I've read most of the posts in this thread and find myself being less generous to the perp than some. Nonetheless, I would certainly not shoot a burgler unless I was in immediate danger.
I do speak from experience though, having discovered three teenagers ransacking our rented home back in 1980, on Thanksgiving day to be exact.
My wife and I had spent the day at her parents, where we had dinner. We then drove across town and had desert at my family's home. We left for home around 8 PM.
Turning onto our street, I saw a flashlight beam moving about in our front, upstairs bedroom. I drove past and stopped at a friend's house three doors down. I called the Police, and then along with my friend (a NYS Court Officer) armed with his service revolver, his brother armed with a Mossberg shotgun and I had a Ruger carbine; we walked to my house. The women were against our apprehending the buggers, but I wasn't going to let them escape if I could prevent it.
We were lucky, they hadn't fled yet. The intruders appeared to be up in the master bedroom, in the rear of the upstairs. My friend's brother waited around back for anyone bailing out in a hurry. After checking that no one was downstairs (peeking in the windows) I unlocked the front door as quietly as possible. We then burst in and blocked exit down the stairs. One kid looked around the corner and stared down the revolver's barrel. He let out a panicked scream. Another kid opened a window, kicked out the screen and jumped. He managed to break his ankle in the attempt. His problem was greatly enhanced by the shotgun barrel he discovered two inches from his nose.
The other two came downstairs as ordered and we had them spread-eagle on the front walk when the Police showed up. They were arrested, charged and eventually found guilty. The oldest (18) was charged as an adult.
The only injury was to the idiot who decided that jumping blind out of a window was a good idea (he landed on the concrete patio and a large wood planter).
Apparently, there had been several break-ins in the neighborhood, and several items from other homes were found in one teenager's bedroom.
Several things can be gleaned from my experience.
1) Never, ever go in alone after a burgler or burglers.
2) If you must intervene, exercise good judgement and arm yourself as deemed necessary.
3) Understand that deadly force is a last resort and since we elected to intervene even after the police were called, our burden for justifiable deadly force was much greater, even with an off-duty Peace Officer with me (in New York State, Court Officers are classified as Peace Officers, not Police Officers and have limited jurisdiction and authority).
4) The goal must be to prevent the theft, not to cause deliberate injury. If the only way to apprehend the bad guy is to shoot him, let him go. You have enough trouble as it is, shooting a fleeing felon will only add to that exponentially, especially if the thief was unarmed. If he lives, he may get 2 years and probation. He'll be out of prison before you...
5) In retrospect, we agreed that we could have simply waited until the buggers exited the house as it would have provided a more controlled situation. Moreover, had we waited just 5 or 6 minutes, the Police would have arrived (the cops parked up the street and walked to the house to avoid spooking the thieves). My point is, take your time and think out your options before acting. Of course, forced entry by armed perps is another matter... Shoot first, debate later.
6) You never know for sure how your will react until actually faced with a situation. For example, if someone stated that they would automatically "shoot the SOB"; that is pure bluster. Hopefully, what they would do is use sound judgement. Your obligation is to save lives first, property second and saving face should not be in the equation. You may indeed have to use deadly force, but you better be able to establish that it was either "him or me", or at the very least that you were in immediate danger.
Put yourselves in the position of the parents of a screwed-up kid. You did everything you could to raise him right, but he's got himself an addiction and he's a thief. That's bad, really bad. But it's not an offense deserving death. Jail time, for sure. A good beating, perhaps. Too bad our legal system doesn't promote restitution.. Repay victims for their loss... Your only recourse is to sue in civil court and get what amounts to an uncollectable judgement.
Here's a story that was in our local newpaper a few weeks ago...
Three badguys kick in the door of a house and threaten a family at gunpoint. It was a robbery.
The homeowner was in a back bedroom when the perps crashed thru the door. He grabs his licensed pistol and goes to the living room. Seeing the three buttheads, two armed with handguns, the homeowner yells, "Freeze!!!, but hesitates... He doesn't shoot when one guy moves.
One badguy pivots around and shoots in the direction of the voice. He misses the homeowner, but hits his nephew in the head. Gunfire is exchanged. Two badguys are wounded and they all flee. The homeowner collects a flesh wound, but little boy is critically injured. He survives, but suffers severe brain damage. All 3 perps are apprehended.
This is a perfect example of using bad judgement and utterly stupid tactics. You cannot know if these creeps will simply leave, or decide to shoot any witnesses. You must assume the latter... Okay, so you have to stop them, no ethical problem as far as I can see. What you don't do is give them a warning. Let their warning be the report of your weapon firing.
My younger brother is a Deputy Sheriff and an ex Army Ranger. What would he have done? I asked him... "Drop the closest armed man with the first shot. Drop the second armed man next, odds are he will not have yet grasped the meaning of the first shot before he collects the next one. The third guy, the unarmed one, must now consider his situation and do so quickly..."
In my house, an intruder would be far more likely to encounter my wife rather than me... And that would be his hard luck, as she's a lot meaner and tougher than I am.
I'll explain. My family has owned pubs and local taverns for generations. I didn't go into the family business, but my middle brother did (I'm the oldest of four). My wife and I would stop by his pub (Smedleys Pub) from time to time. I'd have a few beers and chat with my brother, but my wife doesn't drink, so she would sip coca-cola with a lime twist. One evening we walked in and it was crowded. Some drunken butthead made an impolite comment to my wife. I escorted him to the door and tossed him out on his backside (literally, he stumbled and fell on his butt). His pals began running their yaps too and received their walking notices as well. I sat down at the bar and resumed my conversation. Several minutes go by, and the guy I bounced, along with two of his buddies had worked themselves into a lather and came back in for some payback. Being packed with people, no one noticed until they were about two steps away. My wife noticed them first. As the one guy stepped up behind me, he grabbed me around the neck. My wife grabbed a fist-full of glass ashtray (one of those heavy, sharp cornered types found on bars everywhere) and swung it into the guy's face. Caught him right on the cheekbone, splitting his mug wide open. He dropped like a dead skunk.
The other two stood there transfixed by the sight of a 110 pound buzzsaw hack down their chum... In short, all three went to jail that night, but one went to the emergency room first. Assault, trespassing, drunk and disorderly, etc.
That was very long time ago.
I stopped taking the wife to bars.... Too many brawls.
So, prospective burglers, if you think it's a good idea to break into my house, think again... You'd be better off kicking Mike Tyson's cat.
My regards,
Widewing
