Keith Michael St.Aubin,  a 19 year old Houston teenager in between semesters at the local college, went to a Mardi Gras celebration in nearby Galveston Texas with his childhood best friend. Like many other teens, he was walking around, converting with the occasional strangers and celebrating when things took a turn for the worse.

 

As Keith was walking through a moderately crowded area,someone who seemed to be walking in the opposite direction walked directly into Keith, ramming him with there shoulder so hard that it caused Keith to stumble back off his feet. Keith thinking that someone just must have not been paying attention - he was surprised to look up to see a bigger hispanic male glaring at him with immediate foul commentary. "Hey p*to" "You want a f*cking problem?" 

Keith quickly realized the demeanor of this individual, and that the bump was more intentional than accidental, Keith tells him to "take it easy" and makes it clear that he doesn't want any trouble.

 

Regardless of  expressing that he doesn't want a conflict, Keith realizes this individual, who later discovers is named Juan  xxxx and has a history of gang involvement ,has no intentions of " taking it easy" as is now challenging Keith to a conflict. Turning to the side Keith also realizes that this is not a one against one altercation ,as two individuals ( 1 a convicted criminal with prior arrest for illegal firearm possession ,narcotics distribution and organized crime activity,the other illegal immigrant who broke into the country ) start to surround Keith and as one ask if Keith has ever been "cliqued" on as he is about to be ,the other makes hand gestures that represent some neighborhood criminal street gang that they are allegedly a part of .

 

Realizing that this is turning dangerous , and seeing that noone is intervening or attempting to break it up ,Keith starts feeling a little panicked and glances around ,and seeing no one coming to help - again expresses that he doesn't want any problems with these obviously hostile and what now appears to be intoxicated criminal gangsters . 

 

But before he realizes what happened Keith was shoved in another striking fashion. The criminal gangster Luis xxxxx (who is now currently in prison for armed robbery) testified in his own words that "yeah, I shoved him, because I was tired of just talking". That same shove landed in the neck/upper chest causing Keith's head to whip back and his entire body to stumble back several feet. One witness even said it looked like a shove to start a fight. 

 

Due to the force of the shove Keith's head was spinning even more and his sense of panick became heightened. His head started spinning and anxiety and fear were filling up in his chest tightening up his whole body and making it difficult to see all the movement by being outnumbered. 

 

Keith attempted to walk away but felt someone strike or shove him in the side of the head area and as he turned back to look at the gangsters, it seemed they were set on assaulting Keith . They closed in on him and were jumping in and out in a lunging manner - similar to a boxer fighting punches - discussing amongst each other how they were going to "f*ck this white boy up".

 

Keith described his action in the following way ... "I was panicking and my head was spinning. I just wanted this attack to stop. I was scared. I thought if I just show them my firearm they would stand down and leave me alone. So, I pulled the gun out to where it could be seen and held it out in front of me for a second or two. However they did not leave me alone. This only raged their aggression. As I held the gun out and loaded a round in the chamber they only repeated their threats. They were only a few feet away and I looked at their hands to see one guy (who was later discovered as an illegal in this country) reaching in his waist area as if he were grabbing a weapon too. All 3 of them came forward lunging at the same time. Out of fear for my own safety, I shot at their direction."

 

Forensics experts said they were little more than a single foot away when they were shot. 

 

A few witnesses described Keith as falling backwards at the time he shot.

 

The night Keith was attacked - he described to police detectives that he did the last thing he ever wanted to do...

 

Keith was later convicted of an intentional murder and 4 attempted capital murders as a result of this gang attack on him.

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 What do you think?

Does this sound like self - defense or intentional murder?  What would you have done?