LOL 
From now on, I’m calling my glasses “Snow Pea Lenses”.
And I submit that anyone – like the old man in this case – who is itching for a reason to kill someone should never be allowed to own a firearm.
Only because you’re embracing acts that are quite clearly murder.
I apparently have made a fool out of myself by misreading the OP. I didn’t realize he went out of his way to kill the two. I do agree with whomever it was on page two stating that you don’t know when you are out of danger, and just because you shot someone, that doesn’t mean they’re out of the game. But, yeah. You’re right. Having the time to put the gun under their chins and fire is different.
I wouldn’t have the guts to kill someone, personally, unless they really are endangering me. I’m not saying I’d do the same as he. Minus the execution style murder of the two, what he did was just. If he had shot them both in the head to start with, then I couldn’t say there’s anything wrong with it. That’s what I had thought had happened when I first read it.
Looks to me like there’s plenty of stupid and crazy to go around in this case. The homeowner is probably justified in his initial shot, but the execution style second shot and confessing that he wanted them dead. That’s clearly unnecessary and well within the territory of second degree murder. The kids were stupid themselves for breaking into the house, especially one that had been broken into before, and even more so for the second one. I guess I could buy that the guy snapped, that he was sick of it and, after having fired the first shot, he was going to finish it, but that’s not an excuse.
So, to answer the OP’s questions, no they didn’t deserve to die, but they weren’t precious snowflakes. They made some stupid mistakes that had dire consequences. And, regardless of how thick or thin you may think the line between self defense and murder is, that guy definitely crossed it.
Good article here that gives more detail about the homeowner and the teen girl burglar: Nicholas Brady (17) and his cousin Haile Kifer (18) were shot as they allegedly broke into a home on Thanksgiving Day - MyDeathSpace.com
Yes, and it’s a sin to kill a mocking girl.
I lol’d. Going to hell now.
I’m not sure we have all of this story yet. The girl really came down the stairs after she heard the really loud gunshot? I realize some people are stupid, high or both at times, but this guy could’ve shouted, “Get the hell out of my house,” before lurking and shooting the second person.
One of the dangers of a “career” in burglary is getting killed by the homeowner. But this man could’ve ended it by shooting the guy ONCE before his death shots happened.
New article tells us he killed the teens because “he feared weapons.” :rolleyes:
Yep. That’s a double homicide. Even from Smith’s statement it seems like a warning shot would’ve ended this with no one dead.
I once saw a spicy “documentary” movie about a homeowner and a teen girl burglar.
Well, hearing not one but two shots from the basement didn’t faze the female burglar - she headed down into the basement anyway.
You win the internets for the day.
Now that I look back trying to remember it, I seems as if it also ended up with the TGB (teen girl burglar) getting shot in the face…
Yes. This is why I’m not sure he waited “several minutes” for her to come down the stairs. Someone else posted the possibility of her fearing her cousin had a firearm, but I’m pretty sure she would’ve known that ahead of time.
Even if she really DID come downstairs after hearing TWO loud gunshots several minutes later, Nick was her cousin. Family concern? I dunno. Shit, I sound like a lawyer now.
The shooter’s version of events definitely has some strange elements. Why did the girl go downstairs after shots were fired? Why did the shooter endanger himself by moving a wounded trespasser? Why did he wait so long to contact the police? After all, for all he knew there might be *more *than two people involved in the break-in.
I hope that there’s a careful forensics investigation into the wounds that the two burglars received. I would not be surprised if it turns out that events did not play out the way that the shooter described, and that he delayed contacting the police while he tried to come up with a story that sounded better than: “I caught 'em breaking in, marched 'em down to the basement at gunpoint, and blew their brains out.”
Mind you, I’m not saying that’s what **did **happen, but it certainly makes more sense than what he **says **happened. And I hope the police take the time to find out one way or the other.
On the Facebook memorial page*, there are quite a few locals (mostly friends and acqiuantences of the dead teens) who are saying that there was a third kid with them who ran away when he heard the shots. However, that’s just facebook chatter.
However, if it turns out that there were three burglars in the house, the homeowner might have felt under siege and that contributed to what, in hindsight, was obviously a huge overreaction on his part.
Tried to link to it, but it’s been taken down.
In the article I posted, police say his excuse was “he didn’t want to trouble us on a holiday.” (up the page a bit)
It also says he fears weapons. Maybe they got that wrong. After he allegedly lost over $10,000 in firearms from a previous break-in, he fears that weapons will be stolen!
In the same facebook memorial page referenced above, there were multiple mentions that these kids had actaully broken into this same guy’s house once already. And the homeowner had reported a burglary in October where some of his guns were stolen*. Not a big stretch for the homeowner to worry that the same perps who stole the guns were back. And now armed with the stolen guns.
Dead people don’t testify. I’d always heard if you are going to shoot someone, kill them. Even if you aren’t found guilty, criminally, there is always the chance that you might be found negligent or something and be sued for damages.
Any truth to any of this?
Yup. And after shooting once and watching a kid roll down the stairs defenselessly, probably wasn’t the gun stealers. 