Happy birthday to us! This marks the first post of our second year of daily defensive gun use (DGU) postings.
Because that thing that never happens, happens every. single. day.
These posts are based on our Good Guy with a Gun calendar. Today’s post is somewhat updated from the calendar version.
When no one is being attacked, escalating an argument to deadly force is inexcusable. Nuts even.
Yamel B., 52, and his son were laying tile in a vacant St. Petersburg house that was being remodeled, early on a Friday afternoon. Both were subcontractors on the job. The general contractor was 38-year-old Mostafa M. Ah Abdo.
The son and Ah Abdo got into an argument about payment, and Yamel heard it. At the height of it, the son started smashing completed tile work.
That was a bad move, and there’s no defending it. But broken tile doesn’t put anybody’s life in danger.
Ah Abdo answered it with a gun. He went to his truck, got a firearm, came back with it, and threatened the son.
Yamel had a gun of his own. He pulled it out and shot Ah Abdo — in the police department’s words, “to defend his son.”
Ah Abdo was taken to the hospital, where he died.
This started as an argument over pay for a tile job. Ah Abdo is the one who decided it needed a gun, and that decision cost him his life.
Detectives interviewed everyone who’d been there, the shooter included. The St. Pete PD press release said, “Investigators determined that this was justifiable self-defense of another and Benitez was not arrested.”
Sources
News
St. Petersburg Police Department news release (St. Petersburg Police Department)
Police: Tile worker’s father shoots, kills contractor to defend his son (WTSP)
Shooting at St. Petersburg construction site was self-defense, police say (Tampa Bay Times)
Police: Man in charge of remodeling St. Pete home shot, killed by worker’s father at construction site (Tampa Bay 28)
Deadly shooting at St. Pete home under construction deemed self-defense: Police (FOX 13)
Deadly shooting at St. Pete construction site was self-defense, police say (WFLA)
Police call St. Pete construction site shooting self-defense (St Pete Catalyst)
Contractor’s Death at St. Petersburg Renovation Site Ruled Self-Defense by Police (Hoodline)
2A / Specialist Media
St. Petersburg Tile Worker’s Father Fatally Shoots Contractor in Self-Defense During Payment Dispute (USA Carry)
Self-Defense Confirmed in Deadly Construction Site Shooting in St. Petersburg ~ VIDEO (AmmoLand)
Defensive Gun Uses By People Legally Carrying Guns: 28 Cases During November 2024 (Crime Prevention Research Center)