US homeowner shoots German exchange student dead

[AnotherOneAmerican]

Wow, so the majority of posters believe that the penalty for trespassing or teen burglary should be to have your head blown off. I am sure glad I don't live in the us anymore. When I was a lad we snuck into a garage once or twice and stole some pop out of the fridge. Thank god I am still alive. Death penalty for teens sneaking into your garage? I don't want you guys as friends,neighbors or acquaintances. This is a sick world we live in.

Same laws in Thailand, lots of Thai home owners with guns (almost everyone I know).

[lomatopo]

Then you need to start rounding up the UK police force as they use 'Entrapment' as a legitimate means of catching burglars. Often with a lorry back door left open for them to enter.

Agreed. In both the U.S. and Canada, "Bait Cars" are widely used by the police to encourage car thieves to steal.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bait_car

The bait car, often filled with valuable items to draw attention to it, is parked in a high auto-theft area. In some cases, the vehicle may be simply left unlocked with the keys in the ignition.

If you check the link you will discover that Thai deaths by gun are 2 1/2 times US deaths - BY NUMBER..!!.

These NationMaster figures have been proven to be inaccurate for gun deaths in Thailand. I'm amazed people are still dredging those up.

[lomatopo]

Amazingly, ~ 65% of the firearm related deaths in the U.S. are attributed to suicide.

Two-thirds of all gun-related deaths in the U.S. are suicides. In 2010, there were 19,392 firearm-related suicides, and 11,078 firearm-related homicides in the U.S.[6]

When you factor in the d-bags who accidentally kill themselves or a family member when cleaning their gun(s), the figure probably goes much higher.

Not sure what it is about us gunnin' down exchange students, but the case of Yoshihiro Hattori in 1992 was fairly controversial.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Yoshihiro_Hattori

Edited April 30, 2014 by lomatopo

[copa8]

The Wild Wild West ! Still no gun laws ?

Reminds me of Thailand.

RIP young boy.

But the U.S. is supposed to be a 1st world country. Thailand, on the other hand, is still a developing one.

[Carmine6]

Then you need to start rounding up the UK police force as they use 'Entrapment' as a legitimate means of catching burglars. Often with a lorry back door left open for them to enter.

Agreed. In both the U.S. and Canada, "Bait Cars" are widely used by the police to encourage car thieves to steal.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bait_car

The bait car, often filled with valuable items to draw attention to it, is parked in a high auto-theft area. In some cases, the vehicle may be simply left unlocked with the keys in the ignition.

If you check the link you will discover that Thai deaths by gun are 2 1/2 times US deaths - BY NUMBER..!!.

These NationMaster figures have been proven to be inaccurate for gun deaths in Thailand. I'm amazed people are still dredging those up.

Unless I'm mistaken, they don't gun the guy down after they steal the car. I'm not a fan of how they use these bait cars since they seem to intentionally park them where they'll get a good response. Otherwise there's no way they'd get several people taking them in the same night as seems to happen. If they instead put them in an area that had a recent string of car thefts and then one gets taken, that seem like normal policing, similar to having someone watch the area.

If this homeowner had called the police and held the guys until the police arrived, there'd be no issues. Happens all the time. It is the setting bait, then going out and shooting into the dark garage without any verbal contact, or visual identification that's questionable.

Seems like a matter of intent. Did they intend to catch the robbers and then he ended up having to protect himself or did he intend to get some revenge? His girlfriend seems to have been doing the former so that's at least consistent, but not sure about this guy.

[lomatopo]

Unless I'm mistaken, they don't gun the guy down after they steal the car.

Yes, presumably, assuming there is no escalation, and a subsequent requirement for deadly force.

However I was simply illustrating that the concept of "entrapment" be it with bait-cars, or police officers posing as prostitutes or drug dealers, is not in and of itself somehow illegal.

[lomatopo]

As it happens, a Minnesota case involving similar issues was just decided yesterday...the homeowner was convicted.

Minnesota jury finds Byron Smith, 65, guilty of murdering two teen intruders

Smith waited in his basement, stocked with supplies, early on Thanksgiving Day 2012 for the 17- and 18-year-olds to enter his house before he shot dead the two unarmed teens, Haile Kifer and Nick Brady. It took the jury just three hours of deliberations to find him guilty of premeditated murder.

A Minnesota man who gunned down two teens who broke into his home was found guilty of murdering the unarmed intruders he likened to “vermin.”

A jury took just three hours Tuesday afternoon to find Byron Smith, 65, guilty of the Thanksgiving Day 2012 slayings of Haile Kifer, 18, and Nick Brady, 17. Audio clips of the shootings were captured by a recording system the man had rigged up to capture the burglars in the act.

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime/minnesota-jury-finds-byron-smith-65-guilty-murdering-teen-intruders-article-1.1773270

[VegasVic]

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Trigger Happy folk in United States. Dangerous place. People armed with high powered weapon, with little or no training and complete ignorance in how to handle potentially volatile situations. Yet another needless death. Firing 4 shots into the dark, reckless and indifferent. Somehow the American spin doctors for the right to carry arms (or whatever it's called) will see no harm with these types of actions.

I remember years ago, a drunk teen stumbled into my yard, completely oblivious to the fact he'd entered my property and not his friends (next door). Of course I challenged him verbally and th situation was resolved without even a harsh word, imagine if I came out blasting and asking questions later.

About time the right to bare arms is revoked and the gun lobiests rounded up and shot! I shall now take cover as the wackos unleash.

First of all comparing a drunken teenager accidentally wandering into your backyard to an intentional break in to someones garage (especially after this house had been burglarized twice in the past 3 weeks) just goes to show how clueless you are, as for the comments about "trigger happy folk in the U.S." goes, well lets just say your complete ignorance is on full display here BTW should you ever want to see a true wacko you needn't travel any further than the nearest mirror my friend

[neverdie]

Trigger Happy folk in United States. Dangerous place. People armed with high powered weapon, with little or no training and complete ignorance in how to handle potentially volatile situations. Yet another needless death. Firing 4 shots into the dark, reckless and indifferent. Somehow the American spin doctors for the right to carry arms (or whatever it's called) will see no harm with these types of actions.

I remember years ago, a drunk teen stumbled into my yard, completely oblivious to the fact he'd entered my property and not his friends (next door). Of course I challenged him verbally and th situation was resolved without even a harsh word, imagine if I came out blasting and asking questions later.

About time the right to bare arms is revoked and the gun lobiests rounded up and shot! I shall now take cover as the wackos unleash.

Montana 1 person for every 6 sq miles. this is not NYC or the south side of Chicago. People in Montana only carry a pistol so they have something to shoot while they get a real gun.This is the last of the wild west absolutly beautiful country where you carry to protect yourself from wild life and to supplement your food supply. As for robbers who return multiple times F'em. Victim of house break will be aquitted dirt nap for perp perfect. Laws in your country do not apply here if you do not like it there are plenty of other places. You might just want to know a little about a place and it's inhabitants before you criticize it.

Drunk teen who stumbles into your yard does not equate to some one who habitually robs your home. I'm sure the drunk teen pissed himself when confronted. Your my hero! If only we could clone you the world would be a safe place once and for all.

Yes I agree it would be good to clone me, millions of me world wide, absolutely frightening.

I didn't explain my story to well as the intruder at my place was inside the house, through the yard and exactly as In this case, I stopped him inside my garage. Irrelevant anyhow. This was different.

Clearly this guy was a whacko, setting up a situation to attract trouble, just so he could twirl his weapon from its holster and fire from the hip.....bravo. And you want to talk about heros.