Black Lives Matter can add another to its body count. Marine vet Jake Gardner, who killed a BLM terrorist in self-defense, has been driven to suicide at the age of 38. Authorities were not going to press charges after he shot James Scurlock during a George Floyd protest on May 30 in Omaha.
Characteristically, the mob bombarded Gardner with death threats and promises to burn his business down.
The political pressure mounted. If they would prosecute the McCloskeys for standing in their own yard with firearms to dissuade the mob from burning their house down, you could hardly expect authorities to forgive Gardner for actually killing a BLM brownshirt.
First, he lost his bar; the landlord pulled the lease. Then he was asked to turn himself in on charges of manslaughter, attempted first-degree assault, terroristic threats, and weapon use. Making a terroristic threat is what they call it now if you warn a terrorist to back off.
Gardner could have faced 95 years in prison. But he had only been found guilty by social media, not in a courtroom, making his death all the more tragic. The mob had already managed to wreck his life for being a business owner who defended himself, but a jury in a relatively sane place like Nebraska might at least have found him not guilty.
The fateful incident began when mostly peaceful protesters attacked his bar The Hive near 12th and Harney. Scurlocks friend Tucker Randall threw a signpost at the front. When Gardner and his 69-year-old father David went out to investigate, Randall knocked David Gardner onto his back.
Omaha.com picks up the story:
David Gardner, holding a knife, pushed Scurlock, who was unarmed. Scurlock pushed a bystander next to Jake Gardner. Walking backward, Jake Gardner lifted his shirt to show a gun, saying Dont (expletive) with me.
That must have been the terroristic threat.
He pulled the gun and briefly held it down by his side, then returned it to his waistband. At that point, a woman tackled Jake Gardner from behind, knocking him on his back. Randall hovered within inches of the two as they struggled. Jake Gardner fired what he called two warning shots the grand jury found that one of the shots was an attempt to assault Randall. Both the woman and Randall ran away. Three seconds later, Scurlock jumped on Gardners back, the beginning of the 18-second struggle.
Scurlock got Gardner in a headlock and ignored his pleas to let go. Gardner fired over his shoulder, killing his assailant.
At first, this was acknowledged as justifiable homicide. Then politics came into it. Jake Gardner was white, James Scurlock black.
As noted at the Wall Street Journal,
The shooting led to large demonstrations in Omaha.
When the mob speaks, authorities listen.
Jake Gardner served two tours in Iraq. He suffered traumatic brain injuries and had PTSD at the time of the shooting. He sacrificed himself to help civilization reestablish itself in a foreign country, only to learn that the job urgently needs doing here at home.
A GoFundMe page to raise money for Gardners defense was reportedly deleted by the platform. The deck is stacked against the good guys and in favor of the mob.
On tips from Sad Hill and Adam.