Posted on 01/30/2023 9:33:04 AM PST by MtnClimber
This story makes me want to move to Polk County. Florida. Where I live in California, a homeowner that shoots an intruder would be prosecuted unless he or she could prove a reasonable fear of violence and no means of escape. God help you if the intruder turns out to be unarmed or there was a window behind you.
But in Polk County, as Slaynews.com reports:
A Florida police chief has responded to a homeowner shooting burglars in his home by issuing a warning to criminals that “most people are armed.”
On Friday, a Florida man with a concealed weapon permit arrived home and found two intruders burglarizing his Polk County residence.
The homeowner fired multiple rounds with his gun and struck one of the suspects before they both fled the scene.
During a Friday press conference, Haines City Police Chief Gregory Goreck said that crooks should see the incident as a warning.
“One should expect that if you are brazen enough to enter into someone’s residence and it is not yours, with intent to commit an unlawful act, there may be repercussions,” Goreck said.
(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...
Polk County, Florida, home of sheriff Grady Judd.
"Repercussions" -- heh, heh.“One should expect that if you are brazen enough to enter into someone’s residence and it is not yours, with intent to commit an unlawful act, there may be repercussions”
No description of the criminals. probably “two males”
When the state ceases to arrest, prosecute, and incarcerate criminals , the criminals become more brazen and vigilantes arise.
A few years ago a guy decided to rob a gun store in Texas during the day. He got shot by 2 clerks and 2 customers. That was a really bad plan.
I’m a big fan of teamwork
Many of us here in Florida also have Concealed Carry Permits, and carry outside the home, protected by our “Stand Your Ground Law.”
Grady Judd might be great, but from my understanding, there’s a drug problem in Polk County, too. So it’s a buyer beware kind of thing. Maybe that’s in every county in every state these days, though.
it is a legal difference ... “Stand your ground” vs. “Must retreat”.
Polk County includes the town of Frostproof, which is where Damion Tillman, Brandon Rollins and Kevin Springfield were shot to death by a guy who overheard something they said to each other while waiting in line at a convenience store.
He followed them out to the fishing spot they were using (at ten o’clock at night) and wasted all three of them. This happened in July of 2020.
The shooter’s name is Tony Lee Wiggins.
Self-defense is not vigilantism.
From Merriam Webster:
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/vigilante
: a member of a volunteer committee organized to suppress and punish crime summarily (as when the processes of law are viewed as inadequate)
broadly : a self-appointed doer of justice
I wish FReepers would stop using the term inaccurately. Of all people, conservatives should know better what vigilantism is and what it is not.
I value the scum that accumulates under the rubber inlet for the garbage disposal more than I value a burglar’s life.
Decades of “entertainment” promoting drugs ,people wanting instant gratification(euphoria),enormous cash money.....yes,every community has a drug problem even those that pretend not.
Property is time, time is finite. We only have so much of it, and stealing the life force that I sacrificed for the property should be a death penalty, or compensate me fully. Even if it means the thief becomes my slave until his debt is paid.
I remember reading about that shortly after it happened. I don’t think they had caught the perp yet. What was it that the victims were saying in line that attracted the killer’s attention?
Having lived in Polk County for 20 some years before leaving in 2006 I had extensively traveled around the county. Polk County is huge. Huge. And once you get out of the western side, Lakeland, Winter Haven, Plant City, and the portions that border Hillsborough county (Tampa Bay area) it’s a huge expansive, empty area. Which is why it has been a really bad thing for meth and other drugs. It’s simply too much land for the county law enforcement to stay on top of.
By way of illustration Polk County is double the size of Rhode Island and equal to the size of Delaware. And this is simply a County with four or five cities of any consequence at all.
I lived in Winter Haven in the late 60’s for a few years. My deceased brother’s family is still in the area, Winter Haven, Lakeland, Haines City, and Lake Worth. (Family in Pinellas, Hillsborough, and Alachua counties also). Yes, Polk is a big county, and in some parts, as you said, an expansive empty area. My brother’s family has encountered the drug problem firsthand. Theft and other crazy things. I know you have to be careful anywhere you go these days, though. Drugs have infested our country as a whole.
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