His gun was fake/Homeowners wasn't..

[bassnleo]

The robber got what he asked for.

I do feel sorry for the man who was forced to shoot. He and his family are probably traumatized, but I'm sure they are at least relieved that they are ok. Hopefully there will be no lasting affects.

[South FLA]

"Officer/Homeowner, I swear to you the gun I have in my hand isn't real! I am in no way endangering your life or the life of others around me as I point this fake gun towards you or them."

If you were the homeowner/robber in this situation, would you draw your weapon? Would you pull the trigger if said "fake gun" was pointed at you?

If you answered yes to both of these questions then you are sane. If not than you are .......(I won't go there).

[preach4bass]

The homeowner was able to get to his real .357 magnum and shot Barnes in the chest and in the eye.

Bassnleo hit on something that a lot of folks don't think about. This man and his family wern't harmed physically, but there is no doubt they're going through some mental trama. A .357 to the eye would not just "put an eye out", it would have blown the back of the guy's head all over their house. In light of that thought, I seriously doubt the homeowner's family ran up and said "Nice shot! That's what I call a BULL'S EYE!!!  Let's celebrate!" There was definately some relief that the lifethreatening situation was over, but this incident will be with them forever.

I feel worse for the homeowner and his family than I do for the robber. They didn't ask for any of this. I hope I'm never put in the situation where I have to shoot someone to defend my family.

[grimlin]

This guy should be given a medal. I love to see the good guys win.

Not to get political or anything, but why exactly does he deserve a medal? He killed an unarmed man. Sure, the other man was robbing him and the man had the right to defend himself, but he still killed someone.

I'm gonna play the devil's advocate here and back atx_newbie. You should never feel happy when somebody gets killed regardless what the situation was.It was tragic and I'm going to bet killing some one isn't an easy thing to do or cope with.If you kill someone and have good feeling about it...you might want to check with God/bible and a psychologist.

Did the guy protect himself? Yup.

Justified? Yup.

Should we be happy about it? Absolutely not.

The Robber came from a family too.Sure he went and took the wrong path in life.But honestly,nobody should rejoice over this.I don't want to see somebody go to Hell,unfortunately that's where this guy is probably heading,or should i say already there.

 

[Fishing Cowgirl]

As a former Deputy and CSI for many years, if someone breaks into my house, they will be shot several times, real gun, fake gun, knife, stick or whatever. I'll deal with FDLE CSI's in my house mapping the trajectory and blood spatter and see the dead guy on Dr. G's table. Better him than me.

If some recall the Deltona massacre, those guys beat 5 people and a dog to death using baseball bats and knives. They were beaten so badly,it took DNA testing to figure out who was who. Bust into my house, you're not there to borrow a cup of sugar.

.dsaavedra is correct, that the others were charged with his death since their involvment in the crime, resulted in his death.

I wouldn't rejoice in his death, but I'm not going to feel sorry for him either. He choose the path he took. Just one less predator on society off the street.

[Tokyo Tony]

Guys, I can't believe what I'm reading in this thread. The robber was the victim, don't you see? He had a TOY gun! He grew up in such a bad environment and with such bad odds of success that the only way he could survive was to steal. Poor thing. We need to help these people!

;-)

The robber was a fool who made 2 mistakes, became a robber, and attempted armed robbery with a toy.

Notice the "   "

[fish-fighting-illini]

 

 Does he deserve a medal? probably so for having the courage to protect he and his family.

 Should we celebrate? sort of as we are rid of a problem. The guy won't be bothering anyone else.

 Maybe a soon to be criminal will think twice which also goes to the medal issue.

Is it a tragedy all around? yes.

I feel for all the guys family but maybe or maybe not the crooks. I've seen and heard many a family trash talk and bad mouth the innocent.

I had a guy who had his car stereo ripped off and the police later caught the thief. The family glared at my buddy throughout the trial like he had done something wrong.

I'd withhold judgement before I heard knew their response.

[roadwarrior]

Officer to homeowner: "Why did you shoot the perpetrator six times?"

Homeowner's response: "I ran out of bullets."

Break into an occupied home with criminal intent and die.

It's that simple. I have no compassion for the perp, none

whats-so-ever.

>

[bass wrangler569]

He got what he deserved. It doesn't matter if he was armed or unarmed, the forfeited his right to life when he broke into somebody's home

[farmpond1]

This guy should be given a medal. I love to see the good guys win.

Not to get political or anything, but why exactly does he deserve a medal? He killed an unarmed man. Sure, the other man was robbing him and the man had the right to defend himself, but he still killed someone.

Most of the rejoicing is because people are tired of thugs and criminals being coddled. The revolving door "criminal justice system" has served to further victimize the rest of society and has rendered many of us to feel helpless and impotent. It's to the point where, when we hear of such cases as this, it almost makes us feel good.

Gun or no gun, if someone breaks into my house while I'm there, he (or she) is going to regret it.

[grimlin]

Well,i guess now the guy won't have a chance at life to change his ways.With a plastic gun,doesn't sound like he was trying to kill anybody.It was a desperate stupid attempt on his part.

:-/

I'd still like to hear his side of the story why he did try to rob somebody.It's no excuse why he did what he did,still he paid dearly with his life for it.

Revenge is what makes this world a crappy place to live in rather you are on the good side or bad side.

No sides come out ahead...regardless what anybody thinks.

[preach4bass]

Grimlin,

How was the homeowner supposed to know the gun was fake?  How did the homeowner know that the thief wasn't trying to harm him or his family?  He didn't, so how is shooting the thief "revenge"? :-?

[Low_Budget_Hooker]

If anyone ever watches cops, they always have incidents with kids and bb guns that look real with the red tip removed, toy guns, etc and the 1 thing the cops always say, regardless of city is,..."If you ever moved that towards me, you wouldn't be here anymore".

Why should the homeowner to have the same right to protect himself?  Just like the officer, he is the target of unknown harm also.

Boom boom, 1 less robber.

[bass wrangler569]

Well,i guess now the guy won't have a chance at life to change his ways.With a plastic gun,doesn't sound like he was trying to kill anybody.It was a desperate stupid attempt on his part.

:-/

I'd still like to hear his side of the story why he did try to rob somebody.It's no excuse why he did what he did,still he paid dearly with his life for it.

Revenge is what makes this world a crappy place to live in rather you are on the good side or bad side.

No sides come out ahead...regardless what anybody thinks.

He didn't seem to interested in changing his life when he broke into somebodys home  

[grimlin]

I know,i know...he did what he had to do.

I just don't like the idea of somebody being killed and it being glorified.

I try to see the the other side of the story sometimes too.I watched growing up kids and gang bangers killing each other over something stupid.Everybody else is like "good,they better off dead".I just don't agree with that. I grew up in that life style,it sucks.Nobody's perfect.

Home owner did what he had to do,i doubt he's bragging about it.  :-/

Some of these replies just kind of steer me the wrong way i guess.

Oh well....I'm going to step away from this thread now.

[atx_newbie]

To clarify my post, I'm not saying I would have acted any differently than the homeowner in this situation.  A fake gun, in the dark of night, would look real enough.  But that man will probably have nightmares for a while, even if he knows he acted correctly, and I doubt that he is celebrating or has any positive feelings towards the event.

Also, an occurrence like this will actually hurt the 2nd Amendment/gun-rights movement.  This story could easily be spun to damage the agenda of the NRA and other pro-gun groups.

[burleytog]

Also, an occurrence like this will actually hurt the 2nd Amendment/gun-rights movement. This story could easily be spun to damage the agenda of the NRA and other pro-gun groups.

How so?

[flechero]

Also, an occurrence like this will actually hurt the 2nd Amendment/gun-rights movement. This story could easily be spun to damage the agenda of the NRA and other pro-gun groups.

Very unlikely.

I pray that I never have to defend my home or life with deadly force, however, I wouldn't hesitate to shoot an intruder, even if I "saw" no weapon. A weapon is not even a consideration in this instance, except that the media decided to report it. It only takes a second to produce a weapon or get knocked down or out. Then me, my wife and infant would be at the mercy of an acting felon. What faith do you have in someone who already broke in to your home- knowing you were home, to act responsibly towards your family???? Any faith in that would be severely misguided, and potentially fatal. No thanks.

Around here, the media reports it as a homeowner shot and killed an intruder. No mention of weapons or no weapons because it doesn't matter. I know it would break my heart to take a life, but knowing that the life I took probably saved my own and those of my wife and baby would allow me to get past it.

IMO, when someone breaks into a home, they have already accepted that someone might be home and they might be killed. If anything, these days it's less and less likely that the intruder doesn't intend harm or worse on anyone he encounters.

[Fishing Cowgirl]

The burglar knew his gun was fake, but used it as a threat towards the family, bluffing that they would believe it was real and cooperate. They called his bluff.

I examined many of those types of guns and it is very hard to tell the difference, even when you are setting in a lab examining it. That is much, more time and far less stressful than having someone waving it in your face, making threats to shoot you with it and trying to see if its real or not. He's acting like its real, making threats, ... well looks like a duck, talks like a duck.. probably is a duck.. his bad that it wasn't real.

It's in the news all over these days, with home invasions. These criminals, for what ever reasons are looking for homes with people in them. They do this so they can force, threaten, intimidate the homeowners into giving them the money,jewelry etc. instead of a burglar waiting for no one to be home, and looking for it themselves.

Home invaders can get in and out much quicker, get their thrills out of having control and power over other people, and often if there is a female occupant, take the time to assault them.

With Juries and the CSI effect going on, I get tired of testifying in robbery cases, where the female/male victim are beat up, threatened, robbed, do a composite, identify the guy from a lineup, testifies herself in trial putting up with defense attn innuendo's, only to have a jury say "she could have been mistaken", there's no DNA.."What???"(You don't get DNA or Fingerprints on many of these type cases.. the bad guys watch CSI too!!) And let the guy loose with a not guilty, because there was an unrealistic reasonable doubt, with no evidence to support that doubt..BTW he had a rap sheet 3 pages long of robberies..

Economy is tough on a lot of people, when that guy made the choice to go as far as he did, to get easy money, I don't see him trying to rehabilitate himself and be an upstanding citizen.

The news media and law enforcement down here have let the criminals know, that they just might be robbing someone that is a better/faster shot than they are and the  "would be victims" have thier support.

[moby bass]

Too many criminals in the revolving door of justice.  Additional trauma for the victim if the freed felon threatens to exact revenge on the victim for testifying. Unfortunately, police are rarely able to prevent a crime, they mostly just mop up after one has been committed.  Fear of being shot by a homeowner is probably one thing that keeps home invasions from being higher than they are.

[D4u2s0t]

i agree with what he did 100%, and while i'm not saying it's a good thing to kill someone, regardless, who knows what this guy would have went on to do after he robbed this old man.  he could have went home, and changed his life and started being an asset to society.  historically, that's not the case.  suppose this man robbed the house, and lived on, and went to another house, because 'he doesn't deserve to die'.  now suppose it was YOUR house, and he robbed you, traumatized your family, and did god knows what else.  you still wouldn't rather have the old man kill this guy and get him off the streets?  it's always easy to look in on a situation from the outside and say 'i would do this' or 'i would say that' but when it comes down to it most people would not think that way after the fact.  suppose this guy had been robbing houses for a year, raped some girl, stole someones car, etc.  i don't know about anyone else, but i would shake the old mans hand and tell him thanks.  yea, i'm sure he's not happy about killing someone.  but i bet he's happier than knowing the guy got away will his posessions, and can be back at any time. now, that won't happen.

[Bassn Blvd]

Too many criminals in the revolving door of justice. Additional trauma for the victim if the freed felon threatens to exact revenge on the victim for testifying. Unfortunately, police are rarely able to prevent a crime, they mostly just mop up after one has been committed. Fear of being shot by a homeowner is probably one thing that keeps home invasions from being higher than they are.

Did your house get broken into today?

Did you get robbed going to lunch?

Was your car stolen last night while you slept?

NO?  Then I guess the police did a pretty good job at preventing crime.

[THEbassmaster]

Too many criminals in the revolving door of justice. Additional trauma for the victim if the freed felon threatens to exact revenge on the victim for testifying. Unfortunately, police are rarely able to prevent a crime, they mostly just mop up after one has been committed. Fear of being shot by a homeowner is probably one thing that keeps home invasions from being higher than they are.

Did your house get broken into today?

Did you get robbed going to lunch?

Was your car stolen last night while you slept?

NO? Then I guess the police did a pretty good job at preventing crime.

im sure those happened to many people last night and today. kind of like the saying "locks only keep honest people out"..same goes with police. they only keep honest people from breaking laws

[Glenn]

It's very easy to play armchair quarterback now isn't it?  Easier to blame than to help solve problems.

Let's face it folks, crime is not 100% preventable no matter what you do.  So it's way too easy to play the blame game on the police, judicial system, courts, laws, lawmakers, etc. etc. etc.   Blaming people never really accomplishes anything anyway.  All we can do is work together to improve things and do the best we can solve problems - together from the same side of the fence.  

Because really, in the end, preventing crime rests on YOUR shoulders - lock your car and your house; install alarms; don't place valuables in plain site in your car; don't walk in the wrong part of town late at night; be wary of potential scam artists; pay attention to your surroundings when out in public.  The list goes on and on.  The point is - many crimes could have been prevented had the victim taken measures to protect themselves.  

True, there are times when crimes happen no matter what you do, so I don't want to hear people jump in and start giving examples to prove there's exceptions.  I'll be the first to admit there's exceptions.  I'm just saying IN GENERAL, a lot of crimes are preventable - all YOU need to do is take precautions.  Relying on the police, courts, laws, etc. is only setting yourself up to be the next victim.

I think the topic of this thread is a perfect example.  The homeowner took precautions to protect himself against intruders.  It's horrible he had to use it, but he didn't end up a crime victim either.

So stop blaming people, and look at what YOU can do to prevent yourself from becoming the next victim.

[moby bass]

No, I wasn't robbed, mugged or shot last night. That's pretty much because I'm around honest people, not because there was a police officer stationed in my yard. But there were crimes committed

in other areas. A guy in a neighboring city was shot by a perp when he came outside to confront someone who was stealing gas from his car. There were police in that town, too, but they only showed up, AFTER, the man was shot. A person bent on committing a crime is not deterred by possible police presence. How many episodes of COPS have you seen where the officer himself is a victim? Openly wearing a firearm is not enough to deter some bad guys.

Sorry Glenn, you were posting while I was typing.  Your words are true, protect yourself, don't wait for someone else to do it for you.