The Nebraska ex-Marine and bar owner who fatally shot a 22-year-old Black Lives Matter protester during riots in the capital has reportedly taken his own life.
Omaha-based Jake Gardner was charged with manslaughter after shooting James Scurlock, 22, outside his bar where he stood armed in an attempt to ward off property damage and theft as riots broke out throughout the city.
As seen in surveillance footage obtained by the authorities, Gardner and his father were talking to the protesters before the bar owner pulled out his gun.
The ex-Marine, who served in Iraq and Haiti, was then pushed to the ground by two protesters before firing two shots. That’s when Scurlock accosted Gardener by jumping on his back and got fatally shot in the process.
Following the incident, Douglas County Attorney Don Kleine refused to file charges against the suspect because he believed that Gardner acted in self-defense after reviewing the footage.
After Kleine got criticized by the public and accused of overlooking other facts related to the incident, he requested the grand jury to take another look at the case.
As Special Prosecutor Frederick Franklin claimed, the review of the case included evidence, including Gardner’s texts and social media interactions, that Kleine didn’t have. While Franklin didn’t provide details about the newly-obtained evidence, he insisted it shows that the killing of Scurlock was intentional.
“There was significant evidence that was consistent with there being an intentional killing by Jake Gardner and that evidence comes primarily from him,” the prosecutor said.
After Gardner was charged and ordered to turn himself in by Sunday, he fatally shot himself in a suicide party according to the Omaha World-Herald.
Following the veteran’s suicide, the suspect’s attorney, Stu Dornan, insisted that his client’s death “did not have to happen” and that he would prove innocent.
“He was deathly afraid of coming back here, because he did not feel he could get a fair trial. And who would blame him?” Dornan said of Gardner, who was out of the state when he was ordered to turn himself in.
“I’m a fan of the constitution. I’m a fan of self defense. I am angry at the rush to judgement, and at not having the opportunity to defend a man who had acted in self defense three times, and was found to have acted in self defense. Yes, I am angry he didn’t have his opportunity for a fair trial, and a fair hearing.”
As the attorney insisted, it is time for “trial by media” to come to an end and for people to have a fair trial instead.
Replaced!