White Man Claims Self-Defense After Gunning Down Black Teenager for Shooting Fireworks

A Texas man arrested for killing his teenage neighbor in a dispute over fireworks claims he only shot the victim in self-defense but police say cell-phone video shows otherwise.

According to the Austin Statesman, 41-year-old Jason Roche shot 19-year-old Devonte Ortiz on July 4 during a heated dispute over fireworks. Roche told police that he repeatedly told Ortiz to stop shooting fireworks. Roche said his demands led to an argument between the two, and Ortiz, who is black, reportedly reached in his car to grab a gun. Roche says he shot Ortiz before the crafty teenager could harm him.

Police agreed with part of Roche’s story after they found a handgun and rifle in Ortiz’s car. But now they say have obtained cell phone video that tells a different story. The video shows ...

Wait. I think there’s a mistake in the article. My sources say that Roche is 41 years old, but we have a picture of a white man who’s somewhere between 59 and 117 years old. Plus, I’m pretty sure that’s a picture of the actor who played Hank in Breaking Bad. That can’t be right. Let me go check...

Well, it turns out that Roche just looks old.

Anyway, in the video, according to Roche’s arrest affidavit, Roche and Ortiz get into an argument. Roche is seen unholstering and holstering his weapon numerous times, displaying it to Ortiz. Roche’s father attempts to intervene in the argument and gets into a shoving match with Ortiz.

That’s right—a 41-year-old man and his father, who I’m going to assume looks like he’s 1,038 years old, were arguing about firecrackers at 1:30 a.m. and then pulled out a gun on a teenager. because obviously, they couldn’t double-team the teen. That would just be wrong.

Roche’s father falls down from Ortiz’s shove, and that’s when Roche pulls out the gun and shoots Ortiz, who died at the hospital. According to the affidavit, police believe Ortiz was moving away from the Roche’s gun and not lunging toward it like Roche told officers.

Again, Devonte Ortiz was 19 years old.

Ortiz’s family and many others in Austin are describing the incident as reminiscent of George Zimmerman, who gunned down Trayvon Martin in 2012, as Roche is expected to use Texas’ liberal “Stand Your Ground Law” as his defense.

He is being held on $250,000 bond which I will assume will be hard for him to raise, considering he was 41 years old and lived with his father. We’ll be praying for him...

To burn.