A Razor in the Doorway

The owner of a Bronx barbershop was in a running dispute with a man over a drug deal. They had a fistfight, and earlier that day the man threatened the owner and his family. When the man came back to the shop, the owner called his friend Jairo Castillo, who came over. In the shop doorway the man confronted Castillo, told him he could not leave, held a razor blade to his face and threatened to cut him 'from ear to ear.' Castillo stepped back, drew a gun and fired six times in about five seconds. Three of the shots, one to the side and two to the back, would each have been fatal. The trial judge refused to let the jury consider self-defence.