I first saw this over at
Tammi's, and then
Contagion talked about it as well.
The
Rockford Register Star has their article about this as well.
I can't find an earlier article form the Rockford Register Star that had more details in it. So, I will convey the story.
But first, let me express my condolences to the family of the young man who made a bad choice.
3 people, at least one a 14 year old juvenile, entered the home of a man who had been injured in an accident a couple of days prior. Whether they assumed no one was home because they knew the home-owner had been injured is still unclear, but the three broke in through a window to an occupied house. The 3 began to possibly look for guns and other things of value and remove them from the house. What they were not aware of was that there was someone else staying in the home. When the house guest heard a noise, he sought a safe place and a means of protection, a handgun. At some point during their crime, the house guest was seen. 2 people fled, the third was still in a narrow hallway when the house guest came into the hallway. The 14-year old juvenile had a rifle or shotgun in his hands and the house-guest felt threatened. He fired the handgun at the juvenile, grazing him once in the neck, and center mass in the chest. The second shot being a mortal wound. The house guest immediately alerted the authorities.
So, now we have a 14-year old juvenile dead, a man who will carry the burden of knowing that he ended someone else's life in the preservation of his own.
In Illinois, citizens have the right to defend themselves or their famiy within their home. But they have to be inside the exterior walls of the home. i.e. If you are a parent, and there is someone holding a knife or gun to your spouse or children's throat or otherwise threating their life such as attempting to strangle them, you have the right to stop them with deadly force.
Now, the mother of the dead juvenile is saying "He was in the wrong place at the wrong time."
Like
Wes commented at
Contagions, "Are you STONED?" This kid was right where he intended to be at that time. And he paid for it. This was not an accident. He had a gun in his hands, in the dark, in someone else's house, and was in the middle of committing a felony.
And then the family doubts that it was self defense. Obviously, they are stoned. Do we need to go over the details again? Juvenile, in someone else's house, gun in hand, committing felony. I fail to see any confusion.
Only those who are retarded would think charges should be filed against the house guest.
This would be a good story for the
Armed Citizen, but it needs to be the copy from the previous article, that actually told about the broken window, the guns thrown out into the yard. If anyone has that, please click the link and submit it or leave it in the comments and I will submit it.
Tammi talked about how shocking it was that this incident could happen in the little town of Stillman Valley. Unfortunately, this kind of thing happens in small towns. My family owns a farm house along a highway that one of the farm hands and his family live in. One night, the hand and his wife had gone to bed and left the back door of the house open for their son who was still out. Sometime between when they went to bed and the son came home, someone entered the house and took several items. This was about 1/4 of mile outside of a town of 2800 people. And about 5 years ago, in a little town about 15 miles from my hometown, a 23 year old deputy sheriff went to serve a warrant on a 60 year old man. Instead of serving the warrant, the deputy was greeted by a shotgun, by which he was fatally shot. After shooting the deputy, the 60 year old took the squad car around the block to a neighbors house with whom he had been having verbal arguments. He promptly shot the husband and wife while their daughter was in the house. Finally, he had a shootout with police. Even in small towns, horrible events occur.
So, I leave you with this story and bit of advice. Not too long ago, a friend of mine in a little town of 320 people, was awakened one night by his dog barking frantically. He supplied himself with a short-barreled Springfield 1911 and his mobile radio that he has as an officer in the local volunteer fire department. As he came down the stairs to where his dog was at, he found someone trying to break into his home through the front door. My friend shouted for the person to leave, meanwhile he also keyed the radio to contact the county 911/dispatch (there is no police in town). Over the radio he informed them who he was and what was going on and that he needed a deputy. Finally, after seeing that my friend was armed with the handgun, the attempted crook ran off before the law arrived. While being interviewed by the officers, one of them asked if my friend needed anything. He replied, "Yeah, could you unload that." and pointed to the handgun on the table. The officer obliged and removed the clip and the round from the chamber, as my friend was still quite shaken. During his conversation with the deputies and troopers, my friend told the officers that if the person would have come through the door, he would have shot him. The officer told him that if he had shot the intruder, to make sure that he fell in the house, not on the porch, even if it meant he had to drag him into the house before they got there.
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