St. Tammany Parish District Attorney Warren Montgomery determined Friday that an armed citizen acted in self-defense when he shot and killed an angry, aggressive customer at a Mandeville, Louisiana, gas station in early April.

The customer entered the store and began harassing the clerk, who is of Middle Eastern descent. The customer became increasingly agitated before another customer, who was legally – and openly – carrying a handgun, asked him to back off. At that point, the store clerk had already asked the angry customer to leave and threatened to call the police, but the suspect continued.

The situation escalated and when the armed citizen walked outside to get the man’s license plate number, the suspect attacked the armed citizen, prompting him to shoot the man, who was later identified as 42-year-old Shawn Breland.

“Although Mr. Breland’s death is a tragedy, this office agrees that the shooting was legally justified under the circumstances and will not pursue criminal changes based on the evidence submitted to date,” Montgomery said.

[ Times-Picayune ]