Man accused of killing teen waives first appearance
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -
Michael Dunn waived his first appearance in Duval County court Wednesday morning on charges of second-degree murder and attempted murder in the shooting death of 17-year-old Jordan Davis.
Police brought Dunn, 45, from Brevard County to Jacksonville on Tuesday. His next court date was set for Dec. 19.
Dunn is accused of firing eight or nine shots into an SUV carrying Davis and three other teenagers Friday night at the Gate gas station on Southside Boulevard at Baymeadows Road.
Jacksonville Sheriff's Office investigators said the shots were fired after Dunn had a verbal altercation with the teens over loud music and that no weapon was found in the SUV.
Dunn's lawyer said he saw a shotgun coming from the SUV and felt his life was in danger.
"Absolutely he was threatened. He was threatened," Dunn's attorney, Robin Lemonidis, said. "With a firearm. Mr. Dunn is very, very familiar with firearms. He is an avid firearms owner. Has a concealed weapons permit. Had his firearm properly secured and encased in his glove compartment, no rounds in the chamber, and when he started hearing epithets, and I don't think I should say them here, in polite company, epithets that were extraordinarily threatening to him."
She went on to say what her client told her he heard the teens say.
"Uh, 'Kill that mother (expletive),' 'That mother (expletive) is dead,' 'You dead (expletive),'" Lemonidis said of what Dunn heard from the teens. "And he sees that much of a shotgun coming up over the rim of the SUV, which is up higher than his Jetta, and all he sees are heavily tinted front windows that are up and the back windows that are down, and the car has at least four black men in it, and he doesn't know how old anyone is, and he doesn't know anything, but he knows a shotgun when he sees one because he got his first gun as a gift from his grandparents when he was in third grade."
Jacksonville police said Monday there was no gun found in the victim's vehicle.
"I humbly suggest that they may not have looked hard enough, and it certainly would not have been in the vehicle when they looked unless they had stopped it immediately, which I doubt they did," Lemonidis said.
According to the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office, Dunn and his girlfriend had attended his son's wedding earlier on Friday, and they were on their way back to their hotel when they stopped at the gas station at Southside Boulevard and Baymeadows Road about 7:40 p.m.
Police said two other 17-year-olds and an 18-year-old were in the SUV with Davis when Dunn told them to turn the music down.
Davis (pictured right), a 17-year-old Wolfson High School student, was hit by two bullets, police said.
Lemonidis said Dunn and his girlfriend had stopped to get a bottle of wine before heading back to the hotel after the wedding.
"All he did was pull up next to this car, or the car pulled up next to him, he's on the passenger side of their car, and he said, he rolled down his window and politely said, 'Would you mind turning that music down?'" Lemonidis said. "And the driver apparently turned it off immediately. Then he hears from the back, 'That (expletive), he can't, that (expletive), we ain't going to tell us where to turn our music down,' and boom, they cranked it back up as loud as it would go. Louder than it had been."
Investigators said Dunn's girlfriend was inside the store when the shooting happened. Dunn was sitting in the driver's seat waiting for her.
"When he saw the shotgun barrel come up in the rear passenger window, he saw about three to four inches of it," Lemonidis said. "He estimated the gauge of the shotgun, the type, everything, he's very familiar with firearms, as I said, owns firearms and has since he was in third grade. He immediately went into self-defense mode, which any responsible firearms owner would do."
Prosecutor Mark Caliel commented Wednesday about the accusation that there was a shotgun in the victim's car and it was disposed of.
"It's really innappropriate for attorneys to be commenting about the evidence of a pending case because of the adverse effect it could have on our ability to try the case fairly," Caliel said. "Commenting on the evidence is supposed to be left to the courtroom, and that's what we're going to do. We're going to investigate the case thoroughly. I know the Sheriff's Office has been working tirelessly since the shooting took place, as well as the state attorney's office responded to the scene."
Police said Dunn's girlfriend came running outside and jumped in the vehicle, and they took off. Police said Dunn's girlfriend will not face charges because she has cooperated with investigators.
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