KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI — This is one of those stories that a lot of people will have mixed feelings on. Generally speaking, the law says deadly force is not appropriate to defend property. However, there are plenty of incidents where deadly force was used to defend property, and no charges were levied against the shooter.
“We heard three gunshots. I got up and looked at the video cameras. What I saw was, we saw the guy (homeowner) pull in. On the camera there was a slight delay and then I saw his car come flying backwards out of the driveway. And I heard three gunshots,” Martinovich said.
Via FOX4KC
“And then I saw it crash into my neighbor’s garage. So I am assuming someone probably tried to steal his car.”
Martinovich said police are examining his surveillance video as part of the investigation. Martinovich said he believes his neighbor returned home and left his car running to go inside for a few moments, and then came back out to find someone trying to steal it.
The person shot was behind the wheel of the car, according to neighbors.
The Breakdown:
There are no first hand accounts in the article, so we have to piece together what neighbors and police have discussed. It sounds as though the homeowner returned to his house to quickly get something inside. He left his car running as he went inside, anticipating he would be right out.
When he returned to the car, there was a person inside attempting to drive away with it. The homeowner opened fire, striking and killing the thief behind the wheel. The car then continued to roll back until it crashed into a neighbors garage.
There has been no word yet on if the car thief was armed with a weapon.
The Bad:
The big thing here is that, for what we know at the moment, the shooters life was not in danger when he fired his weapon. The shooter simply shot at a car thief attempting to drive away with his car.
As mentioned earlier, generally speaking, shooting someone over property is usually frowned upon according to the law. One is only supposed to use their firearm if a life is in danger. That doesn’t seem to be the case so far in this shooting.
However, as the neighbor states in the interview, people work very hard in that neighborhood for their money. To just let someone drive off with your car like that isn’t right. We agree, it isn’t right; but what does the law say? Furthermore, the question remains, is it worth shooting and killing someone over it?
The Good:
Time will tell if the local authorities decide whether or not this was a good shoot. In the meantime, we can thank the neighbor for having cameras up on his house. When the neighbor heard the gunshots he immediately went to his camera’s to see what was happening. The footage will help determine the validity of the shoot.
Home security cameras today are very affordable and provide an extra level of protection for your home. If you don’t have them already, I encourage you to look into them as a way to monitor your house when your away, and also monitor things like your front door while in another room at home. This could give you the advantage of knowing ahead of time who is at your door without exposing yourself.