[Dubya]

At a news conference Friday, attorney Tom Lambright said his client was "just doing what everyone is supposed to do."

SHARÓN STEINMANN: CHRONICLE

[i_dont_chat]

Yes, he was doing what we are supposed to do.

IF we had fought to keep our good old neighborhoods.

IF we had fought to keep our downtown districts.

IF we had fought to keep our beaches.

IF we had fought to keep our jobs.

IF we had fought to keep our good teachers.

IF we had fought to keep our ____________ (fill in the blanks).

[US_MilitaryRules]

Nice shootin. To bad the law is going to get in the way and ruin this guys life. Hopefully the jury will let him off.

[blam]

The same would have happened her.

[TalBlack]

Any individual is free to decide for himself if some particular property is something he wants to defend with a gun but any society that decides that mere property is nothing to shoot at someone over is cutting its own throat.

[WildcatClan]

I never heard reported that the burglars had a gun? I can’t believe I am taking this position, but if they were unarmed, Mr. Horn is a murderer. If this were a home invasion, at his home, that would change things considerably. It wasn’t and he chose to leave his home, ignoring the instructions of the 911 dispatcher. If the men were unarmed, he murdered them. Law Enforcement isn’t allowed to just shoot people fleeing a scene and Mr. Horn isn’t above the law.

[T. P. Pole]

I haven’t seen a report of when the police actually arrived. Only that the 911 call lasted something like 10 minutes. Does anybody know?

[LucyJo]

"No firearms in house Horn lives with his daughter and granddaughter and does not keep firearms in the house, his lawyer said."

Well, thanks a bunch for reporting that fact to any potential future burglars, or other criminal types who might make an uninvited visit to the Horn residence.

[JCEccles]

Lambright contended that Horn was startled to find the burglars just 15 feet from his front door when he stepped onto his porch. "He was petrified at that point," the lawyer said. "You hear him say, 'I'll shoot. Stop!' They jumped. Joe thought they were coming for him. It's a self-defense issue."

If I'm piecing the evidence together right, he heard the burglars break into his neighbor's home, called 911, and waited inside of his own home for the police while the burglars took their time to ransack the home. He got agitated believing they were going to get away scot free, grabbed his shotgun, and told the 911 operator he was going outside the confront them. When he stepped outside he found them just 15 feet away, coming toward him. He warned them, then fired. He hit one in the chest (corroborating his version of the facts, that they were approaching him) and one in the side, probably as he was turning away to run after the first burgalar got hit.

Under the circumstances it appears clearly to be a case of self-defense.

[Excuse_My_Bellicosity]

did not intend to kill them when he stepped outside with his 12-gauge shotgun

I wonder what kind of load he had. My 12-gauge has #2 shot in a 3-inch magnum. No doubt about it, that's a kill round. Either way, he did the right thing.

[Red_Devil 232]

There are only two things that are right about this whole story and they are dead!

[ripley]

“it can’t be during the day”, said craig jett, a criminal defense lawyer association member.

and so it starts. these people are going to try to indict this man; smart-alecky, smarmy s.o.b.’s.; they’re probably going to speculate based upon their prejudicial attitude toward “white males”..

[Tennessean4Bush]

"It can't be during the day," Jett said.

Hmmm. That sounds pretty ridiculous.

[avacado]

THE CALL TO 911 ( “They got a bag of loot, I’m gonna kill’em” )

“The Shooting”
http://images.chron.com/content/chronicle/special/07/audio/911shooting/shooting.mp3

“Entire call with the shooting”
http://images.chron.com/content/chronicle/special/07/audio/911shooting/whole.mp3

“After the shooting”
http://images.chron.com/content/chronicle/special/07/audio/911shooting/after.mp3

[epow]

"There's a reason we don't let people take the law into their own hands," he said. "We have a police force for that.

Oh yeah, the cops are really good at taking down information about the crime that was committed before they arrived on the scene.

When my parents home was burglarized while they were having Thanksgiving dinner with us twenty-odd years ago, the cops who "investigated" told my Mom that she might as well call her insurance company and then forget about ever getting back any of the thousands of dollars worth of collectible coins, jewelry, cash, and other loot that was taken. Unfortunately, their lousy homeowners policy didn't cover the coin collection or most of the other non-household items that were stolen.

The cops were very good at writing down all the details and taking photos of the damage caused by the break-in. But they were never heard from again except when my Mom called to ask about their progress on the case, which was zilch, and my parents' stolen property was probably on display in a pawn shop showcase before the "investigators" got back to the station house.

While I realize that a burglary like that is a low priority crime AFA the cops are concerned and is difficult to solve, it's infuriating to hear someone recommend that we cower unarmed in a closet while our homes are being wrecked and ravaged by thugs and and just let the cops handle everything. My g-g-grandmother didn't run and hide when a Seminole raiding party came to her FL wilderness farm to steal pigs and chickens while my g-g-grandfather was off fighting Yankees in faraway Tennessee. According to my long-deceased g-grandmother, who was just an anklebiter at the time, her mother confronted them with a muzzle-loading shotgun and took care of business herself.

[org.whodat]

Ok, if mr horn doesn’t keep his gun in the house and it was in his truck, then he went out side and got the gun before he called the police. Sort of says he was planning on kill the trash.

Acts like these only gives the anti gun crowd something to work with.

[DocH]

911 Dispatcher: You're going to get yourself shot if you go outside that house with a gun

This is the twisted logic and "sheeple" mentality that government bureaucrats try and push on us.

It also may be a good argument for what Mr. Horn ended up doing. After all, if a trained member of the police department, who listens to these type of calls day in and day out, THINKS that the perps are likely armed, and may shoot a citizen who confronts them, then Mr. Horn SHOULD believe it and be prepared to respond.

He WAS prepared.

He DID respond.

Good for him, relieving society of two more criminal, scumbag predators.

If I have to confront two such criminals, I will be reasonably certain that it is I that will prevail over two boyz from dee hood (that's why so many innocent people get killed in the hood, the bastards can't hit the broad side of a barn).

I am well trained and prepared to protect my life and property, and that of my family, friends, and neighbors if need be.

THAT is what being a good citizen is all about, and what our Founders intended.

[Lancey Howard]

"There's a reason we don't let people take the law into their own hands," he said. "We have a police force for that."

[Reeses]

"We teach a technique called repetitive persistence," Carter said. "It needs to be at a level lower than the person calling to try to get him to calm down and listen to you

911 training is pretty creepy. Most of it is about manipulating the caller. Why don't they just train them how to send in the cops in a timely manner and to collect sufficient information so the cops can find the place quickly and don't kill innocent family members.

[Bogtrotter52]

Meanwhile....over at the far side of reality, the DUmmies were mouthing just what I expected. Stating that he “sounded excited.”, that he was looking forward to it, etc. And of course, many of them take issue with “taking a human life over property.”

[antiRepublicrat]

I can't take a chance in getting killed over this.

That's all I need to hear. He feared for his life. Off the scum before they pull out an illegally concealed gun and kill the good guy.