I don't want to hijack a thread, so if the OP (or moderator) would rather I start a new thread, please say so and I'll copy/paste this into a new thread and delete the body of this entry. The other thought was to not have a second thread on the same subject. Kinda darned if you do, darned if you don't. But the below certainly doesn't answer the OP's question on what caliber was used. I certainly don't know.
I'm not going to pass final judgement on the shooter based on what I know of the event(s). Bottom line is this event probably shouldn't have happened. The shooter's wife being in the area complicates my understanding of who was in danger. But I'm not on a jury, so I don't have to decide. I just think, from what I know, that the whole incident was avoidable.
But, we have a video that we can analyze. And it seems we should. There is probably a lesson to be learned if we exclude the two personalities and the history between the two. I'd like to focus just on the events shown in the video. Yes, what I'm suggesting is a form of Monday morning quarterbacking. I don't want to prosecute or defend the actual event. The legal system will do that. I want, as a group, to learn as much as we can from the video. Think of it like a training video for a self defense course.
I have some pre-conceived ideas of self defense, duty to retreat, and stand your ground (I hate the name "stand your ground"). Those ideas may well be wrong. First off, Indiana doe have a stand your ground law that states, in part, the following:
Indiana Code Title 35. Criminal Law and Procedure § 35-41-3-2
(c) A person is justified in using reasonable force against any other person to protect the person or a third person from what the person reasonably believes to be the imminent use of unlawful force. However, a person:
(1) is justified in using deadly force; and
(2) does not have a duty to retreat;
if the person reasonably believes that that force is necessary to prevent serious bodily injury to the person or a third person or the commission of a forcible felony. No person in this state shall be placed in legal jeopardy of any kind whatsoever for protecting the person or a third person by reasonable means necessary.
We may have to take the person's wife out of the picture for our discussion. We don't have enough information on her location and how much jeapardy she was in. (That's also the reason I don't want to make a final judgment on the person who shot. Seems like some ego and bad blood was involved in this incident, but I wasn't there and I haven't been charged with the responsibility to determine guilt or innocence).
After the man on the tractor pulls his firearm I count 4 seconds before the person shooting extracts his weapon and there seems to me to be the opportunity for him to retreat. And he does not.
I could be wrong on the following preconceived idea, but in the days before stand your ground a prosecutor might charge the person who shot based on the possibility of retreat. In other words, he could be justified in the shooting based on what happened first, but because he didn't take advantage the possible retreat he was guilty of a crime. And I thought that was the reason for "Stand Your Ground". To prevent a prosecutor or jury from determining that there was a path of retreat even though it wasn't thought of by the person shooting. Basically giving the person involved who doesn't have the time to ascertain all of the options the benefit of doubt that he did what he thought he had to do. Even if someone decides, with hours of research, that there was another way out. Kind of swing the pendulum in favor of the person defending himself.
Aren't there states that still have the duty to retreat? And if this occurred in one of those states, wouldn't the person shooting be in jeapardy of being charged with a crime being that he had 4 seconds before he pulled his weapon that he could have used to retreat from danger?
Personally I would have moved away quickly as soon as the firearm was displayed. That could be different if my wife was 10' away. That's the reason we have to take the wife out of this training lesson. We just don't/can't know how much jeapardy she might have been in.
The man on the tractor seemed to only display his handgun. The commentators in the linked newscast made mention that the man on the tractor made a separate aggressive gesture just before the first shot was fired that I don't see in the video. Unless someone else sees the added gesture, Then please bring it up. I don't necessarily want to discuss display vs. point unless someone thinks it is important. My position is, for now, pulling and displaying a weapon is the same as pointing it at me. I don't think most people would feel they have the time to decide IF you are going to point it at them. If someone thinks that is important to the discussion, pleas say so. And we'll discuss.