Cop Impersonating Home Invader Shot in Self Defense

As reported, a 25 year old man was falling asleep on his living room couch when his door flew open and an intruder yelled “Freeze, police!”  At first the home owner put his hands up, but then realized that the armed man who just invaded his home was not a cop.  The home owner remarked “BS” in response to the home invaders assertions that he was a cop.  The armed home invader then shot the home owner in the thigh, and the home owner returned fire with his semiautomatic rifle.  The criminal, who police believe committed multiple home invasions in the area, was fatally wounded.  The home owner will recover from his injury.

Once again, guns save lives.  This criminal, who apparently invaded multiple homes before attacking this armed citizen, was quite willing to use violence against innocent people.  Had this man not had a gun, the newspaper headline may have read “1 murdered in home invasion.”  Instead, this man was able to defend himself, and also ensured that this violent criminal will never victimize another person.

I would also like to make note of a quote from the home owner who defended himself. This is what he said about being shot in the thigh, and his subsequent self defense action:

“it hurt really bad and I immediately returned fire. I shot him eight to 10 times. I wanted to make sure I didn’t get shot again because he still had the gun in his hand when he was on the ground.”

Those who like to play monday morning quarterback after a self defense shooting will often say that the armed victim fired too many shots at their attacker, suggesting that the law abiding victim should have stopped after some arbitrarily chosen number of shots.  This is an unreasonable position to take given the fact that a criminal who has been shot even multiple times may be able to continue their attack.  It is also unreasonable to expect an innocent person who is facing a deadly threat to stop shooting and check whether the attacker has yet been incapacitated, as taking time to check can cost the victim their life if the attacker has not yet been stopped.  I would also note that self defense situations are by definition a stressful life and death situation for the victim, and as such their judgment under those circumstances should be paid a great deal of deference.  While any loss of human life, even that of a violent criminal, is sad, it is far better that the violent criminal die, rather than their innocent victim.

I would also like to point out that this self defense shooting shows the importance of having enough round in one’s magazine, as those last few bullets can mean the difference between stopping the violent criminal in time, and being murdered.  Sadly, bans on so-called “assault weapons” target larger magazines (and likely the rifle that that man used in self defense), ensuring that criminals who ignore such laws have the upper hand.