SATELLITE BEACH, Fla. -- Michael Dunn, 45, was moved Tuesday from the Brevard County Jail back to Jacksonville, where he will face charges of shooting Jordan Davis, 17, to death.
The two came face to face Friday night at the Gate Station on Southside Boulevard and Baymeadows Road. Police say an argument over loud music ended with Dunn firing several shots into an SUV carrying Davis and three of his friends.
Now, for the first time, we're hearing Dunn's side of the story, from his attorney Robin Lemonidis. She said, "They were blasting some rap music. And he said he rolled down his window, pulled up on the passenger side, and rolled down his window and asked, would you mind turning that down? And said it very politely."
The attorney says the teenager in the front seat turned down the radio. But then she says her client heard the teens cussing at him, making threats. She says Dunn rolled down his window and said, "He said excuse me, are you talking to me?"
At that point, she says one of the teenagers told Dunn he was dead. "And that's when the guy in the back seat raised the barrel of a shotgun over the rim of the window," said Lemonidis. "At that point, he just snapped into self protection mode."
Dunn's attorney claims that's when her client reached for a gun he had in the glove compartment of his car, loaded it, and fired. "Firing at the car, because they're showing him a gun, and he can't see their hands," she said. "And he doesn't know. They're about to blast him in the face with a shotgun, as far as he knows."
She says Dunn then drove away, not realizing he had hit anyone. The next morning, she said Dunn heard on the news someone was dead. He drove to his home in Satellite Beach, and turned himself in. "He did what any responsible firearms owner would do," said Lemonidis.
JSO says no drugs and no guns were found in the teens' SUV.
Action News asked Lemonidis why Dunn didn't call police. She said her client was more comfortable turning himself in at a familiar place.
She also said her client was legally carrying the weapon. He had a concealed weapons permit. And she said Dunn knows guns. He had been around them his whole life. He was in the military, and frequently practices at a local firing range.
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- The suspect in the shooting of a teenager at a local gas station told his lawyer he saw a gun in the SUV before opening fire.
Michael Dunn is now at the Duval County Jail after being extradited from Brevard County this afternoon.
Dunn, 45, is accused of shooting into a SUV at a gas station on Baymeadows Road last Friday night after a confrontation, killing 17-year-old Jordan Davis.
The suspect told police he felt threatened.
"Mr. Dunn acted responsibly and, as any responsible firearms owner, would have acted under these same circumstances," said Robin Lemonidis, Dunn's attorney.
Action News has learned Dunn told police and his attorney that the teens in the SUV had a gun. But the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office says investigators did not find a gun, or drugs, in the SUV.
Dunn is being charged with murder and attempted murder.
