Man Being Beaten With Baseball Bat Faces Charges For Shooting His Attackers?

The last I checked, a man being held and beaten with a baseball bat by multiple assailants would seem to be under a clear assault with a deadly weapon, justifying a lethal force response in self defense.

That’s why I have to wonder what the heck is going on in Milwaukee, where a maintenance man being beaten in a stairwell with a baseball bat faces charges after killing his attackers:

The 39-year-old man accused of shooting the two Wednesday afternoon while he was being beaten with a baseball bat is being held in the Milwaukee County Jail on possible homicide charges.

The shootings were reported about 1 p.m. Wednesday at an apartment building in the 1400 block of N. 27th St.

Police said an argument occurred between the janitor and three people: the teens and a 20-year-old man.

The argument in the apartment stairwell led to a physical altercation, during which the maintenance worker was being held while one of the three beat him with the bat, officials said Wednesday.

The janitor then drew a gun and fired, shooting the two teens, police said.

He was hospitalized for injuries related to the bat-beating and has since been released.

The maintenance worker is now being held in jail on two possible counts of first-degree intentional homicide, according to jail records.

The man who was with the teens is being held in jail on a potential substantial battery charge, Milwaukee police said Thursday.

Neither man had been named by police or charged in court as of Thursday afternoon. The Milwaukee County district attorney’s office was expected to begin reviewing the case Thursday, police said.

According to an earlier version of the story, there was cell phone video of the confrontation shot by the man who was with the teens.

The fact that they are considering charges would indicates either a very cautious investigation, the possibility that the maintenance man was a prohibited person not legally in possession of the handgun he used to defend himself, that he shot his attackers after they disengaged, or perhaps that he instigated the fight.

All that allowed, I can’t easily think of many situations where a jury would convict a man who was attacked by multiple assailants with a weapon who then defended himself.

This case bears watching.

Source: Bearingarms.com