Quadarius McDowell, 30 (photo, left), of Decatur, Georgia, took his car to a tire shop (photo below) on Saturday, December 31, 2022.
When he saw Daniel Gorden, 24 (photo, right), a tire shop employee, moving his car he assumed Gorden was stealing it and shot him to death (see story here).
McDowell was arrested for murder.
From the foregoing, we can conclude:
- Assuming is bad.
- Packing heat is bad.
- Being a vigilante is bad.
Just because both the shooter and victim were black doesn’t mean there wasn’t racial profiling. McDowell may have assumed Gorden was stealing his car because Gorden was black.
You may remember another vigilante case from Georgia. In that one, three white men accosted and killed black jogger Ahmaud Arbery. They got life sentences. If criminal justice is consistent in Georgia, this vigilante will, too.
There are various ways to write up this story, e.g. “idiots with guns,” or “when you ASS U ME things,” or “black-on-black” crime; pick your pet peeve. For me, it’s vigilantism, a kissing cousin of America’s fascination with guns and more people carrying them everywhere, which is a really bad idea. There are very few circumstances in which you can shoot someone and not go to prison.
