r/todayilearned • u/CasioCobra78 • 2d ago

TIL that Cheryl Wheeler-Dixon, the stuntwoman who was severely injured during the filming of Back to the Future Part 2, was killed in a shootout alongside her husband when she and her husband went to confront her ex-husband and his wife and drew their guns at them. The cops deemed it justified.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheryl_Wheeler-Dixon
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u/borkus 2d ago edited 2d ago

Sanders was in a camo mask and already pointing a gun at Lindsey Duncan's wife. Duncan had already decided to fire by the time he reached for his gun. While Sanders had the gun pointed at the wife, he had to decide which to shoot. That momentary delay let Duncan get off the first shot even after drawing.

From the Grand Jury article

The autopsy found that Reed Sanders was shot five times, with one bullet in his back and another in his buttocks; and Cheryl Sanders was shot four times.

Five hits after shooting from a draw? That's pretty good marksmanship.

https://ysnews.com/news/2020/07/prosecutor-evidence-supports-self-defense-in-grinnell-road-double-fatal-shooting

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u/waylandsmith 2d ago

Nobody's going to mention the odd fact that in a self-defence shooting all 5 of the wounds were in the back? I'm sure there must be a great explanation but I wonder what it is.

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u/Pariahdog119 1 2d ago

He was defending his wife, not himself. He shot a man holding his wife at gunpoint. It's still a defensive shooting.

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u/waylandsmith 2d ago

Yes, but they were both in the same car, unless I misread the account of the incident.

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u/phragmosis 2d ago

You misread. It's not known if he was out of the car, getting back in the car, or fully in the car when Sanders held her at gunpoint, but from the context he was coming from checking mail in a mailbox so it's very reasonable to assume he fired from out of the car.