Bartholomew Roberts
Moderator
Cortez Waller of Conway, Arkansas shot Chris Childress in front of his girlfriend and children outside of a police station in Conway in 2010. The entire shooting was captured on video.
Based on several different news reports both after the shooting and during the trial, Waller had been sleeping with Childress's girlfriend and the mother of his 3 children. Childress had accused Waller of following the girlfriend and had threatened Waller on several occasions.
In the video, you can see Waller pulling up to the police station as Childress boxes him in with a truck and jumps out of the truck and comes running at Waller who has exited his vehicle. Waller shoots Childress multiple times with a .45. Waller then enters the police station and attempts to find someone at the lobby. After not finding anyone, he begins to leave and is arrested by two officers. He was subsequently charged with murder and claimed self-defense during his trial. After nine hours of deliberation, a jury acquitted Waller on self-defense grounds.
I thought this was worth talking about in Tactics and Training because we have both a video of the initial shooting and the news reports both immediately after the shooting and throughout the trial. As a result, we have a great deal of detail we don't normally have in these cases. I also thought it was a good case to discuss because either one of the men had the oppotunity to avoid this situation by using better tactics. If you are Waller, how do you avoid shooting a guy who may be an actual threat to you; but who is arguably provoked by your behavior? If you are Childress, how do you deal with this threat, without putting you and your family in danger?
Based on several different news reports both after the shooting and during the trial, Waller had been sleeping with Childress's girlfriend and the mother of his 3 children. Childress had accused Waller of following the girlfriend and had threatened Waller on several occasions.
In the video, you can see Waller pulling up to the police station as Childress boxes him in with a truck and jumps out of the truck and comes running at Waller who has exited his vehicle. Waller shoots Childress multiple times with a .45. Waller then enters the police station and attempts to find someone at the lobby. After not finding anyone, he begins to leave and is arrested by two officers. He was subsequently charged with murder and claimed self-defense during his trial. After nine hours of deliberation, a jury acquitted Waller on self-defense grounds.
I thought this was worth talking about in Tactics and Training because we have both a video of the initial shooting and the news reports both immediately after the shooting and throughout the trial. As a result, we have a great deal of detail we don't normally have in these cases. I also thought it was a good case to discuss because either one of the men had the oppotunity to avoid this situation by using better tactics. If you are Waller, how do you avoid shooting a guy who may be an actual threat to you; but who is arguably provoked by your behavior? If you are Childress, how do you deal with this threat, without putting you and your family in danger?