Sharda Elmore, a 32-year-old man from Cleveland, Ohio, was fatally shot on February 18, 2018, at his Lamontier Avenue home in the Buckeye Shaker neighborhood. He was shot in the face during an altercation at a high-stakes dice game held at the residence.

Charles Franklin, 35, was arrested and charged with murder. At trial Franklin said he acted in self-defense during a struggle with Elmore and an armed bouncer, Tremaine Foster, while trying to leave with about $2,500 he said he had won. Franklin testified that his licensed .380 caliber pistol fired during the scuffle. The jury accepted his self-defense claim and acquitted him of murder; he was convicted only of a misdemeanor weapons charge and given six months probation and a $250 fine, with credit for time served. Elmore’s funeral was held at Sanctuary Baptist Church in Cleveland.

What details about the dice game, the participants, or other witnesses might help explain how the confrontation escalated to deadly force?