When four black teenagers approached Bernhard Goetz on the New York City subway in 1984, he shot each them “in succession” for fear they were about to mug him.

In an era of high crime, many New Yorkers hailed Goetz as a “hero” for doing what they wished they could do, explains Elliot Williams, CNN legal analyst and author of “Five Bullets: The Story of Bernie Goetz, New York’s Explosive ‘80s, and the Subway Vigilante Trial That Divided the Nation.”  

“New York City in the 1980s was broke and mismanaged… People just generally felt scared… As a result, when there was this somewhat vigilante act, a lot of people felt in New York [that] this guy finally did what needed to be done because the police can’t keep us safe.”

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