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A woman who shot and killed an off-duty firefighter who was on the ground fighting with her boyfriend will not be charged, Missouri prosecutors have announced.
Anthony “Tony” Santi, 41, died on Oct. 6 outside a gas station and liquor store in a Kansas City suburb of Independence, Missouri.
He was shot in the back by an unnamed woman as she wrestled with her boyfriend, Ja’Von L. Taylor, 23, around 2:30 p.m.
On Tuesday, the Jackson County prosecutor’s office said the woman would not be charged — after concluding that her actions were reasonable.
They found that they could not prove beyond a reasonable doubt that she was acting outside of Missouri law when she shot and killed Santi.
Anthony Santi, 41, was shot and killed on Oct. 6 when he assaulted a man at a gas station in Kansas City’s Independence, Missouri suburb
“We grieve with the family and community at this tragic loss of Mr Santi’s life,” the prosecutor’s office wrote in a statement to The Star.
“Missouri law applies to this case, particularly self-defense and the defense of others, and we are therefore dismissing the charges after a careful review.”
FOX4 showed the video to a 40-year-old practicing attorney who wrote Missouri’s book on guns and self-defense.
“Technically it’s called defending justification, and your justification is saving another person’s life,” says Kevin Jamison, author of Missouri Weapons and Self-Defense Law.
The incident started when the woman’s boyfriend entered a gas station to buy cigars.
Taylor got angry when the clerk at the gas station said she didn’t have the product he wanted. She then asked him to leave.
Santi, who was off duty and in the store at the time, intervened to help the cashier and asked Taylor to leave.
The couple began to argue and the fight continued outside. In the forecourt, the two men were fighting on the ground.
Taylor is on the floor, with Santi on top of him. Taylor’s friend reaches out to take Taylor’s gun
The woman, in red pants, yells at Santi to get rid of her boyfriend and yells that he “kill him”
The woman stands over the couple and yells at Santi to let Taylor go. When he refuses, the woman opens fire. She will not be charged after prosecutors concluded she feared for Taylor’s life
Footage captured by a bystander shows Santi, who is white, overpowering Taylor, a slender black man, writhing on the floor.
Taylor’s girlfriend appears and can be seen in the footage screaming, ‘Stop!’
Taylor at one point gives her a gun in his pocket and she takes the gun.
Taylor, a convicted felon found guilty of armed robbery in May 2019, was banned from possessing a weapon.
‘Stop!’ she yells at Santi, trying to put Taylor in a headlock. ‘Let him go! My kids are in the car! You kill him!’
The woman then opens fire and shoots Santi in the back.
The Kansas City Fire Department said it was shocked and saddened by the death of Santi – Jillian Santi’s father, and a lifelong Kansas City resident who joined the agency in 2011.
“As a close-knit organization, we are shocked by the tragic loss of FF Santi yesterday and my deepest condolences go out to his family and friends,” said Fire Chief Donna Lake.
His obituary said he was “devoted to helping people through his role” as a firefighter and EMT.
His daughter was ‘the light of his life’ and he had ‘a great love for nature and the outdoors’.