Pacific Mo man confronts armed buglars in garage, on video

This homeowner confronted two burglers in his Pacific Mo. garage with a handgun. One of the men had a pistol himself. No shots were fired. Personally I think the homeowner did not handle this well at all and is lucky he was not shot. Had he shot the burglar he might have had a problem with the law given that the garage was detached and not the residence. Not sure about Mo laws on that.
Anyhow, watch this interesting clip

http://www.fox2now.com/news/ktvi-homeowner-burglar-point-guns-each-other-120810,0,553236.story

Me? Shotgun and waited outside for the PD. Going in the garage was nearly a suicidal move. He was just lucky.

Well, they got some lineup material. One guy's face and the other's ass. I can't believe folks are still wearing pants so stupidly.

I am from Pacific

I'm pretty sure our revision to castle doctrine would cover the guy. But yeah the dude definatly almost got himself shot.

The criminal had a gun in his hand, pointing it at the owner. I don't even think a jury in New York or Maryland would convict the guy for shooting him if he chose to. In Missouri, slim chance he would even have been charged with that video.

Honestly I would have shot. The moment I seen the weapon I would have downed him and headed for the second perp. as I would have had no reason to belive he was not armed as well. My thought process would have been is he headed to my house to take my family hostage? Sorry but I'm not as young as I once was and I don't intend to play tough guy games anymore I fully intend to end any encounter as fast as I am safely able to and secure me and my family's safety.

I'm glad it worked out for the guy but he realy needs to get more training if he is going to be armed.
Just to play devils advocate here for a sec what if the bad guy had had a LOADED firearm and shot the good guy? now the bad guy has 2 firearms to terrorize his next victoms with. Not to metion if the two of them had decided to take the house and create either a stand off situation or had managed to get the wife to send the LEO away at gunpoint? Now not only is he dead but now his wife and family are in peril.

My stance is Identify the target and STOP the threat !!!!!

my take,,

the home owner knew there was 2 BGs in the garage, threatening no one!
going in after them was a bad plan.

he should have just took cover in the yard in front, and ordered them to come out, with your hands up!!

1245A Defender said:

he should have just took cover in the yard in front, and ordered them to come out, with your hands up!!

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While I agree with this from a moral stand point, it seems to me the law seems to favor actuly shooting them, VS brandishing your weppon, and holding them at gun point. Doesn't look so good when you are the one with a gun in your hands pointed at another human being when the cops show up, more likely to get yourself shot in that situation.

Just a quick comment, I admit I did not have time right now to watch the video. Hope to do so later...

Actually, I would have preferred they remain in the garage until the police arrived. They get paid to actually confront the BGs and take them into custody. Let them take the risks.

I'd pull my firearm and keep it at the ready, stationing myself outside the garage, and wait. If they tried to come out, then I'd announce that they were under arrest and tell them to get on the ground. Hopefully they'd comply. I wouldn't shoot them in the back if they attempted to flee. If the one with the gun attempted to fire at the cover I selected for myself, I'd return fire, center mass.

The best outcome would be that the BGs would think they had time and stick around inside the garage, unaware of my presence, until the cops arrived.

The police recovered the gun which had been ditched. It was NOT loaded...which is disconcerting in that it is easy to presume that the bad guy hesitated to use the weapon because he lacked nads (mental note to myself - that kind of thinking can get a good guy killed).

In this case, i would have called the police and let them know of the burglary in progress. There would have been no need to confront them considering they were doing myself no harm. I rather lose items that can be replaced than lose my life which cannot.

Also, if i were in a situation where someone pulled a gun on me and was aiming at me i would defend myself without hesitation. It only takes a split second to pull a trigger and how do i know if he intends to shoot me or not. It is better to be safe than sorry.

Missouri allows for deadly force in protection of property.

http://www.moga.mo.gov/statutes/C500-599/5630000041.HTM

That situation makes me seriously wonder about:

A stand-off on your property (pretty sure lethal force is legal when trying to stop a felony in progress?).

At what point are you authorized to shoot after warning to BG to 'drop it'. How is this situation different for a civilian versus a cop? Or did he have just cause to shoot as soon as the BG had a gun on HIM?

ooghost1oo said:

That situation makes me seriously wonder about:

A stand-off on your property (pretty sure lethal force is legal when trying to stop a felony in progress?).

At what point are you authorized to shoot after warning to BG to 'drop it'. How is this situation different for a civilian versus a cop? Or did he have just cause to shoot as soon as the BG had a gun on HIM?

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Warn? At least in AZ, as soon as he comes into my home- that includes the garage, I can drop him. I watched the video stunned that the BG was still alive. Someone pointing a gun at me in my home is going to be on the receiving end of some Federal LE Tactical flavored 00 buck, no warning, no standoff.

Oh yes he is very lucky that he didn't get shot. If that gun would have been loaded, I think the outcome would have been different.

CharleyMarbles said:

Honestly I would have shot. The moment I seen the weapon I would have downed him and headed for the second perp. as I would have had no reason to belive he was not armed as well. My thought process would have been is he headed to my house to take my family hostage? Sorry but I'm not as young as I once was and I don't intend to play tough guy games anymore I fully intend to end any encounter as fast as I am safely able to and secure me and my family's safety.

I'm glad it worked out for the guy but he realy needs to get more training if he is going to be armed.
Just to play devils advocate here for a sec what if the bad guy had had a LOADED firearm and shot the good guy? now the bad guy has 2 firearms to terrorize his next victoms with. Not to metion if the two of them had decided to take the house and create either a stand off situation or had managed to get the wife to send the LEO away at gunpoint? Now not only is he dead but now his wife and family are in peril.

My stance is Identify the target and STOP the threat !!!!!

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Agreed.. If you don't have the ability to shoot a bad guy like this idiot didn't, you’re not only going to get killed but your family as well. It may even get your wife and daughter raped to boot. If you can’t pull the trigger don't own a gun, just sit there like an idiot and beg for your life. I am sorry I really hate it when people have the ability to save their family but don't have the marbles to do it. Same goes for all the fools who watch another person get the crap kicked out of him and they just stand there watching it like it’s a UFC match.

It may be heartless of me but that is the cold hard truth, you do 10 times more damage than good by having the ability but no balls to do what is needed. It all boils down to how you want to go out in this world. It’s either on your knees begging for mercy or on your feet fighting till you have no more blood pumping through your veins. You don't always have to shoot a bag guy but when you have a threat like this fool did your a complete idiot if you don't. This fool got lucky period.


"If you're not shootin', you should be loadin'. If you're not loadin, you should be movin', if you're not movin', someone's gonna cut your head off and put it on a stick."---Clint smith

"The will to survive is not as important as the will to prevail ... the answer to criminal aggression is retaliation."---- Jeff Cooper

HolyOrangeJuice said:

Also, if i were in a situation where someone pulled a gun on me and was aiming at me i would defend myself without hesitation. It only takes a split second to pull a trigger and how do i know if he intends to shoot me or not. It is better to be safe than sorry.

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I could not agree more.
BG points a gun at me, no hesitation lights out for the BG.

OC4me said:

The police recovered the gun which had been ditched. It was NOT loaded...which is disconcerting in that it is easy to presume that the bad guy hesitated to use the weapon because he lacked nads (mental note to myself - that kind of thinking can get a good guy killed).

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In my state, it matters not if the BG's gun was or was not loaded. The apprehension of the victim that he is in imminent danger of serious harm is what matters.

So it appears that a number of you good folks who have responded that you would shoot the perp immediately have shoot BG's before, eh? Not being a jerk with this, but let's face it. Unless you have been in a similar situation, you really don't know how you'll respond. We all hope that we will do what is necessary if something like this actually happens to us. But until it does, we really can't say with absolute certainty how we will respond and what we'll do.

I do suspect most people on this site would probably handle the situation in accordance with its immediate severity. I say this because this is a topic which is frequently addressed and as a result, causes us to give serious thought to extreme encounter situations.

Just be prepared and safe, friends.

SouthernBoy said:

In my state, it matters not if the BG's gun was or was not loaded. The apprehension of the victim that he is in imminent danger of serious harm is what matters.

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As it shouldn't matter. What should matter is the reasonable belief by the victim that he is in grave danger.

Who knows, maybe the homeowner went out there with an unloaded gun as well. He could have been a little panicked and not taken a safety off or missed racking a round. Who knows if he tried to squeeze that trigger or not.