Indeed, I do catch your drift, CapGun.
Bit more info, the SNB has, indeed, been arrested. He spent a night in juvie before being transported to a juvenile detention facility about 50 miles away. A child found two disposable lighters he'd used to set the fires. He'd stolen a gas can another apartment dweller kept under her front stoop for her mobility scooter and used that gas to try to set fire to the front of the apartment block and another single-family dwelling across the street. They found burned bits of newspaper where he had made the attempts and the obvious presence of accelerant. I went to the dollar store I'd heard the rumors that he'd burned to the ground two years ago to talk to the manager. He confirmed that it was arson by two young males, but had no other details. The SNB'd spent 18 months in juvie for that and had only gotten out about 8 months ago. I guess that is why I'd never had any problems with him before that.
The fact that he was high on marijuana or K2 and was on a full-on arson kick makes me nauseated. He could just as easily have attempted to burn down MY home. He's already shown no compunction against throwing rocks and eggs at it. I think it goes without saying that if I'd caught him in the act of attempting to set my house on fire, I'd have had no truck with perforating him. Under Indiana law, I have the right to use reasonable force, including deadly force, to protect my dwelling or curtilage. Being that in any trial, his previous firebug proclivities would have come in, and the investigators would have collected the evidence of the attempted arson just as they did in this case, I can see no path that would lead me to a conviction for doing so.
And what I said about his mother in that news clip stands. Pity her. She is just as much a waste of a human being as he is. She gave him free range to run wild. She does drugs herself. The landlord has vowed to never rent to them ever again, so even if the building is repairable, they won't be moving back in. Being that he has now set fire to an occupied dwelling, I don't expect to see him again in life, nor do I expect him to breathe free air until the age of 21. He's 13 now. Obviously, the year and a half he's already spent in juvie did him no good.
I will always remember her yelling at me from the first post in this thread, "What did my son do to make you threaten him with a gun?" and "What gives her the right to have a gun?" Of course, I did NOT threaten him with my personal protection sidearm in any fashion, but if I'd caught him in the act like this, I just might have had to.
