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On Thursday, an Orlando man shot and killed a 21-year-old who was fleeing his yard. He didn't appear to be stealing anything, according to witness accounts. He didn't appear to be threatening anybody. But Claudius Smith said he feared he was a burglar, followed him over the fence to a neighboring apartment complex, where he shot him after he said he felt threatened, according to a confession documented in an Orlando Police Department report. Smith even said he feared victim Ricardo Sanes was armed "because his pants were falling down" and his hands were in his hoodie pockets, according to a report obtained by the Orlando Sentinel.
Now, questions are emerging about whether Smith will also invoke the state's Stand Your Ground law, which gained notoriety over the shooting of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin, shot in a Florida residential development while wearing a hoodie. Law enforcement officials don't seem to believe Stand Your Ground applies. Smith has already been charged with second-degree murder. But that doesn't stop a judge from granting Stand Your Ground immunity later. In one of the most recent Florida court decisions on Stand Your Ground, an appeals court granted Stand Your Ground immunity to a man who went to his car to get a gun before the fatal incident.
Comment: Same old sad story of an ancient breed being exploited. As with many other ancient breeds the original features will be bred into extinction. Their heritage as people and livestock guardian will also be gone. To predict the future of this magnificent Asian breed one only needs to look at the old pictures of original Bulldog and compare them with contemporary English Bulldog which is at risk of cardiac arrest after only a short walk.