Novi officers say two Farmington Hills women, ages 32 and 46, were inside the Novi Towne Center Walmart, shopping for school supplies. Apparently, so was a 20-year-old South Lyon woman and her mother, 51.”One girl was going to buy a notebook. There was one left, some pushing resulted,” Baetens says. “They began to argue who was the rightful purchaser of that notebook.”

Source: Back to school brawl leads to woman pulling gun at Novi Walmart – Story | WJBK

Let’s be clear: A notebook is not worth the risk of getting beaten up, nor it is a point of honor, it is silly to fight for something that could be worth a buck and some cents. Choose your fights as in “avoid them as much as possible!”

With that out of the way and with the caveat that this is only the only video available to us, let me give you my two cents:

1. We see somebody in  a pink shirt close to the ground. At least two women appear to be manhandling her.
2. Same as before. Appears that woman in ink is having her hair pulled and she is being trashed around. Still only 2 women visible.
3. Green arrow denotes a fourth woman who we now know id the mother of the woman in the pink shirt.
4. Mom tries to intervene and separate the apparent attackers from her daughter.
5. Mother fails to separate. In the video we see her arm shoved aside forcefully.
6. Mothers places what appears to be bags and her purse o the floor.
7. Mom deploys sidearm and aims at the closest woman. We now see there are possibly three women attacking the daughter.
8. Suddenly, people get religion and release the daughter. Bystanders remember they have things to do in other places.
9. Daughter rises from the ground. Woman in stripped shirt suddenly remembers she has a shopping cart with toddlers in it.
10. Mother still has sidearm drawn and appears to have a proper hold of the gun. Video ends.

As usual, I am not a lawyer, nor I dress as one for Halloween.

Mother sees daughter attacked by 2 or possibly three women (Disparity of Force), tries non-lethal force to rescue daughter but is pushed aside by bigger opponent, so she draws legally carried firearm. Attack on daughter ceases.

My take on what is going to happen? (Once again, we only have this video) I think the Mother is gonna get a charge of use of deadly force if the prosecutor is a hard ass. If a modicum of common sense applies, she would go free or at worse, simple assault. That she was not arrested on the spot bodes well about her chances.

What gives me the willies is that Michigan Law is not as specific as Florida in regards of threatening to use of deadly force to stop a forcible felony.

Again, IANAL and we do not have the complete picture yet, so we will wait for this one to develop.  With the long weekend, we will probably find out sometime next week and i will try to post if we are not batted down for Hurricane Irma.