I disagree.
Think about it.
Think about going to bed, knowing there might be some nut case still wandering around. Will he break in? Has he moved on? Will I have the courage to do what needs to be done if he does break in? What if he's quiet and I don't hear him. Will he still be here when I go to the store tomorrow? Will the wife be safe when I leave?
Those questions now ALL have definitive answers in regard to the intruder. PLUS, he knows he's got what it takes to defend his home and wife. AND his wife has seen it done, so now she knows how it's successfully done.
The intruder was probably drunk, otherwise he would not have gone to the back yard.
A friend told me a story, how in his misspent youth, he became very drunk, and went to a stranger's house, thinking it was his own home, and the police were called.
Thankfully, my friend was not killed, as he matured, stopped drinking and today is an upstanding citizen.
I see your well-intentioned points, but it simply doesn't make sense for an elderly man to go into his darkened yard to mix it up with a drunken man likely half his age (or younger) while his wife waits helplessly inside.
The old man and his wife had the "homecourt" advantage. They could have called the police and urgently requested assistance. They could have then sat comfortably in their kitchen (gun in hand) waiting for the cavalry to arrive.
As an aside, I hardly think that shooting and killing another man led to a nice comfortable sleep that night.
~ Blue Jays ~
My Dad was in his 60's when he died. If there was an intruder in his house or property, there is no way he, (Nor I) would have waited for the cops to get there by that time he could have made off with his hard earned tools, broken into his truck/house what ever. He as I would have made sure the man left then not later!
I just hope that the dead mans family/friends don't seek revenge on these poor people... : ) <<< me