The prosecutor who opted not to press charges against a Missouri woman who fatally shot a firefighter is receiving threats and hateful calls because of the decision.
A viral video of part of the incident shows the woman trying to defuse a fight between her boyfriend, Ja’Von Taylor, and Anthony “Tony” Santi.
However, the Jackson County Prosecuting Attorney’s office said she ultimately shot Santi with Taylor’s weapon because he was choking her boyfriend, who was “turning purple.”
“The rule of law required that this case be declined,” the prosecutor’s office in a statement.
Missouri self-defense law allows a person to “use physical force” if they “reasonably believes such force to be necessary to defend” another person from “imminent” danger. Since the decision, the office’s employees and the elected prosecutor Jean Peters Baker have received sexist and racist threats.
The Jackson County Prosecuting Attorney’s office released audio of one of the calls along with the statement.
“You fucking n***er loving whore. F**king n***er lovers that we’re gonna burn your f**king house down,” a man says in a message to the prosecutor’s office. “You f**king little n***er lovers, every f**king last one of you that lives there. We’re f**king coming for you. We see what the f**k you’re doing, you f**king n***er loving c**ts.”
The office’s director of communications Michael Mansur said the office does not “typically release statements on declined cases without new facts,” however, they were “compelled to do so because of the circumstances.”
Reports show Santi got into a verbal altercation with Taylor after a store clerk asked him to leave over an argument about the availability of his favorite brand of cigars. Santi demanded the other man leave, and he followed Taylor into the parking lot, where the woman sat in Taylor’s car.
Taylor took the weapon from the vehicle, and the men started fighting over it. Cellphone footage shows the woman taking the gun from Taylor’s hand while begging the men to stop tussling.
The prosecutor’s office said the shaken woman “fired a single shot in defense of the man who was being strangled.”
A witness with medical training told investigators that Taylor was “totally defenseless.” He “couldn’t talk, couldn’t breathe [and] he was turning purple,” and his “eyes rolled back into his head,” the witness added.
The witness also told investigators he heard Santi tell Taylor, “I’m killing you.”
“These statements and video evidence from the convenience store support the defense of others provision as codified in Missouri law,” the office said.
