[zzrrt]

I don't know about "in cold blood." Allegedly they threatened him and his family with death, and he didn't really have time to premeditate killing her. I guess the prosecutor is getting at your point when he said it was not a "reasonable person"'s choice to kill an unarmed person backing away, but I don't think it quite qualifies as cold-blooded either. Maybe I'm too pedantic, but personally it's a reminder to not let emotions push me into a horrible choice like this, because after the fog passes it is objectively senseless.

[Stevvo]

I guess the gun makes you see it differently? In that, it's easier to kill someone with a gun, therefore the killer less "cold-blooded"? i.e. if the old woman had been stabbed or beaten to death rather than shot, I don't think you would take be taking issue with the term.

[zzrrt]

Yes, I think so. In a flash of emotion it’s easy to pull the trigger. A caveat I would put is that he seems to have done the shooting over a somewhat long period (I didn’t want to watch the videos closely, but maybe 30+ seconds), so maybe it’s not very “hot-blooded”, but more so than emotionless or planned killing.

[almosthere]

I've noticed this lately - when someone dies by accident or somewhat on purpose, people are re-writing the story to say something like: "they put them on the curb, stomped their neck, a shot them in the back of the head with 4 ak-47s for 10 minutes. Something they planned for 6 years."