So many details about the run-in don't add up, as many sleuthers here have pointed out. I'm wondering:
- Could the family have been returning home from the son's birthday party when the altercation happened?
- Could the other son have been with them, too, and they retrieved the gun when they took the girl home?
- Before returning home to retrieve the gun, could they have followed the guy in the other car home? They claimed to have "stalked" the other car after they went out and found it before the driver followed them home. This would answer some questions about how they were able to locate the other car again in the dark.
- Maybe it was after the family followed the other car home that the perp went inside and got a gun, which is when the family went home to retrieve their gun and this time the perp followed them. This would also explain why more passengers were originally reported in the other car.
Even if this sequence of events is correct and TM's family was also firing shots, I don't see how the killer could claim self defense. That doesn't make any more sense than TM & son go back out after they were home and hunting down and then stalking the other driver in self defense (the family's claim). The driver of the other car went to TM's home of his own volition and armed. Once he was home, if he felt threatened, he could have and should have called LE.
Whatever truly happened, it wasn't worth someone losing their life.