Jacksonville, Florida resident Michael Dunn (left), 45, is suspected of killing Jordan Davis (right), 17, after shooting into the SUV carrying the teen 8 or 9 times because he felt “threatened,” reports News4Jax.com.
(CNN) — The attorney for a Florida man who shot at a car of unarmed teens over the weekend, killing one, says the incident bares no resemblance to the infamous Trayvon Martin case.
Her client, Michael Dunn, is no “vigilante” but did feel threatened and shot out of “self defense,” the attorney said.
“There are no comparisons to the Trayvon Martin situation,” said Robin Lemonidis, Dunn’s attorney. “He is devastated and horrified by the death of the teen.”
Dunn, 45, was denied bond Monday on a murder charge stemming from the weekend shooting in Jacksonville. The violence was sparked by a confrontation about loud music at a gas station, the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office said.
Dunn told authorities that he had asked the teens to turn down the blaring music from their vehicle adjacent to his, as he waited for his his girlfriend to return to the car.
He heard threats from the teens, Dunn told police, he felt threatened and thought he saw a gun in the teens’ car. He grabbed his gun and fired at least eight shots, authorities said.
Seventeen-year-old Jordan Davis, among the teens, was killed. There were no guns found inside the teens’ car, the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office said.
Ron Davis, the victim’s father, says he is devastated and doesn’t believe the shooting was self defense.
“He did something that there was no defense for,” the father said.
Ron Davis says his son Jordan, didn’t own any guns, wasn’t part of a gang and was a good kid. When Dunn pulled out the gun, the teens’ initially thought it was a fake then frantically tried to back up the car before being caught in the gunfire, Ron Davis said.
The father said he talked to two of the teens who were in the car and they are “really shaken.”
Jordan’s body will to be moved to Atlanta, the home of his biological mother, on Thursday, before a Saturday funeral.
Some have compared this incident to the Trayvon Martin case, the shooting of an unarmed Florida teen earlier this year that sparked nationwide protests and inflamed public passions over race relations and gun control, as well as Florida’s controversial “Stand Your Ground” law, which allows the use of deadly force when a person perceives a threat to safety.
Similar to Trayvon Martin, Davis was 17, unarmed and African American.
But Dunn’s attorney says her client’s action should not be compared to George Zimmerman, the volunteer neighborhood watchman who is charged with second-degree murder in the February 26 shooting death in Sanford, Florida.
“That’s ridiculous. Michael is not a vigilante,” the attorney said. “He’s a brilliant software developer. It was never his intention to kill anyone.”
The attorney said she is contemplating what defense she will use if the case goes to trial.
“Self defense applies because Mr. Dunn was threatened,” Lemonidis said. “We cant say what the defense will be at this stage … but stand your ground is a possibility.”
CNN’s Lateef Mungin contributed to this report.
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