TAMPA — Carlos Garcia lay bleeding on the street in front of his family’s mailbox.
“Yes, ma’am. I just had a man attack me in my front yard,” Nick Julian IV told a 911 operator on Sept. 19, 2015.
“He attacked me and I had to use force,” said Julian. “I was afraid for my life.”
“Well who used the gun?” the operator said.
“I did,” Julian said.
In the background, Garcia’s ex-wife screamed: “Why would you do this?”
” ‘Cause he charged me and I was in fear of my life,” said Julian, then 26.
He said that he needed to call his lawyer. It was 2:05 a.m.
Before Garcia, a 37-year-old father of three, had even been declared dead, the man who shot him was already on the phone with the U.S. Concealed Carry Association.
The association offers a 24-hour hotline, an attorney on retainer, bail money and a wallet-sized card instructing members on what to say after a shooting — starting at just $13 a month.
It’s one of a handful of organizations that says they can help its members strengthen their claim of self-defense from the moment they pull the trigger.
“This is basically preparing people: You’re going to kill someone and you need to know what to do,” said University of Miami law professor Mary Anne Franks.
