Two remarkably similar recent incidents in Port Arthur, Texas illustrate the fine line between shootings that police treat as accidental and those that are treated as intentional.  When circumstances are murky, a shooter who is forthcoming about how an incident took place appears less likely to be treated as a deliberate actor.

In the more recent incident, which occurred today, Sherrell Keys shot a man, Normand Jalah, who was standing outside her car.  She remained at the scene and apparently told police that she hadn’t intended to fire the gun.  “It appears this was accidental,” a Port Arthur police detective said while stressing the case remains under investigation.  Keys “has been very cooperative with us,” he added.  To date, no charges have been filed.

By contrast, Brittany Tims, who shot a man standing outside her car in Port Arthur on August 25, was indicted on Friday for murder.  She told police that the man, Ronald Frazier, had thrown a gun onto the passenger seat of the car and that when she picked it up, it went off.  Police apparently did not accept her story, partly because she had initially told police, contrary to eyewitness reports, that Frazier had accidentally shot himself.  According to the report, several children were in the car at the time of the incident.

In both cases, women shot men from inside their cars. Both men died at the scene.  One incident is being treated as a gun accident and the other as a homicide.  Neither incident would have taken place were guns not so commonly present in Texas vehicles. Two lives could have been saved.

Sources:

“Port Arthur Police Detail What Type of Shooting Could Have Led to Man’s Death Sunday,” The News (September 28, 2021).

“Indictment: Woman with Children in Car Shoots, Kills Man Outside Wing Stop,” The News (September 24, 2021).