I would have trouble voting to convict on anything more than a mild offense, even though under the letter of the law this is probably felony murder. When the courts and official law enforcement fail to do their job, which is widespread, I am willing to give otherwise law-abiding citizens wide latitude in defending themselves and their property. Theft of property is theft of the means to live and of the time required to replace those means, which is in effect though not in law a serious threat to life.
This moron needs a whole lot of training on self-defense law, on self-defense tactics, and on quite a few other topics, but he probably would not be facing charges if he had simply chosen better words or silence before and after the shooting. In this situation and even after multiple burglaries in three weeks, the armed citizen should (1) never admit to having left bait and open doors to attract criminal thugs [perhaps they were open for pets, for fresh air, or because the homeowner forgot?], (2) never admit to anyone a desire to shoot even the most deserving burglars, (3) never shoot blindly in the dark, and (4) never shoot so poorly that the criminal survives. What’s up with that - four shotgun blasts and the thug is expected to recover?
The correct answers are to stay quiet before the fact. Then: (a) shoot, shovel, and shut up [ONLY if you are 100% certain it will not be discovered/reported, and probably not even then because your certainly under stress could be misguided], or (b) shoot, search YouTube for what to do after a self-defense shooting, and then do nothing more than a good video [such as the Masaad Ayoob http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pCZXZMYyRl4 video] recommends until a criminal defense lawyer is present. A better answer would be for the police to do their job after the burglaries, but that didn’t happen. A better answer would be for the homeowner to follow the law, only shooting if required due to an immediate threat from the criminal thug who broke into his home, but that also appears not to have happened.
I hope that even those on FR sympathetic to the homeowner (and I am VERY sympathetic) would research what to do, know their local laws, and never act in a manner that would allow successful prosecution for shooting a thug who needs shooting.
So much for the BS claim espoused by some that "with a shotgun at house/garage distances, you don't need to aim" This guy needs some tactical graining from Joe 'SWAT' Biden.
Following the law is not just “a better answer.”
Without any threat to his own safety, he shot blindly into the dark.
That is criminal. He could have killed a small child who had gotten lost amd wandered in.