Killer Found Guilty of Murder Due to Loud Music Conflict

October 1st, Michael Dunn was found guilty of first-degree murder during his retrial of the murder of Jordan Davis.

Previously on November 23rd of 2012, 47-year-old Dunn was in an altercation with teenagers in a Jacksonville, Florida gas station parking lot, as reported by Los Angeles Times. The argument was over loud “thug” music in the teens’ car. Dunn asked them to lower the volume and was met with a comprising response from everyone but Davis, according to Dunn. As reported by CBS News, Dunn stated that a male in the backseat became angry and demanded the music to be turned back on with a string of curse words.

During his statement, he recalled the scene leading up to him shooting, “I saw the barrel of a gun. I’m petrified. I’m in fear for my life, this guy just threatened to kill me and showed me a gun,” said Dunn. Though it was stated no gun was found in the car or the surrounding the surrounding area after the incident, Dunn grabbed his handgun from his glove box and fired at the car as it sped away in his claim of self-defense. Dunn’s multiple shots killed Davis and left the others unharmed.

The first trial began in Feb. of 2014 where Dunn was found guilty of three charges of attempted second-degree murder and one count of shooting deadly missiles, as stated by Florida Today. Dunn is facing as much as 75 years just on those charges. There was a hung jury on the charge of first-degree murder, which led to the recent retrial.

The retrial began on Sept. 22nd of 2014 where the jury heard repeated testimonies of witnesses on the scene of the murder. As reported by First Coast News, Tevin Thompson was present at the shooting as he was a friend of Davis and was driving the parked car. Thompson testified that the group of four went to gas station for gum and played loud rap music in the parking lot. Dunn was seated in the car next to them, so close he couldn’t open his door.

Thompson confirmed that Dunn requested they turned down the music but Davis became angry, began cursing at Dunn, and asked Thompson to increase the volume again. This began the argument leading to Dunn firing at the car as Thompson drove away. He also testified that no one in the car had a weapon or threatened Dunn’s life.

The jury found Dunn guilty of first-degree murder on October 1st, 2014. Dunn faces a life sentence but the sentencing hearing is scheduled for October 17th, 2014.

Racial tension has been a sensitive topic recently and I asked the opinion of Urbana High School Junior Troy Webster. “The group should’ve turned down the music but it shouldn’t have come down to shooting,” said Webster, “This incident also relates to Michael Brown as they were both shot unarmed. We go back to the intolerable white supremacy mindset with these shootings.”