Warning: graphic content.
An off-duty firefighter in Missouri was shot and killed outside a gas station earlier this month. Anthony “Tony” Santi, a 41-year-old Kansas City firefighter, when another customer got violent because they didn’t carry his brand of cigars.
Eventually, the attendant ordered him out of the store, but he refused to go. The customer, Ja’Von Taylor, 23, then hurled expletives at the store clerk.
Santi got involved and he told Taylor to leave. The two began fighting first in the store and then outside. Taylor pulled his gun and Santi knocked it away.
As the two were fighting, Taylor’s girlfriend, who has not been identified, picked up the gun and told Santi to let Taylor go.
She then warned him that she would shoot him. She fired one shot into Santi’s back, killing him. The police have announced that she will face no charges as it was ruled self-defense on her part because she feared that Santi would kill Taylor.
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A Kansas City woman has been set free of charges tonight after protecting her boyfriend in a fight with a firefighter. The young lady seconds later killed the firefighter which has now been declared as self defense. ⚠️ pic.twitter.com/tuxV15oTC1
— Kansas City Discover (@KcDiscover) October 19, 2022
From The Blaze
The woman shot Santi moments after the conclusion of the video. After the shot, Santi got up off the ground and walked back into the store, where he collapsed and died.
After reviewing the video, Jackson County prosecutors declined to press charges against the woman, arguing that she could reasonably claim self-defense.
“We grieve with the family and community over this tragic loss of life of Mr. Santi,” the prosecutor’s office wrote in a statement. “Missouri law governs this case, specifically self-defense and defense of others, leading us to decline charges after a careful review.”
“If a case is declined, it’s just because we don’t believe there’s sufficient evidence to get to that highest burden of proof,” Jackson County prosecutor Jean Peters Baker explained to reporters.
Kevin Jamison, a Missouri attorney who has practiced law for 40 years and who “wrote Missouri’s book on weapons and self-defense,” according to WDAF-TV, also weighed in on why prosecutors may have declined to press charges in this case.
Kevin Jamison, a Missouri attorney said:
“Technically, it’s called the defense of justification and your justification is you are saving the life of another person.”
“The girlfriend is only constrained by what she reasonably believed to be the circumstances. If she didn’t see the start of the fight, all she knows is her boyfriend is getting strangled.”
Taylor’s girlfriend will not face charges, but Taylor will face charges of weapon possession by a felon. He had previously been convicted of first-degree robbery with a gun. It is not known when his conviction was or how long he had to serve. Santi joined the Kansas City Fire Department 11 years ago. He loved the outdoors and loved his dog Donnie and his daughter, whom he called “the light of his life.
