Teen fatally shot when he mistakenly went into wrong house
Kinda makes you wonder. Why didn't the homeowner recognise the kid who lived two houses away?
One More Notch
- Thread starter Tecumsehsbones
- Start date
Kinda makes you wonder. Why didn't the homeowner recognise the kid who lived two houses away?
My parents woke up one morning with a complete and utter stranger passed out on their couch.
A friend of mine had a drunken neighbour climb through his basement suite window because he couldn't get his key to work (due to it being the wrong house and all).
My hubby's highschool friend walked into the wrong FARM HOUSE as a drunken teen. (The really sad part is he drove there).
Mistakes happen. I'm glad the first reactions of these people weren't to shoot first, ask questions later.
A friend of mine had a drunken neighbour climb through his basement suite window because he couldn't get his key to work (due to it being the wrong house and all).
My hubby's highschool friend walked into the wrong FARM HOUSE as a drunken teen. (The really sad part is he drove there).
Mistakes happen. I'm glad the first reactions of these people weren't to shoot first, ask questions later.
Its not even so much the gun part of life, it has become the Fear part of life.
Two centuries ago this could be expected as people on the frontier had to
protect themselves from intruders who would do harm. Society evolved and
that was not to happen anymore. The problem is the government and the
powers that be re-introduced fear instead of expectation and now we have
a return to the wild west in mentality.
When these events end in gunfire the safety of the society itself is under attack.
Two centuries ago this could be expected as people on the frontier had to
protect themselves from intruders who would do harm. Society evolved and
that was not to happen anymore. The problem is the government and the
powers that be re-introduced fear instead of expectation and now we have
a return to the wild west in mentality.
When these events end in gunfire the safety of the society itself is under attack.
Yeah! How dare those sub-human savages defend their homes from invasion!
Hmmm. . . interesting. I never really thought of finishing a successful genocide project as "evolution." I'll have to ponder that one.
I think maybe you give the government and the "powers that be" credit for more power than they really have.
The purpose of a gun is to protect your family, not your home. There's always a very real possibility that a 'home invasion' has no violent intent. To be a responsible gun owner, you need to be aware of that and able to control yourself enough to pause a beat and make sure you're not gunning down someone with zero intent to injure you. A gun is a deterrent at the theft level, and a weapon ONLY at the self defense level. They were not in a position to need to defend themselves with force.
Those powers that be were instituted to ensure we could sleep safely in our beds
Its not the powers that be that are the problem its the fine citizens who insist on
killing each other in this case a neighbour who entered the wrong home.
I am not against defending one's family but shooting someone from down the street
is just plain nuts.
Karrie is right the gun was allowed to protect family members not property as per say.
reason has to prevail. If it were a home invasion you resist if its a neighbour you should
take that into account unless of course the neighbour has been involved in home invasions.
What I can't get over is people decry the police until they need them and they don't
understand the equation, the police are provided by the powers that be with your tax dollars.
The powers that be are actually collectively you and I and if we can't trust them we
can't trust us,. Back to my original comment when this begins to happen we should be more
concerned the society itself is slowly sinking.
Its not the powers that be that are the problem its the fine citizens who insist on
killing each other in this case a neighbour who entered the wrong home.
I am not against defending one's family but shooting someone from down the street
is just plain nuts.
Karrie is right the gun was allowed to protect family members not property as per say.
reason has to prevail. If it were a home invasion you resist if its a neighbour you should
take that into account unless of course the neighbour has been involved in home invasions.
What I can't get over is people decry the police until they need them and they don't
understand the equation, the police are provided by the powers that be with your tax dollars.
The powers that be are actually collectively you and I and if we can't trust them we
can't trust us,. Back to my original comment when this begins to happen we should be more
concerned the society itself is slowly sinking.
I think you're gonna have to define "powers that be" before this conversation can be productive.
What? I thought you were just accusing the PTB of creating fear and stuff.
You clearly haven't lived on some of the streets I've lived on.
Every year I consider shooting people in tourist season (some of the locals, too). I think they'd out to do me and my family some harm.
he might have. he might have thought that the kid had come to rob, rape, murder, etc.
I would hope he would not think that, absent some evidence beyond the kid's mere presence in the house.
I don't suppose we'll ever know. The kid ain't talking, and the Castle Doctrine is pretty strong in Virginia.
I'd hate to be so fearful all the time. It was ramped up after 9-11 and people seem to be more and more afraid of their neighbors , strangers and pretty much everyone. If bin Laden wanted to terrorize the entire nation it seems to have worked.
You have to consider the homeowner's right to citizen's arrest. They have the right to arrest someone that has violated their home and the security of their family. If the thief get's dumb or resistant, they escalate the situation into one where the homeowner may now be scared sh!ttless. A homeowner that is scared has the right to shoot, mostly because it is unreasonable to think that a threatening person will stop his attack or stop short of killing the homeowner, should they ever get the advantage on the homeowner.
The purpose of my rifles is to provide for my family before anything else. It is the nefarious side of society that makes me consider other uses for firearms including protecting my property and my home. I am not about to let anyone invade my home for any reason including to preserve a criminal's life. I will give a warning shot and attempt to detain the perp for the authorities, I will even let them run away without firing again but they will in no way get to take my stuff without suffering the consequences of their bad decisions. It might help to make others with bad intentions reconsider.
I'm sorry K but I cannot agree to allow theft or other transgression against my property to be done just to preserve the life of a criminal as it just promotes others with bad intentions to continue there being no consequences or retribution.
So the drunk that mistakenly walks through the wrong unlocked front door deserves to die?
It's too bad about our species' propensity to too quickly jump to conclusions and over-react.
So I've dug out an old vine post of mine as it somehow relates to the home intruder theme and its challenge to compassion and human decency.
My daughter was born in '90. I wrote this in the late nineties.
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
[quote user="KeithP"]Surely, there are some decent people out there...
[/quote]
Of course there are, though they're likely not too concerned with blowing their horns about it. But then you are asking about anonymous giving, which is an interesting aspect of it.
I've given anonymously on occasion (besides giving to a charity, because you're always anonymous to the end-line recipient), like putting money in an envelope in the door of someone you know who needs it but are probably too proud to accept it from you.
Then other times you wonder if someone fully appreciates what you've done for them:
I've thought about writing about something for a long time, so I guess now's as good a time as any.
When my daughter was just a few months old, around late November, 1990, her mom and I had turned in for the evening. It was late. If it was before or after midnight, I don't exactly recall, but it was likely after. Our baby was sleeping in her room at the end of the hall, and we were beginning to doze off when Lo, now my ex, shook me to consciousness saying someone came into the house. Sure enough, when I sat up we saw someone go past our door, slightly ajar, and in the direction of the living room, but our daughter's room was also in that direction.
I made an immediate b-line for the kitchen, which this character had just passed through, and to the drawer which held our largest knives. Lo was right behind me when she pointed out that our intruder had not only scaled the child's safety gate which was by our side door, his point of entry, situated at the top of the basement stairway, but he had also removed his boots! ?
I immediately took the knife and started for my daughter's room, but noticed someone lying on the livingroom couch, so there I confronted him. I asked him questions he didn't have answers for and I could easily ascertain his state of inebriation.
Lo had the phone at the ready and was beginning to dial 911 when I made a quick judgement call - I simply told her "don't call the cops." I told her this guy was just drunk and lost and wanted to sleep. So I let him. I told him he could sleep there but to "don't mind me if I sit right here with this knife and watch you all night long" - which I did.
Of course while he slept I took the liberty to snap a photo of him just in case we learned of any strange happenings in our neighbourhood in the following days - there were none.
In the morning we fed him breakfast and coffee, and after he gave some explanation of himself and expressed his gratitude, he went on his way home never to cross our threshhold again.
Funny thing is, we always lock our doors! This was like, the only night ever in which we failed to lock it and, sure enough, and lucky for that fellow, it's the only time anyone has ever intruded into our home.
Now, I certainly don't recommend anyone do what I did, but it was just one of those situations where my instincts, the kid's gate left up, and the fact he'd removed his shoes, told me that this guy was not here to harm us, so I took a calculated risk and opted for compassion over the heavy hand of the law.
Besides, I'd been there before. I'd been so drunk that I trespassed and slept in someone's vehicle, and though I'd gotten out of there before being discovered, I would hope that if I had been, that someone would've shown me the same compassion instead of turning me in to the police. And since God had got me off the hook that time (by waking me at first light) I figured I owed Him one. Well... I owe Him a bunch, actually.
:?)
So I've dug out an old vine post of mine as it somehow relates to the home intruder theme and its challenge to compassion and human decency.
My daughter was born in '90. I wrote this in the late nineties.
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
[quote user="KeithP"]Surely, there are some decent people out there...
[/quote]
Of course there are, though they're likely not too concerned with blowing their horns about it. But then you are asking about anonymous giving, which is an interesting aspect of it.
I've given anonymously on occasion (besides giving to a charity, because you're always anonymous to the end-line recipient), like putting money in an envelope in the door of someone you know who needs it but are probably too proud to accept it from you.
Then other times you wonder if someone fully appreciates what you've done for them:
I've thought about writing about something for a long time, so I guess now's as good a time as any.
When my daughter was just a few months old, around late November, 1990, her mom and I had turned in for the evening. It was late. If it was before or after midnight, I don't exactly recall, but it was likely after. Our baby was sleeping in her room at the end of the hall, and we were beginning to doze off when Lo, now my ex, shook me to consciousness saying someone came into the house. Sure enough, when I sat up we saw someone go past our door, slightly ajar, and in the direction of the living room, but our daughter's room was also in that direction.
I made an immediate b-line for the kitchen, which this character had just passed through, and to the drawer which held our largest knives. Lo was right behind me when she pointed out that our intruder had not only scaled the child's safety gate which was by our side door, his point of entry, situated at the top of the basement stairway, but he had also removed his boots! ?
I immediately took the knife and started for my daughter's room, but noticed someone lying on the livingroom couch, so there I confronted him. I asked him questions he didn't have answers for and I could easily ascertain his state of inebriation.
Lo had the phone at the ready and was beginning to dial 911 when I made a quick judgement call - I simply told her "don't call the cops." I told her this guy was just drunk and lost and wanted to sleep. So I let him. I told him he could sleep there but to "don't mind me if I sit right here with this knife and watch you all night long" - which I did.
Of course while he slept I took the liberty to snap a photo of him just in case we learned of any strange happenings in our neighbourhood in the following days - there were none.
In the morning we fed him breakfast and coffee, and after he gave some explanation of himself and expressed his gratitude, he went on his way home never to cross our threshhold again.
Funny thing is, we always lock our doors! This was like, the only night ever in which we failed to lock it and, sure enough, and lucky for that fellow, it's the only time anyone has ever intruded into our home.
Now, I certainly don't recommend anyone do what I did, but it was just one of those situations where my instincts, the kid's gate left up, and the fact he'd removed his shoes, told me that this guy was not here to harm us, so I took a calculated risk and opted for compassion over the heavy hand of the law.
Besides, I'd been there before. I'd been so drunk that I trespassed and slept in someone's vehicle, and though I'd gotten out of there before being discovered, I would hope that if I had been, that someone would've shown me the same compassion instead of turning me in to the police. And since God had got me off the hook that time (by waking me at first light) I figured I owed Him one. Well... I owe Him a bunch, actually.
:?)