http://www.buffalonews.com/2010/03/28/1002259/albany-teacher-fatally-shot-in.html
I guess the guy has had a history of sleep disorders where he starts walking around and gets disoriented. No one knows exactly what happened inside the house but I’m guessing the guy didn’t do exactly as told and got himself shot. Pretty sad because from the comments I’ve seen I guess the guy who died was a teacher with no criminal history at all.
EDIT 3/29: added updated article
True story, swear to god (happened 2 years ago); My friend Dan fell asleep at another friends totally hammered. He ended up jumping out of the 2nd story window, slept-walked into the neighbors unlocked door, and went to sleep on their couch. He woke up to a family with kids staring at him asking how the hell he got there.
i cant imagine… but id probably would not have hesitated to take a shot if somebody was in my house late at night and i realized that i didnt know who they were…
Yeah, I can’t say I wouldn’t have done the same thing. 1am, dude you don’t know wandering around your house. If he really was sleep walking/sleep disoriented he probably wasn’t responding to what ever commands the homeowner was giving him. It will probably come down to how much the police can hear in the 911 call. If they hear Don’t shoot, I’m just in the wrong house" it won’t be good for the homeowner. If they hear, “if you take another step toward me I’ll shoot” it shouldn’t be bad (other than living with the fact that you shot and killed some guy who probably wasn’t really there to do you any harm).
I cant imagine, but in my mind, at 1am, after i was asleep… its me or him, and if my gun is in my hand…
It certainly wont be hard for me to take a shot if im certain ive never seen the person before, especially if my doors were locked when i went to bed.
Scary thought… hope it never happens to me.
A bit more info coming out this morning.
http://www.buffalonews.com/2010/03/28/1002259/albany-teacher-fatally-shot-in.html
why wasn’t this couples doors locked?
^Edit: I never locked my house until I had a child.
Sucks for the home owner. It sounds like the guy may have been drunk if he was at a party then entered a different home and couldn’t figure out it was the wrong home. It is hard to imagine a sober person not figuring it out instantly.
Yeah, I’m guessing drunk too. The homeowners attorney is saying they repeatedly told the guy they were armed and told him to leave. When he took a step toward them his was shot once with a shotgun. If it’s true I don’t see how the homeowner could be charged, but of course a lawyer is going to tell a version of what happened that is best for his client.
It will probably all come down to how much can be heard on that 911 tape since we’re never going to hear the intruders side of the story.
My question is who goes to visit someone and goes out and gets hammered by themselves?? I know I wouldnt let my friend go out drinking alone…never! I blame the people he was visiting!
If I woke up and saw/heard a stranger in my house I’d be scared shitless. I honestly don’t know what I’d do.
man this is really sad
he was def drunk
why did the guy shoot to kill? why wasn’t his home locked?
Because there’s no other way to shoot. You don’t shoot at something you don’t intend to kill. Stated in reverse, if you don’t want to kill someone/something you don’t shoot it. Would you expect the court to consider a leg shot different than a chest shot? What about a leg shot in the femoral artery that killed the victim versus a leg shot that only hit tissue? If you’re going to put a hole in someone/something you have to understand that it’s probably going to die.
This may end poorly for the homeowner. I believe the law is that you can only respond with equal force. The only thing that being in your own home gets you is that you aren’t obligated to flee if possible.
+1 on shoot to kill. Anyone who has had any self defense firearms training is taught to shoot to kill. The reason being is that you are only allowed to shoot when you have a reasonable fear for your life or the life of someone else. Once you cross that line there is no reason to “shoot to warn”. Besides that, the only people who ever suggest “shoot to warn” are people who have never fired guns. You train to hit center mass because it’s the largest target with a high probability of stopping an attacker. In an emergency situation when your heart is racing and the adrenalin pumping they say you’re lucky if you’re 50% as good as you are at the range.
The equal force thing really doesn’t come into play here. The only issue it will come down to is the reasonable state of mind of the homeowner at the time. You are in your home so retreat isn’t an option. If the intruder wants to retreat you have to allow them that if it doesn’t put you in more risk. If the homeowner was clearly stating he had a gun and telling the guy not to come any closer and he did, as the lawyer is stating, the homeowner is in the clear. If you’re armed and the intruder knows this and you allow the him to keep approaching, even if he isn’t armed, there is a reasonable fear for your life or the life of your family because when he does reach you it’s reasonable to assume there will be a struggle for the gun.
Like I keep saying… it will come down to what you can hear on the 911 call. It better be something like “I have a gun, stay back, I said STAY BACK… BOOM”.
i was under the impression that a shot below the waist is classified differently in NYS because it is not intent to kill
edit: even on chappelle show they were narrating a robbery and the announcers said “and he was smart to shoot below the waist so he doesn’t get intent to kill,” (to paraphrase).
The chappelle show huh? You’re honestly going to base your opinion on the legalities of deadly force (a section of NY’s penal code I’ve read and debated in law classes before I switched majors to CIS) on a Comedy Central sketch comedy show? Really?
A good read if you’re interested.
Or better, if you have an understanding of legal jargon…
http://public.leginfo.state.ny.us/menugetf.cgi?COMMONQUERY=LAWS
Go there, select penal law, and read article 35 defense of justification.
That is every homeowner’s worst nightmare. Imagine what was going through the guys head before he squeezed off the round. Ugh. 
Would hate to be the homeowner, but it seems that he did exactly what he should’ve, or I would’ve done.
+1. You don’t have a gun for home protection because you want to kill someone any more than you have homeowners insurance because you want your house to burn down. I feel bad for everyone involved in this.