As reported, an armed intruder who broke broke in to a San Marcos, TX home was shot in self defense by a resident.
Police say that at about 9:50 PM last Wednesday, a suspect armed with a realistic looking BB gun broke in to a home on the 700 block of Oscar Smith Drive. The residents called 911, but the intruder successfully broke in before police arrived. One of the residents grabbed his self defense handgun and fired multiple shot at the intruder, causing him to flee, according to police. Shortly thereafter, a man reportedly suffering from multiple gunshot wounds was found seeking treatment at a nearby hospital, and was listed in stable condition hours after the attempted home invasion.
As this case shows, the police are seldom able to stop an in-progress crime. This should come as no surprise, since a criminal who is already breaking in can almost always enter the house and harm the occupants long before the police can drive to the house and stop the criminal. When the 911 dispatcher falls asleep, has to say that there are no police available at the moment, or otherwise fails to dispatch help in a timely fashion, the odds of receiving timely help from the police decrease even further. Even if the police do arrive in time, there is still the risk that they may inadvertently shoot the victim instead of the criminal.
Fortunately, a resident of this home was armed for self defense, and was therefore able to stop a violent intruder. Once again, self defense works, and is often the only viable option.
My thanks to Anders for pointing out this self defense case.