Here's two stories about two local men who shot and killed an intruder.
The wife and 8-year-old daughter were home alone," "They were in bed. Her husband had gone out for the evening. The wife heard a noise coming from the living room. She got up to investigate and discovered an individual passed out on the couch. She got her daughter, left the residence grabbed the telephone made a call to 9-1-1, and then she went looking for her husband.
The wife drove to a local tavern where she found him and brought him home and that's when the shooting occurred. The intruder was shot with a high powered hunting rifle. Both the men were drunk at the time of the shooting. Homeowner made conflicting statements to investigators.
A county grand jury returned manslaughter and homicide charges against the homeowner - trial still pending.
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The homeowner told police during the investigation, he saw a man, subsequently found to be a 40-year-old local, (and one time high school track star), in a ski mask running from his house. Taking a pistol with him, the property owner drove after suspect and eventually caught up with his pickup in a field near the house.
The property owner told police that the man tried to run over him with his truck, then got out of his vehicle and came at him with a shiny object in his hand that he thought was a gun. He shot the masked man, hitting him at least six times according to a coroner’s investigation, killing him.
The coroner found that the man was shot at least twice while he was on the ground. The shiny object in his hand was a wrench. Police found the home had been burglarized and that nothing was missing.
Grand jury decision found that there was not enough evidence to charge him with a crime.
The head of the sheriff office’s Criminal Division, said people often are not prosecuted in this county for shootings on their property. "In the past, there have been a number of cases where they did not indict," he said. "The county has historically not prosecuted people for shootings on their property. I’ve worked here for 23 years, and the shootings I can recall (of this nature) have not been prosecuted."
There are a lot of local residents who followed the case and talked to or knew the people involved who came to the conclusion that this was more of a murder than self defense. These guys were acquaintances, they were business rivals and the homeowner was well known.
With most people having firearms in their houses, and a large number of people with concealed weapons we have a low violent crime rate in the county. Many households don't lock their doors. People leave their cars running, doors unlocked while they go to the market or post office.
In any home self defense situation you need to do two things following the shooting.
#1 GET AN ATTORNEY
#2. DON'T SAY ANYTHING