Legal/Law/Criminal Justice and Reform

Woman Kills Man Arrested For Murdering His Father

Screen Capture/Bodycam footage released by Martin County Sheriff's Office

A Deerfield Beach, Florida, woman fatally shot a man previously arrested for murder Wednesday, Broward County authorities said.

A witness told Local 10 News, a Miami-based TV station, that Maurice Wright Jr., 31, found out where his ex-girlfriend lived and attacked her. Wright and the ex-girlfriend were arguing loudly enough for neighbors to hear before the confrontation became physical.

“What I heard is that the dude was abusing her, abusing the 4-year-old and tried to abuse the 11-year-old,” neighbor Marcelle Thomas told Local10.com.

“So she had to do what she had to to defend her and her daughter, and she did that,” Thomas added, noting that Wright and the woman had a difficult relationship in addition to the claims Wright had been abusive towards her and the children.

After questioning the woman about the incident, police released her. The Broward County Sheriff’s Office will present the case to prosecutors once the investigation is concluded.

In an interview with the Daily Caller News Foundation, legendary self-defense expert Massad Ayoob explained “disparity of force,” which he defined as “an advantage on one side, that even though the person is ostensibly unarmed, if the assault continues, it’s reasonable to believe that death or crippling injury could ensue and that would warrant a deadly force response in self-defense.”

“The male is generally larger and stronger and is generally seen as having more cultural predispositioning to violence,” Ayoob told the DCNF while discussing a thwarted Maryland carjacking.