I understand your point but I guess I'm not so c'est la vie about the boy's life looking at the facts as presented in the article (which I've already acknowledged may not be complete or accurate). I'm sure the guy being a gun owner had his door locked so he had a couple of seconds/minutes to think about his course of action. The article may not be accurate and maybe it will come out the boy was a punk with a history of harrassing this guy, but I don't think it's going to come out that he was actually in the house. The way I'm looking at it right now, the homeowner had a few seconds to think. My dad is a gun owner and I've had to make a couple late night trips knocking at his door. He would never shoot first and ask questions later even if it was someone he didn't recognize that was knocking at his door late.
He would never shoot first and ask questions laterYes, a reasonable juror would ask the question, "Why wouldn't you ask, 'Who is it and why are you knocking on my door?' before even opening the door late at night?"
The standard in most cases like this is "What would a reasonable person do in this situation?" A person fearful enough of a threat to carry his firearm to the door might reasonably be expected to ask (through the door) who the hell is knocking before opening the door and firing without conversation.
When you walk to the door with a loaded firearm, you are proving you expect trouble. When you take no reasonable steps to rule out a harmless visitor, you have acted like someone who WANTS to shoot first and ask questions later.