By the standard you pose, would it be ok to kill anyone you see in St. Louis, since how do you know they aren’t about to shoot you from a distance?
For moral and practical reasons, I’d rather avoid shooting anyone, feral or otherwise, even if they “deserved it”, unless I or someone else is in genuine, immediate peril, with no reasonable alternative. In this case, the “fear” doesn’t seem reasonable; the thieves didn’t seem to know the shooter was even there. Had he missed, he might have attracted return fire. Calling the cops seems like a reasonable alternative; at minimum it would save yourself an enormous hassle.
Such a decision is strictly subjective since no one thinks like you. Everyone reacts differently to different circumstances........
In a perfect world, there would have been a perfect response to the situation. And in a perfect world, the 13 year old kid would have been at home studying...........
As a side note, there obviously was no mention of this kid having prior records since he is a juvenile. What are the odds that he does?
“By the standard you pose, would it be ok to kill anyone you see in St. Louis, since how do you know they aren’t about to shoot you from a distance?”
That is absurd and I think you know it, I made it clear my question concerned someone who has broken into your car, that is far different from “anyone you see”. Why would you even ask such a ridiculous question?