Community rallies behind homeowner arrested for shooting at burglar.

I don't think the rally will help. It's hard to justify it when they were leaving. Most states laws say there has to be a threat and even though they are scumbags i think it would be hard to argue they were a threat at the time he shot.
 
Inside your house, no question. Outside your house or car you better be in fear for your life. But I do understand shooting them. I have no use for a burglar
 
Ok I would not shoot them going away, if dogs want to chase not my problem they let them out by opening door that says bad dogs and no trespassing. Sucks to be them.
 
I don't think the issue is so much that he shot at fleeing burglars but rather by doing so he recklessly put others at risk of harm.
 
No reason I can think of to fire at them other than in anger, possibly. In no way was he defending himself.
 
Protecting your life and property needs to be tempered with a little common sense, like firing a gun in a residential area vs. rural, chances of hitting a moving object, and if the thieves/threat is standing their ground or fleeing.
 
Everything depends on the law in Utah. Evidently he was in violation. The direction towards where he shot may have been toward an uninhabited area, but he didn't know if someone was out there just going for a walk. It appears he made one bad decision, and now is going to have to suffer through the consequences of his action.
This situation may be a warning to all of us who carry... Use Extreme Caution. No threat to life. No shooting.
 
We dont help our cause by backing people that break the law. Shooting at fleeing intruders is illegal in most (maybe all?) states and as such he needs to pay appropriately for his crime. It sucks to be him in this instance and I am glad that he could defend his himself but you have to do so withing the confines of the law or your just giving our detractors more ammo to shoot at us.
 
This has eveything to do with what the state law is and it seems in Utah, at least from the story, you cannot just shoot after a fleeing car and or anyone who IS NOT AN IMMINENT DANGER TO YOU ANYMORE. Having said that and I have said this on many replies on many threads, some states, like SC, have a law on the book that allows you to affect a citizen's arrest (THIS IS ONLY AT NIGHT) and if the you can presume that the BG was committing a felony, you can use any and all measures INCLUDING DEATH, to stop the BG. This is not something that I, living in SC, have any interest in doing, but if the homeowner had told the BG to "stop right there--you are under a citizens arrest" before he took off in the car, you can discharge your firearm to prevent his escape--again--ONLY AT NIGHT. Read it if you want--SC Code of Law Sections 17-13-10 thru 17-13-30. It is clear, unmistakable, and has been upheld as the law in SC. Again, this is not for me--I will only use a firearm where I presume imminent danger of death or great bodily injury and someone running off with my stuff is not imminent danger at that time. Now if the BG decides to do his burglary thing and I catch him in my house--Castle Doctrine in SC automatically puts the committing of the felony in my occupied house or in my occupied car as a clear presumption of imminent danger and I can use any method at my disposal to stop the threat including death.
 
While I understand his anger and sense of violation if you're going to carry a concealed weapon it takes a certain mindset and this guy didn't have it. Under most, if not all, state laws there no difference between shooting at a burglar fleeing the scene and seeing them at the grocery store a few days later and shooting at them then. If you're not in imminent danger, you're not defending yourself you're just retaliating.
 
He lost control of his emotions and started shooting when every instructor tells you not to. No immediate threat, outside the house, no clear backdrop.
 
This is kind of a catch 22 story. Usually when someone tries to burglarize a residential dwelling they are saying they have little to no regard for the occupants of that dwelling. So why did the bad guys run off...because the resident had a gun and therefore was not going to be one of their victims. What happens when the bad guys find a residence that is occupied by an old lady that does not have a gun. Most often they will beat her, sometimes to death. So lets presume you cannot shoot a fleeing bad guy, I believe the cops can shoot them if they have committed a violent felony which is what burglary of an occupied residential dwelling is. So you chase them away to a easier burglary. Plenty of people in their homes when a burglar breaks in are murdered every year and the cops are a half hour away. In Texas the law is different...you can use deadly force to protect your property or a neighbors property. Lets not get side tracked by some illusion that the bad guys in this story are not and were not dangerous. Don't you think that the bad guys would leave us alone if they thought that their lives were worth less than our lives from a legal point of view?
 
kelcarry said:
Having said that and I have said this on many replies on many threads, some states, like SC, have a law on the book that allows you to affect a citizen's arrest (THIS IS ONLY AT NIGHT) and if the you can presume that the BG was committing a felony, you can use any and all measures INCLUDING DEATH, to stop the BG. This is not something that I, living in SC, have any interest in doing, but if the homeowner had told the BG to "stop right there--you are under a citizens arrest" before he took off in the car, you can discharge your firearm to prevent his escape--again--ONLY AT NIGHT.
Click to expand...

Everytime I hear the term citizen's arrest, I can't help but think of this:
 
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