Posted on 01/19/2023 3:25:44 PM PST by grundle
An Illinois man has been arrested in the fatal shooting of a 24-year-old outside a Missouri gas station, police say.
The fatal shooting happened around 2:10 a.m. on Jan. 7 in the parking lot of a Conoco gas station, the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department said.
Surveillance footage showed Jesse Lopez was trying to steal a car belonging to Brett Kress, when Kress shot at him, KSDK reported, citing a probable cause statement. Kress, from Sauget, Illinois, chased after Lopez and shot him three times, according to KSDK.
Officers found Lopez unconscious and not breathing. He was pronounced dead at the scene, police said.
Police in St. Charles County, which neighbors St. Louis County, discovered a “suspicious vehicle” on Tuesday, Jan. 17, that officers determined belonged to Kress, KMOV reported. He was captured nearby hiding in a shed of a mobile home park, according to the TV station.
Kress, 26, was charged with second-degree murder and armed criminal action, St. Louis police said.
Missouri law states that a person can use deadly force for self-defense but not to protect one’s property.
A person who uses deadly force must “prove he or she reasonably believed physical or deadly force was necessary to protect him or herself,” the law states.
(Excerpt) Read more at yahoo.com ...
When that property is something big like a home or a car which is necessary to sustain life in a modern society, then it ought to be justifiable self-defense.
If convicted ... a sentence for 2nd degree murder in MO can involve a lot of time.
“If convicted for second-degree murder, a person could face Class A felony charges with penalties that include:
- Life in prison without the possibility of parole.
- 10 to 30-years in prison.”
The marxist administrative state: Turning victims into criminals, one day at a time.
A person's property keeps him alive. This law is wrong. Do they still hang horse thieves in Missouri? No? Well they should, the same as a car thief.
Isn’t Texas...
“… but not to protect one’s property.“
Then you don’t own any property. It’s belongs to any punk that wants to take it.
Sounds like Kress has a problem, he chased after the thug. I can’t say if he feared for his life or not, only Kress and God know. MO needs to change their laws so that you can protect property and provide a bounty for chasing down thug criminals and killing them.
Stealing a horse was once a capital crime. Cars are today’s equivalent of a horse.
“Well they should, the same as a car thief.”
Today’s cars aren’t cheap...
Did anyone else hear Lopez say “Give me the car or I’ll kill you!” to Kress?
Exactly. Once he chased him, it became a different story.
He could make the claim that he feared for his life when confronting him, but not once the guy ran away (unless armed).
I prefer our laws. Protect life and property.
It’s sad this mad couldn’t continue his life of crime, really. Just sad. /s
If only we allowed or promoted death penalty for these crimes, just like stealing a horse a century ago, then car theft would not occur very often. But it is not. Problem here from what I read is that he chased the thief down to then shot him. That is problematic. That’s no longer self-defense of person or property. Maybe he pleads temporary insanity, triggered by attempted theft of his car. Maybe he has history of being victimized?
When stealing a horse was a capital offense, the sentence was still passed by a court.
A great deterrent against theft.
Maybe God will forgive him. I feel sorry for Kress and his family and the man killed and his family. But, we live in a fallen condition. People should take that in to consideration when committing acts that could get you killed. You can’t depend on your victims obeying laws of any kind. Plus, your victim may just be even more amoral than you are.
Once you start chasing someone, YOU are considered the aggressor. Except maybe in Texas.
It doesn’t clarify whether this was a car-jacking or just a greasy little sh!t using a coat hanger to get in and take off. I’m not partial to greasy little sh!ts, but they don’t deserve to die without just cause, and the defendant stole a car to get away, so maybe he deserved to die by the same logic.
Scratch that. The vehicle was his.
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