It sounded like he was just complying with the wishes of the person he shot. He couldn't call the police because then he would have been guilty of a felony himself. Same for taking the person he shot to the hospital.
After a person has paid their debt to society they should have all of their rights restored. Too many of our laws are designed solely to create criminals.
I read the article. He should have called police and an ambulance.
Thus one generations mercy is changed into another's injustice. In the bad old days, felonies meant death, mutilation, or banishment. In mercy it was decided that one could serve some time in jail and lose some rights. Now that is thought of as too harsh.
Mind you, I am coming to agree that the war on drugs is creating more problems than it seems to be solving. There's some question about the fairness of some drug felony laws. But the notion that in felonies generally more is at stake than time in jail is not a priori a bad one.