One man's actions in a double shooting in Port St. Lucie, Florida have been deemed a justifiable act of self-defense, with the local police chief heaping praise on the armed citizen for possibly preventing a greater loss of life.
The shooting happened early Sunday morning after a woman got locked out of a home and called her boyfriend to bring her a key. Police say when Carl Loubeau showed up at the home, he became enraged over the fact that his girlfriend was with two other men, Juliun Stokes and Dwayne Walker.
Police say Loubeau approached Stokes as he stood beside Stokes' Mustang in the driveway and opened fire.
"It appears that Juliun [Stokes] was standing beside the open driver's door reaching into the vehicle when Carl [Loubeau] approached him from that same side of the vehicle and opened fire on him," Chief Niemczyk said. "Dwayne [Walker] was in close proximity, probably around the trunk of the Mustang when he was approached."
Walker, who investigators say is a close friend of Stokes, was also in the driveway. Detectives say he immediately returned fire, shooting Loubeau in what they believe was self-defense.
Investigators say Stokes never fired his weapon. Detectives also believe Loubeau may have mistaken Stokes for Walker, who police say was involved in some type of relationship with Loubeau's girlfriend.
Port St. Lucie Police Chief Leo Niemczyk told reporters on Monday that Walker's ability to shoot back is "the epitome of why people carry firearms in the state of Florida to protect themselves."
"Had he not been armed, had he not been there, who knows what would've occurred; there might have been more deaths, Carl might've shot everybody there," the chief added.
If Loubeau was angry enough to kill a man he mistakenly believed was Walker, then yes, I think it's fair to say that Walker had a reasonable belief that his life was in danger. And there is no guarantee that Loubeau would have stopped after killing the two men.
The chief, while offering praise for Walker, also criticized Loubeau for escalating a situation from an argument to gunfire.
"It’s just a horrible choice for a solution of a problem that is nowhere near that complex. They’re fighting over a girl. There are plenty of women in the world. Do you want to take the chance of being killed, killing someone, and going to prison for the rest of your life, or worse, over a lost relationship? It makes no sense. So when you become emotionally charged, you have to slow down, think, give yourself a minute and gain some clarity," Niemczyk said.
There are a lot of "what ifs" here.
If Loubeau had learned in that moment that his girlfriend was also involved with another man, I can understand his anger and injured pride. Still, as Niemczyk said, there was no reason for Loubeau to start shooting. He could have driven away and left his girlfriend and her two companions outside of the locked home, and if he'd done so he would still be alive today (as would Juliun Stokes).
If Walker had decided not to carry his gun with him that night, Port St. Lucie police could easily have rolled up on the scene of a triple homicide, and Loubeau might be facing three counts of murder today.
What happened is tragic, but it could have been so much worse had Walker been unarmed.
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