matter. They even determined that planning to get yourself in an unsafe situation with the purpose of shooting protesters, travelling across states with a gun to again very intentionally get yourself in a situation where you'd need to use it, is still self defense. Even when you shoot someone without actually being in danger, it becomes self defense when other people are trying to stop you. All of this, as long as your victims are protesting against right-wing policies, has been determined in court to be self defense.

[-] CosmicTurtle0@lemmy.dbzer0.com 32 points 1 week ago

Only if you're white and conservative.

[-] crusa187@lemmy.ml 16 points 1 week ago

I wonder if I could legally defend myself in this manner at one of the neo nazi rallies in Springfield or Charlottesville? Somehow I doubt the police would characterize it the same way.

[-] JAPJER@mtgzone.com 30 points 1 week ago

Exactly. It's obvious who the cops were siding with here.

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[-] Rhoeri@lemmy.world 96 points 1 week ago

Inserts himself into a situation he wasn’t invited to, or welcome at, instigates people for the purpose of “justified” retaliation- whips out his loaded lib-killer , and is summarily released by law enforcement.

I’d say those folks dun’ got Rittenhoused!

[-] painfulasterisk1@lemmy.ml 45 points 1 week ago

I agree with you. That's not how "self-defense works". If the snowflake geot hit, walks away from the situation, gets armed, and returns to attack the person that attacked such a fragile sheep, this is not self-defense, it's retaliation.

The sheep crybaby and whoever proclaimed this as self-defense are just a bunch of puppets.

[-] MrBananaGrabber@lemmy.today 41 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

That’s most likely why the police changed the order of events around:

"During the event, an adult male driver attempted to make a lawful turn at the intersection of Third Street andColumbia Street when his path was obstructed by protesters standing in the roadway. A verbal altercationensued between the driver and protesters," the release said. "The situation escalated when the driver exited his vehicle and was subsequently pushed and battered by individuals in the crowd. The driver then retrieved a firearm from his vehicle in what he described as an act of self-defense.

"He did not discharge the weapon and promptly returned it to his truck. Shortly after, a male protester approachedthe driver and head-butted him, causing injury," police said.

Even though multiple protesters described it otherwise. ACAB.

Edit: punctuationification

[-] Bytemeister@lemmy.world 13 points 1 week ago

It's not a lawful turn if there is a pedestrian in the path of the vehicle.

There was an altercation and then he retreated and came back with a firearm. That's not self defense, that's brandishing.

I can understand the police not making that determination at the time, their goal should be to de-escalate and separate the conflicting parties, but they should send someone round to pick this guy up and book him for the felony he committed afterwards.

[-] Kolanaki@pawb.social 9 points 1 week ago

There's also video of the events that clearly shows the police statement is fucked.

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Self-defense requires there to be an ongoing threat to your or someone else's immediate safety. If he was able to leave the altercation, head to his truck to retrieve his rifle, and then return to the situation that's not self-defense, its premeditation.

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[-] noxypaws@pawb.social 65 points 1 week ago

I bet if someone drew a concealed pistol on him after he pulled out his rifle the cops would NOT consider it self defense.

ACAB.

Mr. Mangione was defending himself. Case Dismissed.

[-] jaschen@lemm.ee 32 points 1 week ago

He was defending the entire country

[-] qarbone@lemmy.world 34 points 1 week ago

He wasn't. Because he didn't kill that CEO. My man's innocent.

Whoever did happen to off that CEO certainly did everyone a favor tho

[-] daepicgamerbro69@lemmy.world 12 points 1 week ago

as far as i am concerned Thompson's body just did that weird bullet thing 3 times in a row. Seems to be a latent condition in most billionaires.

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[-] NocturnalMorning@lemmy.world 58 points 1 week ago

How does going back to your vehicle and retrieving a n assault rifle count as self defense? That's premeditated at that point if he were to use it.

The difference between this, and any other mass shooting is just whether this guy decided to pull the trigger, which he obviously wanted too.

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[-] inclementimmigrant@lemmy.world 50 points 1 week ago
[-] the_q@lemm.ee 42 points 1 week ago

Self defense would be a headbutt back or fists, not the AmRepublican-14.

[-] sunshine@lemmy.ml 40 points 1 week ago

there's video, no one was doing anything to him. he got out of his SUV, started yelling at people, returned to the vehicle, got back out with the weapon at his side. self defense would have been (a) for literally anyone to have threatened him and (b) for him to simply leave the scene.

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[-] Ezsnake324@lemm.ee 37 points 1 week ago
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[-] rockettaco37@lemmy.world 35 points 1 week ago

This is what we're up against.

I'll be damned if I let these people continue to run our country

[-] PixelatedCleric@lemmy.dbzer0.com 31 points 1 week ago

Why does it feel like he was a failed attempt at inciting violence in protests to make them look unreasonable?

[-] jared@mander.xyz 16 points 1 week ago

He fucked around and found out most of them were exceedingly reasonable, except the one that busted his face 😊

[-] shittydwarf@lemmy.dbzer0.com 9 points 1 week ago

Looks like he slipped

[-] thedruid@lemmy.world 9 points 1 week ago

Well I mean it was a reasonable breakage of said face, since y'know... Nazi.. but your point is valid

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[-] sndmn@lemmy.ca 19 points 1 week ago
[-] meco03211@lemmy.world 17 points 1 week ago

So Indiana is a "stand your ground" state. That generally removes any duty to retreat. I'd be curious how they rule when he clearly retreated to his vehicle already, and only then retrieved a weapon, brandished it, and reentered a crowd. If they allow self defense, how far is someone allowed to retreat in order to retrieve a weapon and re-engage? Can I go all the way back to my house and get a gun to defend myself?

Of course this will only be litigated if the public can pressure the prosecutor to press charges. If not it'll be easy for the cops to disproportionately apply that defense to like minded miscreants.

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[-] SabinStargem@lemmy.today 16 points 1 week ago

Protestors should bear arms. Soon enough, the Rittenhouses of the right will need to be put down when they behave like rabid DOGEs.

Conservatives escalate, and must be met in kind when they do so.

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[-] PlaneMaker@feddit.org 12 points 1 week ago

It shocks me every time again, seeing how casually people carry guns in the US

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[-] derry@midwest.social 11 points 1 week ago

Wonder if the boots taste different in Indiana...

[-] Ileftreddit@lemmy.world 10 points 1 week ago

I mean lots of people open carry. Hopefully we don’t get to this point, but if someone threatens someone else with firearm, lots of localities justify lethal force at that point (one must always assume a firearm is loaded)

[-] militaryintelligence@lemmy.world 10 points 1 week ago

Of course. If he was black the story would be different

[-] MehBlah@lemmy.world 9 points 1 week ago

He will shoot next time. Like a not so smart missile they just aimed him at decent human beings.

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this post was submitted on 06 Apr 2025
399 points (99.3% liked)

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