Home invasion in my town. Should the homeowner have shot???

I live in a small town and we have recenty had a rash of home Invasions.. a few days ago a guy walked into an elderly couples home ( they are 85 ad 90 yrs old) he pushed the lady into her chair, pushed the old man onto the floor and walked straight into their bedroom grabbed almost 40 k in cash. ( yep this old guy had that much cash in his bedroom) He then headed out the door.
The old man retreived his firearm when he was leaving but did not shoot the intruder..
Obviously, the BG knew exactly where the money was. Seems they recently hired a new cleaning lady so apparently they were working together.
A few of my friends and I have been debating the question of shooting this guy or not. I say no. Yes, it as ALOT of money and he was inside their home but he was not a threat to their lives,he never brandished any type of weapon at all and he was headed out the door by the time the home owner got his firearm ( which is critical in my decision).. Others disagree. any thoughts?

BTW, they never did catch this punk.

At 90 years old just being pushed down can be a threat to your life. Blow the POS away and explain to the police he had manhandled you once already and you feared for your life.

If I was 90 I'd shoot the guy.

Even if there is an indictment, the trial could be delayed till I was dead.

Even if convicted of murder, what are they going to do about it? death sentence? Yup, that would really scare me. Life sentence? Ha.


Except for the moral aspect of shooting someone to protect property, I don't see much downside. But, at 90 you do have to pay attention to what the big judge in the sky might think.

Hope he gets his money back.

And don't bet it was the cleaning lady. Grand kids and great grand kids on drugs or with gambling debt is an equal possibility.

You got a good point hopyard... lol..

I heard the cleaning lady is no where to be found.

In my state... Bang, Bang, Bang and Bang! No chance of being prosecuted because of Castle Doctrine.

Now in Maryland. He probably should have showed the guy where the family jewels were too.

He should have shot, What are they gonna do to him . . . sentence him to life?

In addition to Castle Doctrine, many states allow the use of deadly force to prevent a felony, which would include strong armed robbery/burglary, with no requirement of fear of GBI or death.

I would try to slow him down with a wound.

Like, say, the heart or the head. That would've slowed him down.

"Bang"

If he's enough of a dirtbag to walk into an elderly couple's home, push them around, AND steal from them... "Bang"

You respect the elderly. Especially one that might be old enough to have fought in one of the 'Great Wars'.

Besides, like Hopyard said; what are they gonna do, sentence him to life?

At age 90 there is no way I can defend against his advances and I would be 'in fear for my life'. If a gun is what I have, then the gun is what I'd use.

At age 90, a fall could likely lead to a broken hip.
Many elderly die within a year of such falls.
A push could have been a death sentence.

Shoot the thug!

Absolutely a good shoot.

Disparity of force.

OK Maybe i didn't word my question the right way. I see the age of the victim is the major factor for the decision to shoot. But my question was kinda geared toward if it was you who was robbed. What if age is not a factor and he was simply walking out the door after stealing that amount of money from your house?
Do you let him walk with your 40k even though he is not a life threat to you since he is walking out the door?

It would still be preventing a felony where I live.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Guantes

It would still be preventing a felony where I live.

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Yep me too. He would be leaving in a body bag....no doubts no hesitation. Again I will post this you tube vid.of a 911 call. http://youtu.be/55K7vkwD49Y This was an ATTEMPTED entry. Also this one. In this case this was an UNOCCUPIED house.http://youtu.be/KfQc8-NyXZw