Valkyrae Reacts To The Case of Michael Drejka (JCS - Criminal Psychology) 

Man traumatized children, killed a man, and widowed a mother. Cares more about his dogs.

Honestly it just felt like he wanted a excuse to use a gun on somebody

"Why did you kill him?" "Well, you see, he pushed me"

Wait, so he had other incidents before this where he threatened people with his gun, and nobody took the gun away from him? Pretty sure that’s grounds to revoke his carry license, as he’s way too trigger happy.

He would not have confronted anyone if he didn't have a gun, he was looking for trouble and an excuse to use it.

I just feel really damn bad for that family. That poor child had to watch his dad collapse right in front of him, on an innocent trip to that store or something. For fucks sake. For what. For what?!

As a disabled person myself, I normally don’t care if someone is parked in a disabled parking spot if it seems like they won’t be there for a long time, especially a gas station where someone is waiting inside the car (usually a sign they are waiting for someone inside that is only grabbing a couple of things). There was no reason this guy had to escalate the situation like he did. I would have just been like “hey, I’m sorry ma’am, but I have a wheelchair and I was wondering if we could trade parking spots so that I could get to the sidewalk more easily?” It’s that simple.

Completely agree with how the prosecutor sums it up: "was he justified in brandishing his firearm to protect himself? Yes! Was he justified in shooting after the victim backs up? No!". There are tons of stuff to analyze about the whole situation, who instigated etc. But it all boils down to the fact that Michael never had to pull the trigger, and im glad he got convicted.

Lots of people are arguing the “who started it” thing. That he was pushed aggressively, so his reaction can’t be totally villainized. It’s true, the push seemed to be very aggressive; but we can’t know exactly how intensely he was arguing with the wife and children, it could have seemed very aggressive. BUT HERE IS WHAT IS IMPORTANT: Michael admits in this interrogation, and in fact says very clearly, that he would not have even approached the vehicle had he not been armed. This was not an act of good citizenship. This was not even self-righteousness. He approached and confronted a woman and her children in a car, fully expecting the possibility that it would end with him shooting someone. He’s a coward, and he’s far too unstable to have ever owned a gun.

To put it simply, Drejka is a very cowardly man who happened to have a gun. Not a combination that tends to end well. He was shoved to the ground and immediately assumed his entire life was in danger. That's basically all that happened.

Also the way he talks about the man he shot as if he's not human. "Immediate threat gone" "The threat was gone" "There was no more threat" Never "He was gone "The man left" "The man went back into the store"

I’m 90% sure you can’t claim self defense when you are the aggressor

He was sentenced to 20 years in prison for anyone wondering

I would be so nervous to be interrogated because I literally have the memory of a trash can

Between the literal shooting of a person and making a sling with his own shirt, doesn't take long to realize that this dude was a coward and a drama queen handed a gun... that he sees as a toy... there's a reason you don't just give these types of people guns..

Some people have guns for self-defence. Others have guns for 'self-defence', but hoping one day to use it. Unfortunately, this was the latter 😕

‘it wasn’t very polite to park there’ then he went and shot her boyfriend in-front of their kids. that wasn’t very polite, was it?

It irks me so much how this guy tries to sound like a soldier who was attacked in the line of duty.

The fact that he never even seems to acknowledge that there was another person involved in this, as if the victim was just a "target" to him...

Confronting the person doesn’t help the situation. Report the license plate to the non emergency police number or the store and they can fine and tow them if they are actually illegally parked. He was looking for a confrontation.

Not that I would ever shoot a person, but if I did for "self-defense" like Drejka claimed and found out that person died I would break down and feel an enormous amount of guilt. I wouldn't have just said "thank you for telling me" without any hint of remorse. At the moment it made me realise that he didn't care he took someone else's life.

That prosecution lawyer was amazing. So well spoken and convincing. Props to him and others like him for helping to ensure that justice gets served.

I'd probably vomit immediately if I ever shot someone, regardless of what they were doing. I hope I never have to shoot anyone. Clearly for some people their trigger finger is just begging to kill. Sad stuff.

From the moment he started complaining about his arm eventhough he himself said it wasnt broken or anything, yet made a sling for it, you could already tell he was the overdramatic type. What i struggle to fathom is how he didnt think he was in the wrong and even tried to justify his action. His life was clearly not being threatened and could have been handled without the usage of a gun. But the way he described everything was so matter-of-fact that it boggles my mind.

Tattoos hurt more than being pushed. Then takes a whole human life. Just because of a quick park and run to the store...

"This is America"

An example of the wrong type of person to own a gun

why wouldn't you ask for a lawyer immediately in a situation like this?

dude I can't get over how good that attorney's case was against Drejka. I've watched lots of these videos and I find how they present their case interesting, but this man's argument was presented so well that it actually kinda shocked me. He chose the right career path, I can see he's really good at his job.

'He's not a threat", 'She's not a threat' damn, why does the guy talk like they're a bunch of wild animals coming at him?

The fact that he wouldn't have changed anything if he could've gone back is really telling

This is what happens when you give a gun to a guy with issues.

That 6 year old witnessed his dad drop dead in front of him-

he killed a man and all he is sad about is that he got a scrape he shot someone and is worried about a fall on the ground? im glad he didnt have a gun as a kid god

"Never been a fighter, never have been" , but he'll shoot a dude for pushing him over.

He was just protecting his wife.. I would hope my S/O would protect me if a creep stranger was yelling at me in my car. That man was protecting his family from a random weirdo!

“I’ve never been a fighter.” Me: “you’ve been a shooter though.”

He got 20 years in prison. He was also attacked by another inmate in retaliation for the shooting and beaten with a lock in a sock, causing a laceration requiring 5 stitches on his head. As of February 2020 he’s in PC for his own protection.

Love how you can see him faking injury to the shoulder- starts out acting like he can't move it to shake hands without serious pain. Then sits his hand on the table and has no visible signs of pain moving his shoulder around - then makes fake sling from his shirt to try to gain sympathy. Then first thing he does is admit he was angry because someone was parked in the handicapped spot without a placard. Can't move hid arm but he's not to worried about that. Says the guy made his next step towards him - yet you can clearly see in the video, shooter held gun on him for 2-3 seconds before firing, in that time you see the guy who was shot raise his hands and start walking backwards. Then pulls his other hand out of "sling" acting like it hurts to move yet no visible signs of pain. From having a shoulder injury after laying a motorcycle down I can tell you, your facial expression would show the pain so would your bodies natural reflex to the sharp pain you feel when you move it.

14:40 just so anyone reading this knows, val is wrong when she says why didn't he shoot him in the leg, cause thats actually more dangerous, cause you're more likely to hit an essential artery in the limbs than the torso, cause your torso is so much larger than your limbs, its more likely the spot thats hit isn't as fatal as an essential artery

For someone from Europe it is so weird to see that having a gun is so fucking normal and using it as well

It's sad I realized it was happening in Florida and immediately felt like the jury would find not guilty.

he could've had pull the gun and said "one more step and i'll shoot". The guy clearly stepped back and raised his hands showing no threat when he saw the gun, so yes he had plenty, enough time to think if it was the right decision to pull the trigger or not.

I wish JCS wouldn't had deleted their old videos. Hopefully they'll remake them

Why America needs better gun laws. You do not know someone’s spectrum of justification for using a gun.

14:35 'why did he shoot to kill?" -rae Pretty sure everyone who ever learns to shoot a gun learns to shoot center mass for accuracy and not to hit other targets around them

This is what happens if you give the "my dad owns Microsoft" kid a firearm

I think that if Rae was a detective that everyone would be in handcuffs at some point

hes the type of guy who would talk to the McDonalds manager to complain about a pregnant woman LOL super bozo

When they told Im the gentleman was deceased what he said after was “thank you for telling me , nobody else would give me word on that . I did ask “

The thing is that the handicap parking spot was far away from the actual store door. Wouldn’t a handicapped person want to park in front of the store instead of on the side. Ya’know, where the door is literally right there? I don’t know, I find the spot inconvenient.

Wait. This guy created a sling from his shirt right? What did he need that for? He later just takes his hand out, and starts using it like it's all good.

Typical gun owner mentality: "its THEIR FAULT i killed them for petty reasons"

Pulling the gun was enough, firing it was unnecessary. End of discussion.

This case was just a series of stupid choices that led to needless death.

Guy never had a fight in his LIFE he got so insecure and embarrassed Not even like he got his ass kicked like he deserved. Someone just pushed him over. What a wimp, what a baby my GOD. That’s not a man. I know they shouldn’t have been parked there and he shouldn’t have pushed him but he was protecting his wife and children from an unknown, suspicious looking, stranger man. So sorry to those children and wife that lost the real man in that situation. I’m so sorry♥️

honestly, there is no reason drejka should ever got away with this. he has committed multiple crimes, he has stepped past the line of self defense.

I like how after watching so many of these Rae is correcting the detectives interrogation method.

She gon say “why they park there” why homeboy felt the need to be mr parking authority.

GOT PUSHED = BLAST MY GUN GOT PUSHED = BLAST MY GUN

This is why we need better gun laws. He wasn't the kind of person who should have a gun. Not if you're that quick to kill human beings.

Thanks for putting the content warning on every video of this. :)

I mean, he literally said it himself, in his initial interview...if the victim was backing away, there was no reason to shoot. He knew that, he shot anyway. As demonstrated by the previous incidents, where he threatened others with his gun, and of course, by this tragic killing, Michael Drejka is a man who had carried a gun most of his life, as he says, and was increasingly determined to use it.

People overlook this simple thing, he only stepped back *after* he saw the gun. Until that point, he was well on his way to either do more damage or "hover" valiantly over this person he just cowardly pushed while they weren't looking.

he could have just pulled out the gun to scare the guy, but he shot him when he was backing away

As a gun owner, it's important to understand that circumstances change when a firearm is introduced to the equation. Someone trying to kill you will have a change in motivation the second they see you're armed, meaning they'll no longer be a reasonable threat to your life by retreating. However, a firearm can also have the opposite effect, and increase the motivation of your attacker to hurt/kill you, so you have to act fast. In this case, it's not the latter, he had too much opportunity to comprehend that the threat was no longer active. It's also important to not overlook the assault itself, because the man initially was not backing away, he continued to approach the grounded man. Of course we'll never truly know what would have happened if no gun was involved, but the behaviour in the footage greatly insinuates the assault would have carried on. Regardless of the intent or what could have happened, firing the gun wasn't necessary in that moment, which is why he was found guilty. Do not assault people, and do not carry a firearm if you are incapable of evaluating threats.

What confuses me is that, yes, she parked illegaly. But the guy also parked where he shouldn't and he decided that he needs to admonish her? And started yelling at her? He could've just said that could she please move her car because it's reserved for the disabled?

bruh he wAS TURNING AWAY and he still shot him

"Why didn't he shoot him in the leg or something? Why did he shoot to kill?" The reason is 3-fold: First, in an actual self-defense scenario, successfully hitting a 4-inch target while it is moving would be nearly impossible. You will miss, and you will be dead. Second, even if you did hit the assailant in the leg, it would not stop them from attacking you. Unless you managed to shatter their kneecap, they would not even feel the bullet until a few seconds later. They will still get to you, and you will be dead. Third is the legal argument: a prosecution can easily argue that if you had time to shoot for the leg, your life must not have really been in danger. Similarly, they could argue that since you only sought to hurt the target, not kill them, the perceived threat was not great enough to justify shooting at all. The bottom line is, ONLY shoot if your life or someone else's life is in IMMEDIATE danger, and ONLY shoot to kill. This guy neglected the first part of that equation.

I mean don’t park in a handicap spot… but more importantly don’t shoot someone for parking in a handicap spot! The world goes crazier and crazier every day

"I shot to save my own ass" more like "I shot to save my own ego". So messed up.

Guns make the weak powerful and the powerful extremely dangerous. This was a weak man.

i yelled when they said bay area, it’s always here

Is it weird that I felt like I was the only one watching these type of videos? I’m glad I’m not alone in watching this stuff. 😊

Pushing someone is no excuse to shoot them . Period. Especially since he was arguing with the girl first, and the other guy tried to stop it from escalating. He is in the wrong, not the guy he shot

14:38 I wish she knew if you’re ever in a scenario where you have to draw your weapon you are to shoot to kill..otherwise the situation is not extreme enough that you would need to draw your weapon at all

Vigilante aspirations of revenge, from a small resentful man, living in a violent country

This guy is a drama queen with the fantasy of being a soldier. He didn’t see the person he shot as a person. He saw it as a target to shoot for his own amusement. He even admitted that he wouldn’t have confronted them without his weapon. This was in broad daylight. He would’ve seen a knife or anything like that. This man was defending his family from a strange man who was in an altercation with the mother of his children. This ‘man’ is a coward.

So he makes a sling for his arm out of his shirt because he's that injured from being shoved and then somehow forgets his arm is injured once the questioning starts 🤔

49:50 Snoop in the background passed tf out

I remember when this happened. Massive grey area, either outcome acceptable. In most gun owners minds, he was right to brandish, wrong to fire.

never fight yet still has a gun. and also, who the F walks around looking for handicapped placard? must be some species of karen. and all the karens mustve been proud of him

The thing is regardless of anything the court could even do, that evil man robbed a woman of her love, children of their father, parents of their child, and overall a man of his life, I’m glad the family got to see some penance but it’s heartbreaking that they will never get anything close to what they lost

What the fork ? He has no remorse.

i’m not all the way through the video yet but i wanted to express some thoughts ive already had. as an assigned female at birth, and very female presenting (i am genderfluid), men terrify me. when one comes even near me or looks at me i get extreme anxiety. now i experience this, while being white. i don’t have to face the added racism that this woman and her husband do. if a white man started circling your car, and you are a poc woman, you’re going to get nervous, defensive, aren’t you? you know what men like him are capable of. you can’t trust them. so you argue, as you’re terrified of this stranger. your husband, who is also a poc sees the commotion, he runs out probably assuming this man is being racist towards you or harassing you. he does what any good husband would do and step in, protect you. he shoved him ti the floor. and then he gets shot for it. can you imagine just how difficult it must be for this poor family. they already face so so much because of their skin colour. fucking skin colour. and then the very type of person who is your oppressor (example, white male) MURDERS your husband just because he was a coward and got pushed to the ground. this family got ripped apart. they witnessed horrific events that no one should have to witness because this man was a fucking coward and couldnt a, leave the woman alone in the first place, or b, defend himself in other ways that didn’t include pulling out a fucking gun and shooting a man who was clearly just trying to defend his wife. this man makes me so incredibly angry. you truly can see just how much of a coward he is. the way he tries to justify his actions. “well she parked in the handicapped spot when she doesn’t need it” yes. she did. but if you had an issue you should of taken it to the store manager. let them handle it. not circle a woman’s car while her husband is inside and then start an argument. the way he behaves throughout this interview truly shows, this is the mind of a white man. especially a white man from america. the moment he feels any sort of danger at all he responds with violence. and not just violence, fucking murder. i’m disgusted that people i’ve seen in some of these comments defend this man. a 5 year old boy, a fucking child, had to witness his father bleed out because he had been shot by the very men that child will be raised to not trust. the woman has to raise her children without their father. parenting isn’t easy. yes some get by with just themselves, but overs don’t. no one should have to witness this sort of thing, or even experience it at all, because men like this are fucking cowards and resort to pulling out their guns.

I live in Australia and I haven’t heard of a shooting here in my 23 years. Sure there probably have been some, but I cannot remember any. It’s sad to me that this is just normal everyday life for Americans, they can probably whittle off at least 20 different shootings they know of in no time. It baffles me that this hasn’t been stopped by now. Civilians should not have access to firearms, period. Violence happens everywhere, but the ease of access to the most harmful weapons makes it all the more dangerous.

Like he's sitting there "he took one step towards me and that was it" literally in the recording the man had backed up and was against the car and THEN got shot...

Eh I hate to say this but the way he pushed him was too much for me. You don't just run at someone and push them with all your strength because to me that just shows you want to fight.

This dude talking like he shot an enemy combattant and not an unarmed man pisses me off.

It really breaks my heart that those children had to see that. A family lost a father/husband. 😭💔

His entire point was that the victim took a step toward him so he shot, but its very obvious that he took 3 steps back. THEN he shot. Disgusting.

It will come to no surprise that these videos will make people better in lying to the police.

If he was a cop, they would say the shooting was justified, even if the cop wasnt on duty or in uniform.

Aside from the topic of this case, why was he allowed to legally handle a gun? is it that easy to get a gun? do they not check the person first for cases like these, where the guy clearly does not understand what responsibility a gun holds? I don't understand

Did anyone else realize the prosecutor in the end switching up Marquis and Michael's names?

people just love to bring up the 2nd amendment when this type of shit happens way too often. and the irony is that they don't realize it's an amendment. which means it can be amended/changed.

I mean if he really felt that he would have gotten killed, why feel bad for the person?

Pro tip, if firing a weapon at someone. Always shoot to kill. You should only be firing it to kill because it's necessary to begin with. Shooting to injure or subdue doesn't make sense legally or tactically.

"what notes are this guy taking" "I am fucked. I am fucked. I am fucked. Damn I'm going to jail" that's what he wrote.

I hate the argument of "why didn't he just shoot him in the leg" it's such an uneducated and ignorant argument. Lethal force is lethal force if you are going to use it, it is implied to use it to eliminate the threat as swiftly as possible. Shooting a leg would not only fail to stop him from potentially attacking but also has a chance to leave him to just bleed out or if he survives he can likely never recover the same. There is no nonlethal way to shoot someone, and shooting extremities is difficult especially when moving.