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Wow. To me this raises a lot of other questions.
- What if they hadn't had any pepper spray? The "imminence" is gone (gun back in pants) but he just threatened to kill me and he's still yelling, coming closer and any "reasonable person" sure as hell ought to still see him as a lethal threat
- What does position have to do with the outcome, meaning, the clerks are positioned behind a counter such that they're (probably) trapped and can't escape or retreat
- What if, after all this went down, the gun in his hand was a replica Glock squirt gun and he was just intimidating? Or so high he didn't know the difference? But the clerks didn't know that until after the investigation?
- What if this happened on the open street...no pepper spray...the person being threatened has the space to run away, but (like me) has knee and back problems and doesn't believe he can outrun the gun-toter if it becomes a chase? And certainly can't outrun a bullet?
All the laws about deadly force seem written from the perspective of someone who has perfect knowledge of all details and infinite time to think and deliberate -- not someone who's just realized he's about to die, sees something vaguely gun-shaped in the hands of someone acting threateningly, never wanted to hurt anyone but wants to get home to their kids again.
And -- if "imminence" only means "other guy's gun is drawn," then it's probably too late. Drawing mine will almost surely get me shot.
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