On Nov 23, 2012, 17-year-old Jordan Davis was shot and killed by 47-year-old Michael Dunn in a gas station parking lot in Jacksonville, Florida. The shooting happened after the two got into an argument about the loud music coming from Davis’s car.
Dunn, a white software developer, pulled up next to an SUV where Davis and three of his friends— all Black teens—were sitting. Dunn asked them to turn down what he called “thug music.” When Davis refused, the situation escalated. Dunn then pulled out a handgun and fired ten shots into the vehicle, hitting Davis multiple times.
As the SUV sped off, Dunn continued shooting, hitting the back of the car with three more shots. Afterward, he drove back to his hotel, ordered pizza, and went to bed, never bothering to call the police. The next day, he learned through the news that Davis had died from his injuries. Dunn was arrested the following day.
At his first trial in 2014, Dunn was convicted of three counts of attempted second-degree murder for shooting at Davis’s friends, but the jury couldn’t agree on the first-degree murder charge for Davis’s death. In a second trial that same year, Dunn was found guilty of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison without parole, plus 105 additional years.
Dunn claimed self-defense, saying Davis flashed a gun. But investigators didn’t find any weapon in the SUV or nearby, and Davis’s friends said he was unarmed. Dunn’s fiancée also testified that Dunn never mentioned seeing a gun when he talked to her after the shooting.
The case sparked heated discussions about Florida’s “Stand Your Ground” law and race’s role in self-defense cases. Dunn, who used racial slurs in letters from prison, was portrayed by prosecutors as a cold-hearted killer driven by prejudice. In 2021, the Florida Supreme Court rejected his appeal, which was based on the Stand Your Ground law.
Since their son’s tragic death, Jordan Davis’s parents, Ron Davis and Lucia McBath, have been vocal advocates against gun violence and racial injustice within the criminal justice system.
