3/16/2008

"Man with ax shot to death"

Cottonwood, AZ: A concealed handgun permit holder defended himself in a Safeway Store parking lot on February 22 at 11 AM from being attacked by a man with an ax.

Thanks to Gun for sending me this link.

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posted by John Lott at 11:38 AM

3 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

James King will not be charged with shooting and killing James Keith Orsini.

Orsini, 47, was shot twice in the Safeway parking lot Feb. 22 in what the Yavapai County Attorney's Office concluded was a case of "lawful self-defense."

The Yavapai County Attorney's Office's decision was delivered to the police department Thursday.

The lawyers had reviewed the case since Cottonwood police finished their investigation.

The conflict, police say, grew out of a case of "road rage," and played out in an area that was highly visible to motorists and shoppers in the south parking lot of the Safeway grocery store off State Route 89A. There were a number of eyewitnesses in the parking lot.

The drivers had been in the two left-turn lanes traveling side by side as they turned from SR 260 onto SR 89A. Sometime during that turn, Orsini's small Jeep pickup apparently bumped or brushed the larger Dodge Ram pickup driven by James King. At that point, Orsini pulled in front of the King vehicle and motioned with his arm to follow. King told police that he thought they would pull over right away, but Orsini did not do so until reaching the Safeway entrance.

The vehicles pulled into the fire lane with Orsini's Jeep in front and King's Dodge behind him.

King reportedly got out of the truck and reached for his wallet to exchange insurance information and lost his footing on the slippery pavement and fell.

That's when Orsini asked, "Do you want a piece of me?" He began to approach King. King, 59, regained his footing as Orsini approached him with what police are describing as a replica or medieval hand ax. King is reported to have warned the man to "get away." Orsini continued to be aggressive.

King reached into the truck and grabbed his .45-caliber handgun that was in a holster. As Orsini lunged at King wielding the ax above his head, he was shot in the arm and in the chest, fell to the ground and died shortly afterward.

Orsini fell just outside the driver's side door of King's truck.

The report says that Orsini was in the act of committing a dangerous aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and King shot the man to protect his own life.

Further, the Yavapai Medical Examiner's report states that Orsini had his arm raised and was leaning forward when he was shot, consistent with witness statements.

Toxicology tests found marijuana in Orsini's system at the time of the shooting.

Police spokesman Sgt. Gary Eisenga said Orsini does not have a recent record for other than a traffic offense. He was charged in 1999 with criminal damage.

James King is licensed to carry a concealed weapon, but police say the weapon was not concealed at the time.

Deadly physical force is justified according to Arizona Revised Statutes when "a reasonable person would believe that deadly physical force is immediately necessary to protect himself against the other's use or attempted use of unlawful deadly physical force."

4/08/2008 9:05 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

jofghiivA bit of reality here from someone who has known Jim Orsini for 35 years.

Concerning the "ax wielding manic" posted here and in other papers.

Now that the police reports are in some conclusions can be drawn.
To start: Jim turned a corner about 2 city blocks from the shooting incident. This corner is poorly marked with 2 turn lanes to the left. Cars often cross lanes and go into the other turning lane (seen it a hundred times). This is supposedly where the 2 cars hit. Mr. king says that he then followed Mr. Orsini for 2 city blocks trying to get him to pull over until they got to Safeway parking lot.

1. I examined Mr. Orsini’s car and can find NO sign of it being hit. If the 2 cars touched it was EXTREMELY minor. Not hard enough to leave ANY mark.
2. I know Jim O. well enough to say that if there had been an accident and he knew about it HE WOULD HAVE PULLED OVER. No doubt about it!
3. He did not pull over. This means that he did not know that the cars had touched. (If they did and this is not just a story made up by Mr. King to cover his ass).

So picture Mr. Orsini having turned the corner either not knowing there had been an accident or thinking that there was a near miss only. Or even that he had cut another car off. (or visa versa)
Then he finds Mr. King behind him gesturing, honking his horn, yelling out his window etc in an angry manor for two blocks.

Now if Orsini knew King had been hit, he would have been pulled over. If he did not know anything had happened King would have been just some crazy guy behind him and if he thought it was a near miss he would have thought the guy was overreacting and looking for trouble. I don't really believe the second tow as Jim would havve pulled over.

Again picture yourself driving down the road not knowing that anything had happened or you had cut someone off accidently. (I suspect the former) and you find someone following you, honking at you, yelling, pointing to the side of the road, perhaps giving the finger etc. (how Mr. king tried to get him to pull over isn’t stated.)

You ignore them for 2 city blocks hoping he will just stop or turn. As you realize they are not going to give up you pull over.

So your faced with a man who is vary angry, yelling at you and you either don’t know why or you think that they are so upset about a near miss and that they want a piece of you. Indeed that is what he said (You want a piece of me?). He looks in the back of the car for something to protect himself and sees the hatchet.
OK, the ax was stupid, but people who carry golf clubs, tire irons, baseball bats etc. are common in the U.S. And if you live in the sticks, still more common.
Also stupid is the fact the he thought that he could scare off people rather than fight them.
Jim Orsini always stood up for himself but in 35 years I never knew him to START a fight.

Although Jim Orsini would try to scare off people (he was a big man) he would never harm anyone, the hatchet was for show. Oh yea, check out the HATCHET/not an AX(again, I knew him well). If the rolls were reversed, he would not have pulled the trigger.

So, you have two men in the parking lot, Jim Orsini—thinking that King was some nut looking for trouble. And King—thinking that some piece of shit tried to hit and run. Anger runs high for both.

At that point King slips on the wet pavement and falls to the ground. I suppose that you need to understand some psychology to understand what embarrassment does to a man in such a situation like this.

The anger that ensues from the embarrassment.

James walks towards King (I am sure, hoping that King would drive away or jump into his car).
King, mad about the “accident” and embarrassed by the fall.


I can understand why King shot, he was mad, he was embarrassed and he felt his life was threatened.
However, if he had kept his temper there would have been no killing and it would not even have come to blows. But there was no dialogue between the two.

Road Rage in both parties. Stupid decisions made by both parties. Anger and fear ruled the day.

No doubt, the hatchet was a stupid idea. Even if you think that someone is going to try to hurt you (and I imagine that was what Jim thought when he pulled over with someone yelling at him and cussing him out) you don’t resort to weapons to protect yourself.

My point is that the papers and some here act as if he was some guy who walked around committing ax murders. Some crazed manic who was just looking for someone to kill.

He was a scared guy trying to protect himself from harm in a situation where he thought he was confronted with this angry motorist or worse.

I admit that the hatchet was a stupid idea, but there are millions out there that keep weapons under there seats and survive. Jim paid with his life for that stupid decision.

Isn’t that enough? Must his family and memory be destroyed in posts from people who did not know him. The LOLs posted at the end of messages where mention his death.

4/22/2008 8:41 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Interesting post. Grossly inaccurate at best. There were 17 witnesses. Atleast 4 saw Mr. O pull over and motion for Mr. K to follow him. 7 saw him exit his vehicle screaming and swinging the axe while King was on the ground. He sealed his own fate. Sad but true.

6/17/2008 5:00 PM  

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