[dirkk]

I think tiring phone calls from a nut is too distant a comparison to this situation. Not walking away (figuratively) from a conflict contributes to escalation. Exacerbating the situation by adding your own insults and taunts is proactive contribution to escalation. That will be weighed in.

There is no exact way to determine state of mind. But all you can do is examine behavior leading to an incident to determine how to distribute culpability. Yeah, yeah, I know you can't read minds and newspapers never get the facts right. But assuming they did ... it would be hard to show that the shooter wasn't looking for a fight, or even a reason to shoot. Even if that weren't true.