Posted on 08/06/2014 1:08:22 AM PDT by nickcarraway
19-years-old, 5'-4", and 184 lbs is not a "little girl". Other than that, I agree. He didn't know who/what he was shooting at. He had a steel door that she was unlikely to get through (though, maybe someone bigger, or a group of people, could have gotten through), and he took the time to find his gun in the dark, but not his phone.
I believe he opened the door because he wanted to shoot whoever was banging on the door. I believe he’ll be convicted and rightly so.
Gun first - THEN phone. If you have a shotgun and a steel door, you can afford to turn on the lights, find the phone, and call. If you have a shotgun, and you open the door, you have an obligation to LOOK before shooting.
I fully understand his getting a gun first. I do not understand shooting someone with a shotgun without looking before pulling the trigger. In my book, that is evil.
For the record, I’ve grabbed my 357 and gone looking to see what was making noise. at night. But I don’t shoot - EVER - without knowing what I am shooting at.
In this type of situation... if you are truly fearful of who or what is banging at your door in the middle of the night,
You don’t grab a gun and just OPEN THE DOOR.
SURELY his house has windows, huh?
SURELY he has a BACK DOOR that he can use to go around and see who/what are at the front door.
Blowing her head off was not justified. He had other options. Too many to ignore.
its guys like this that the libs take and show off and say see this guy is a nut! he just blew away some kid!
The story made it clear that the man had no idea what threat, if any, was being posed to him. He had a loud black person raising a ruckus on his porch. He opened the door and immediately shot the person in the face, without trying to identify any real threat. You are allowed to defend yourself. But first there has to be a reason. Something to defend yourself against. In this case there doesn't appear to have been one. He killed the girl for no good reason.
A steel door can probably be kicked open by a relatively strong person if the door frame and hinges are weak.
I can't imagine, with what facts have been presented so far, of convicting this man of anything more severe than involuntary manslaughter.
People keep saying: breaking in. But there is no indication this woman was breaking in, it’s only been said that she was banging on the door. That might have scared this guy or annoyed him but in and of itself it is not a threat to him.
And it does not seem that anyone has established that she was a threat to him.
Well it’s not pre-meditated murder, certainly. Those laws vary a lot from state to state. I feel like there was some depraved indifference going on but that’s just me.
And if you were this guy you would have opened your door, blown your neighbor's head off, and wondered what he wanted to begin with.
Maybe, maybe not.
And how would you have felt about killing someone who was only trying to summon you because your son was in trouble?
How could a dead man inform me of the information he had.
If you are not pointing a pistol at the culprit, you deserve what comes your way if he attacks you.
Finally, an intelligent response.
You are correct in what you say.
And if you were this guy you would have opened your door, blown your neighbor’s head off, and wondered what he wanted to begin with.
If you read my story you just might realize that the neighbor told me about the emergency. When I opened the door it was dark on the porch and I did not have my glasses on and could not see very well. However, to your dismay, I did not simply shoot him.
As a matter of fact, we both had a good laugh over it.
“If you are afraid of who is on the other side of the door, why do you open it?”
Because I have some responsibility to investigate what is happening on my property. And if it sounds weird, I’m going to have a gun with me when I do it.
I can’t speak to what this guy did next, but if she was zonked out of her mind and screaming like a banshee...
From reading the article this was no case of someone knocking on the door. It says she was pounding on the door so hard he believed she was trying to break in; he didn’t believe it could possibly be a woman. I guess technically during a home invasion you should wait until they breach the door, but when someone is attempting to break in you are in imminent danger in my book. If there are multiple assailants and they are armed you need to get in the first shot (or three) or be dead. Again, if I am on the jury I would NEVER convict in any case like this if there is an indication of defense of property. Unless you’ve faced armed assailants trying to kill you, you have no clue what it’s like (I have, multiple times). I live in the country now and don’t have to worry about that anymore. It is all adrenaline and no reasoned out thought process, and if you make a mistake you are dead instead of them.
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