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A late-night shooting in Austin is raising serious questions about self-defense after a gun store owner says his employees were attacked by a large group, while police have charged one of them with murder.
According to reporting from CBS Austin, the incident happened outside the Cabana Club in east Austin, where two employees of Central Texas Gun Works were involved in a violent confrontation that ended in gunfire.
Gun store owner Michael Cargill (Yes, that Michael Cargill) says the situation escalated quickly and claims his employees were acting to save their own lives.
“I want to make sure it’s very clear that my employees did exactly what they were supposed to do. They defended themselves. They were being attacked,” Cargill said.
According to his account, the two employees had just arrived at the location when they were mistaken for someone else involved in an earlier altercation inside the club.
What followed, he says, was a violent group assault.
“You had 12 people that jumped on my employees… one of my employees fell to the ground… was knocked unconscious,” Cargill said, adding that the attack continued even after the employee was down.
At that point, the second employee made the decision to draw a firearm.
“My other employee saw that he was knocked unconscious and made the decision to pull out his firearm and stop the threat,” Cargill said.
The shooting left one person dead.
One employee was hospitalized with serious injuries, including a reported skull fracture and bruised ribs, while the other (who fired the gun) is now in custody at the Travis County Jail facing a murder charge.
Cargill has been vocal in defending his staff, saying the actions taken were consistent with the training he provides.
“He did exactly what I would have done. He did exactly what I trained them to do,” he said. The case now turns on a familiar (and often complex) legal question:
When does self-defense cross the line into criminal liability?
Under Texas law, the use of force is justified in certain situations, particularly when facing a threat of serious bodily harm. But as with many cases involving multiple parties, conflicting accounts, and rapidly evolving violence, investigators will be tasked with determining whether the response was legally justified.
For now, the facts remain under investigation.
And as this case moves forward, it’s likely to become another flashpoint in the ongoing conversation around defensive gun use, especially in chaotic, real-world scenarios where decisions are made in seconds and the consequences last far longer.
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