Miami Stand Your Ground Shooter / Man Shooting Gun Out Windshield

About

Miami Stand Your Ground Shooter, also known as Man Shooting Gun Out Windshield, refers to a 2021 road-rage incident in Miami, Florida involving a man shooting through his own car's windshield and window after reportedly feeling threatened by another driver. Dashcam footage of the man singing along to the radio before unloading his gun while flinching with his eyes closed reemerged on Twitter in early 2023 as the viral video trended. All charges against the man in question were dropped in accordance with Florida's Stand Your Ground laws in March 2023, leading to internet users discussing the video and making memes using the footage.

History

On June 21st, 2021, Local 10 news reported on a road rage incident involving a man shooting several shots out of his own window and windshield on the southbound lanes of Interstate 95 in northwest Miami-Dade.^[5] On January 31st, 2022, Local 10 reported that Eric Popper, the shooter in question, was being tailgated by a car on the highway. The tailgating driver cut off Popper and threw a water bottle at his car, leading Popper to think he was being shot at.^[7]

On January 28th, 2022, Twitter^[1] user @AndySlater shared video footage of a man driving and singing along to the radio before he pulls out his gun and shoots at another driver. The tweet read, "SLATER SCOOP: Exclusive video of road-rage shooting in Miami from in-car camera. / The shooter seen here was arrested and is awaiting trial. He told cops the other driver fired first. / (Warning: Language and gunfire)." The tweet gathered over 3,000 likes and 1,000 quote tweets in a year (seen below).

Developments

On January 30th, 2022, Twitter^[6] user @JasonKPargin posted a tweet using the aforementioned video, adding, "No one was hurt in this incident so I'm now comfortable saying it's hilarious to me how you can see this guy transition from how gun nuts see themselves (cool, badass, ready) to the reality (eyes closed, firing in a blind panic into his own car, all due to someone honking at him)." The tweet gathered 6,000 likes in over a year (seen below).

On March 11th, 2023, Twitter^[2] user @davenewworld_2 posted a tweet using the aforementioned video, saying, "In June 2021, Eric Popper got into a road rage incident and fired his gun at someone. / The Miami-Dade State Attorney's Office just dropped the charges against him. / In a "Stand Your Ground" state, you can lose your temper and fire your gun for no reason." The tweet gathered over 75,000 likes in four days (seen below).

On March 14th, 2023, Twitter^[3] user @throochie posted a clip of Popper shooting his gun alongside the phrase, "saw a bug in my car." The post gathered over 6,000 likes in two days (seen below).

Also on March 14th, 2023, Twitter^[4] user @websiteidi0t posted a tweet that read, "McDonald’s told me they wouldn’t sell me a happy meal," gathering over 100 likes in over two days (seen below).

Search Interest

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External References