Yes, as here in Va ccw only covers self defence which includes you your family and more in the gray area folks in your "party". Now if I should stand there and taunt said BG into attacking me then game on right wrong or indiffrent my life is now endangered. I am not the police. I stsrted a thread on this a few days back look at that for further details on my thoughts.
Eric F - would you please post your citations for such a statement? I have read case law as well as the
Code of Virginia and cannot find the limitation on self defense you say exists.
In the scenario in the OP - One of the actors playing the thugs had a baseball bat and was beating the homeless-looking guy. As I understand the scenario there are at least 2 persons assaulting 1 person, and 1 of the assaulters is using a baseball bat which means using deadly force. There is no information about what if any weapons the homeless-looking guy has. For the sake of discusion I will presume that means he has none.
We have disparity of force x 2 (numbers and deadly weapon).
There is no information available to me about why the interaction is taking place, so I do not know who is the "innocent" in this situation.
In my mind, reaction depends on what is happening
right now as I am witnessing the interaction. If the homeless-looking guy is being whacked with the baseball bat I'm of the mind that direct intervention is needed before I make te call to 911. My reaction would be to shout something along the lines of "Stop that!" and prepare to draw my CCW (hand on grips but not yet beginning to clear the holster). I might shout a second or third time - depends if my action stops the beating with the baseball bat or not.
Presuming my verbal intervention works, I'd reach for my cell phone with my off hand and request ambulance and police at the location, then tell dispatch why they were needed. I'd continue to watch the beaters and the homeless-looking beatee in case any of them decided to include me in the activity. I'd also try to do 360* checks to see if anybody was coming towards me from the general area of behind me. If I see anyone approaching (from any direction) I would loudly tell them that I had called for an ambulance and police because those 3 (or whatever number the total was) had been fighting and one of them was badly hurt. I'd ask the person who approached to call 911 also, and to look for the ambulance and cops to direct them to the scene. (Makes them a participant and reduces the chance they will get involved with the combatants or me.)
If verbal challenge did not stop the fray, I would have to decide if I should become involved. Common Law (and case law where I live - Virginia) says I can come to the defense of an innocent as if I were that innocent person - meaning I could use dealdy force if necessary. The problem here is I do not know who the innocent is. All I can see is one person being assaulted with deadly force by 2 or more others.
It is a sad comment on our times that a person would need to think long and hard about the possible ramifications of coming to the aid of another person who was being assaulted by deadly force before deciding to intervene or not. I can only speak for myself. If my verbal challenge and continued presence did not stop the beating with the baseball bat, I would intervene. I would be screaming at the top of my lungs as I drew, ordering the person to drop the baseball bat. I would be hoping and praying that a maniac yelling "Drop the bat! Drop the bat!" over and over would be effective, but if the bat were not on its way to the ground by the time I had reached full extension then the next sound heard from my direction would be gunfire. (Presuming I had a clear shot.)
As soon as the gunfight was over and I had scanned for any possible additional threats to me (screw the homeless-looking guy for the moment) I would be using my off hand to call 911 and say police and an abmulance were needed at <location>. I would tell the dispatcher that shots were fired and x number of people were down. I would stay on the line with the dispatcher until the police showed up. If anybody else came up, I would tell them 1) "That man <pointing to the person I had just shot> tried to kill him <pointing to the homeless-looking guy> with that baseball bat <pointing to same>." Then I would tell them to call 911 and get police and an ambulance sent. I would try to keep everybody away from the scene so as to not disturb the evidence. I might rememberr to ask somebody to write down the names of any bystanders and of anybody who came up to gawk before the cops/ambulance arrived.
I would probably keep my weapon at low ready until I heard the approach of sirens, then switch to a hold by the muzzle with both hands in the air.
My statement to the police would consist of "That man <pointing to the person I had just shot> tried to kill him <pointing to the homeless-looking guy> with that baseball bat <pointing to same>, " followed by a statement that I can't tell them anything more until after I have met with my lawyer. (Yes, I would give them all the ID they wanted - no question about that. But nothing further about what happened. If necessary, repeat "That man <pointing to the person I had just shot> tried to kill him <pointing to the homeless-looking guy> with that baseball bat <pointing to same>" until they get sick of hearing it.)
YMMV.
stay safe.
skidmark
). Then state what the problem is. 
