Posted on 07/24/2014 10:08:32 AM PDT by marktwain
(LONG BEACH, CA.) -- They came to the wrong house to do a B & E (break and enter) that night and they most certainly frightened and roughed up the wrong 80-year old man.
For one of the invader-robbers that night, a woman, it was indeed a fatal error in the victim selection process.
Tom Greer, an 80-year-old retiree arrived at his home in Long Beach Tuesday night to find a man and a woman in the middle of a late night break in, ransacking the place.
Greer told L.A.'s KNBC-TV as soon as he got inside both robbers tackled him, "Both of them jumped up on top of me," after they threw him to the ground he said.
The next day he had to be treated at a hospital for a severe shoulder and collarbone injury.
But during the attack on Greer the robbers didn't know that somehow he had gotten a hold of his .22 caliber revolver.
A .22 is a terribly puny, underpowered cartridge for self-defense, most firearms instructors would say, but in a pinch it's better than throwing a rock.
Greer told the station, "I come back and they see me with a gun, and they run," he said.
The man got away, but as they were both running in an alley behind the house. Greer fired his weapon at them and the woman fell after being hit by a bullet.
Greer said the woman pleaded, 'Don't shoot me, I'm pregnant! I'm going to have a baby!' And I shot her anyway," he said.
Greer said after he fired the shots, "She was dead. I shot her twice, she best be dead ... (The man) had run off and left her."
(Excerpt) Read more at skyvalleychronicle.com ...
IF he pleads senility sayng he thought they were pro-life protesters, two months in an ankle bracelet.
And disability for the rest of his life for suffering from PTSD
I agree, and as a result I don't have a whole lot of sympathy to waste on him either. He made his decision and he'll have to take the consequences.
One can only expect so much of a citizen who believes his life is in danger. Adrenaline is a powerful hormone.
However, one is reminded of that scene from the film "Gran Torino" in which Clint Eastwood says, "You know how every now and then you run into somebody you shouldn't have fxxxxd with? That's me."
If this went down as the article states, he’s in a world of trouble. They were no longer a threat to his person. Apparently he shot her in the back which indicates to me she was running away. If she was pregnant it will be worse for him.
As soon as they ran away he should have just called the cops.
I understand your point but seriously, how fast can an 80 year old run?
If someone had just beat you up and you fire at them when they finished, you’re the bad guy? No way. You would have an adrenaline rush, heat of passion or whatever, it ain’t over for you just because the perps took off running.
He’s 80. Totally worth killing that vermin and getting her off the street for the rest of us. I salute him. Wish I could be on the jury.
“If someone had just beat you up and you fire at them when they finished, you’re the bad guy?”
According to the law in “most” states, yes. If the threat has abated, you cannot follow them into any alley, shoot one of them and listen to them beg, and shoot them again.
That is not self defense. That is an execution.
We are not supposed to do that here.
His big mistake was blabbing his mouth about it.
Perhaps he meant to say “then the woman said “We’re running out to our car to get our gun to shoot you dead Old Man!””
in the heat of the moment you can’t shoot a scumbag?
In the heat of the moment an 80 year old man shot at two fleeing criminals who had injured him enough to land in the hospital. There has to be a moral allowance for such action after an injury that gets your adrenaline pumping. Especially in a vulnerable 80 year old man who could have been hurt a lot worse than this duo hurt him
My prediction is he will be out $10,000 and more to lawyers but he will not be sent to jail. He will get probation
That’s how I see it.
It'll be up to a jury to decide, but if it went down as described, no. It wasn't a legal shoot, at least in my state it wasn't. You can't shoot someone when they're running away. That's the law.
Anyone who blusters on about taking out a criminal using lethal force is asking for some trouble...good, bad or indifferent.
Fine him ten dollars, he can mail it in.
She was also an assaulter and batterer as well as a theif.
“both robbers tackled him, “Both of them jumped up on top of me,” after they threw him to the ground”
Well, I think it’s pretty clear that the shooter will (and should) be tried for murder.
But the good news is that the dead woman’s accomplice will likely face felony murder charges too.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.