Maggie's Farm

It's sad the kid was apparently heading down a dangerous path. It's sad to lose your son regardless of what he was doing. It's sad to kill another human almost regardless of what he was doing. Thankfully, I've never been to need to kill somebody, but I've heard that people who were undoubtedly defending themselves are still traumatized by having done it.
I wish the homeowner had waited for him to get into the house before taking such a permanent action.
I was amazed to find out several years ago that in North Carolina then, if you shot an intruder coming into your house, you were justified, but once he got in, you were not. I believe that has changed.

I don't disagree with you. I've always thought if you want to be a robber, you should get good health insurance because you deserve whatever you get.

Having said that, I think the homeowner missed opportunities to take care of the situation without killing someone. He was apparently close enough to the window to think that the sound of loading a magazine and racking the slide would make the robber think twice and leave. That leads me to think he probably could have positioned himself such that he could see if he was armed as he crawled in the window and if he wasn't armed, he hold him at gunpoint with little risk. If he was armed, he could shoot then. Of course, all that is from the perspective of someone who was not there and who has never been in that situation.

The other thing that concerned me is that he didn't seem to give a warning.

We certainly don't know all the facts and they certainly could redound even more to the homeowner. Even if they didn't, I don't necessarily blame the homeowner. I'm not sure I would have done anything different. As I said, when you're in a dangerous business you have to be ready to deal with that danger.

I agree with you if he was coming through a door or something that was easily navigated. From the look of the window, he would have had to crawl in. It would have taken time and while he was crawling he would be very vulnerable.

Look, I'm not saying the homeowner is at fault. The kid breaking in is clearly at fault. He was obviously where he shouldn't have been doing something he shouldn't have been doing and deserves whatever happens to him. From my easy chair I can wish things had happened differently. While I'm not confronted with the situation and only part of the facts, I can theorize what might have happened differently to produce a better result. From my easy chair, it would be just as easy to say give the what he deserves. I would hope that as a homeowner or defender, I would be able to act calmly and rationally keeping in mind that human lives are at stake. That would be the ideal. As I said, in reality, I'm not sure I wouldn't have done the same thing.

By his own admission, he tried to give him a warning - loading a magazine and racking the slide. He stated that he hoped the intruder had heard him.

He was outside a window with a curtain. The intruder would have no idea where the homeowner was so it's unlikely he would try to blast his way in. He couldn't even get the window open!