# Johns Hopkins student kills intruder with samurai sword **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 16, 2009, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/johns-hopkins-student-kills-intruder-with-samurai-sword/510264 "2009-09-16T02:31:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![appleciders](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85f322/32.png) [@appleciders](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/appleciders)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2009, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/johns-hopkins-student-kills-intruder-with-samurai-sword/510264/41 "2009-09-16T18:59:05Z")
I suspect that the robber’s intent was to knock the kid over and escape, not kill the kid. But the kid still has every right to defend himself, and the robber took that gamble and lost. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2009, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/johns-hopkins-student-kills-intruder-with-samurai-sword/510264/42 "2009-09-16T18:59:49Z")
> [@billfish678](#): > > Released Sat. > > Took the lords day off on Sunday. > > Place was already robbed on Monday. > > He is dead by Tuesday. > > That didnt take long. Police have identified the suspect as one Solomon Grundy. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Scrivener](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@The\_Scrivener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Scrivener)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2009, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/johns-hopkins-student-kills-intruder-with-samurai-sword/510264/43 "2009-09-16T19:11:39Z")
> [@fubbleskag](#): > > “Does the defendant have anything to say to the court?” > > “There can be only one!” And in a musical version of this story, [it’d sound like this](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=El14TUF-Rhg) (at 1:17 and 2:39, anyway… and yes, they were falling on the floor of their studio from laughter when they recorded this). ---
**Author:** ![Anne\_Neville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Anne\_Neville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Neville)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2009, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/johns-hopkins-student-kills-intruder-with-samurai-sword/510264/44 "2009-09-16T19:11:53Z")
> [@Tranquilis](#): > > Poor kid was likely scared half-insane, and is likely more than a bit of a wreck today. So’s his garage, most likely. I’m glad it isn’t me that has to clean up that mess. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2009, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/johns-hopkins-student-kills-intruder-with-samurai-sword/510264/45 "2009-09-16T19:33:57Z")
> [@Ferret\_Herder](#): > > Just wild-guessing here, but I’m entertaining serious doubts about whether the standard “display” style of sword, even if sharpened, would be good enough to do that. (I knew a fair number of college students, my now-husband and I included, who’d have display ones because they looked cool.) It might well have been real, which depending on MD law might run afoul of weapons laws. It’s probably a display sword. Some of them can be quite sharp. I regularly use the one I referenced above to chop up menacing packing tubes and the like. Unlikely a college student would own a real one. They are a tad pricey. ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2009, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/johns-hopkins-student-kills-intruder-with-samurai-sword/510264/46 "2009-09-16T19:42:54Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > It’s probably a display sword. Some of them can be quite sharp. I regularly use the one I referenced above to chop up menacing packing tubes and the like. Unlikely a college student would own a real one. They are a tad pricey. Huh. I’ve still got ours stashed in our place. I assumed they’d be more bark than, um, **bite** … And yeah, pretty much the cost was the only barrier to me buying one that would hold an edge properly. ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_Robson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gary_robson/32/3448_2.png) [@Gary\_Robson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Robson)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2009, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/johns-hopkins-student-kills-intruder-with-samurai-sword/510264/47 "2009-09-16T20:03:52Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > It’s probably a display sword. Some of them can be quite sharp. I regularly use the one I referenced above to chop up menacing packing tubes and the like. Unlikely a college student would own a real one. They are a tad pricey. It depends upon your definition of “real.” A sword doesn’t have to be old–or heirloom, or collectible–to be a well-made weapon capable of properly holding an edge. ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2009, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/johns-hopkins-student-kills-intruder-with-samurai-sword/510264/48 "2009-09-16T20:05:50Z")
They forgot to mention in the article that the intruder was dressed like The Gimp. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2009, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/johns-hopkins-student-kills-intruder-with-samurai-sword/510264/49 "2009-09-16T20:27:16Z")
> [@InvisibleWombat](#): > > It depends upon your definition of “real.” A sword doesn’t have to be old–or heirloom, or collectible–to be a well-made weapon capable of properly holding an edge. No, but to be a “real samurai sword” it should have been made for and used by a samurai. Since those have been kinda scarce since the Meiji Restoration, the sword is likely a reproduction or a wall-hanger. Doesn’t mean it can’t cause damage, of course. Just look at some of the holes in my ceiling where I was a little enthusiastic with my practice. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2009, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/johns-hopkins-student-kills-intruder-with-samurai-sword/510264/50 "2009-09-16T20:28:08Z")
I don’t think the student can credibly argue that he was aiming for the burglar’s hand, because the burglar apparently also had a serious chest wound. This seems to suggest that the student just swung in his general direction while the burglar had his hand out, presumably either to grab at that student or to ward off the blow. And with a sword that sharp, I think it’s reasonable to assume that, as with a gun, any time one uses it against another person, it is potentially deadly. I agree that duty to retreat does not appear to be an issue. So the case boils down to whether the student was reasonable in believing that the use of deadly force was necessary; i.e., that the burglar posed a deadly threat. Under these circumstances, where it’s obviously a burglar and it’s not clear whether he has a weapon, I can’t imagine them charging the student with any crime. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Scrivener](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@The\_Scrivener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Scrivener)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2009, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/johns-hopkins-student-kills-intruder-with-samurai-sword/510264/51 "2009-09-16T20:48:00Z")
Unless the burglar – actually, robber – was naked, how could the resident be sure he was unarmed, instead of having a gun or knife tucked into the back of his pants, etc.? Plus there’s the sundry objects to be found in the garage itself… there were probably lots of improvised “weapons” at the ready, should the guy turn violent. I hope the sword-wielder is spared any prosecution. ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_Robson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gary_robson/32/3448_2.png) [@Gary\_Robson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Robson)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2009, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/johns-hopkins-student-kills-intruder-with-samurai-sword/510264/52 "2009-09-16T21:00:45Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > No, but to be a “real samurai sword” it should have been made for and used by a samurai. Since those have been kinda scarce since the Meiji Restoration, the sword is likely a reproduction or a wall-hanger. Doesn’t mean it can’t cause damage, of course. Just look at some of the holes in my ceiling where I was a little enthusiastic with my practice. 😃 Sorry - we weren’t on the same page. I was talking about a “real sword,” not a “real Samurai sword.” There are plenty of real swords (Samurai-style and otherwise) being made in modern times that are perfectly good weapons, but I understand that they aren’t “real Samurai.” ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2009, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/johns-hopkins-student-kills-intruder-with-samurai-sword/510264/53 "2009-09-16T21:53:57Z")
This incident happened literally around the corner from where my wife and i lived in Baltimore. We used to walk by the house every day on our way to the Hopkins campus. The neighborhood used to get a fair number of break-ins, and after dark there would also be periodic armed hold-ups. A couple of years ago, there were three armed hold-ups within 50 yards of our front door in the space of a few weeks. There are quite a lot of trees in that neighborhood, and the mugger would often wait in the shadows until someone drove home and was parking their car on the street, and when the person exited their car the mugger would jump out and stick a gun in their face and demand their money. ---
**Author:** ![Kiros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/439d5e/32.png) [@Kiros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kiros)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2009, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/johns-hopkins-student-kills-intruder-with-samurai-sword/510264/54 "2009-09-16T22:10:03Z")
Yup, I actually lived on that very block (342 E University was my place, this was somewhere on the 300 block, I haven’t heard the exact address) for my junior and senior years at JHU. It’s not a terrible neighborhood by any means - I never had any safety issues while stumbling home drunk at 2:30 in the morning, for instance - but it’s not a great neighborhood either. I knew two or three other students with houses in the same general area who were burglarized to various degrees over the course of the two years. For my part though I was never witness to so much as a hint of crime, which makes me pretty lucky I guess. Our house had a little more in the way of alarm systems and a little less in the way of weaponry, which would have made for a less interesting story, anyways. ---
**Author:** ![ryobserver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b2d939/32.png) [@ryobserver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ryobserver)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2009, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/johns-hopkins-student-kills-intruder-with-samurai-sword/510264/55 "2009-09-17T00:09:51Z")
> [@Ferret\_Herder](#): > > That could have been effectively a “followthrough” of the initial swipe/jab - the suspect rushes at the student, who thrusts out the sword. The suspect’s hand or hands are extended, maybe to attack; the sword bites deep on the wrist and rebounds off, meanwhile the suspect’s momentum carries him forward and the sword impacts the chest and is pushed along it. That’s the problem with rushing someone holding a sword; the guy holding it doesn’t even have to swing it to do you harm. It’s not like a gun, which is pretty inert until someone pulls the trigger (and a rush _might_ startle the guy long enough for you to grab the gun). But a long sharp blade? He just has to hold it tight and let you run into it (or onto it), or slice up your hands trying to grab it. If Mr Burglar was still around, I’d like to ask “So, were you gambling it was a fake sword, or are you just really stupid?” ---
**Author:** ![appleciders](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85f322/32.png) [@appleciders](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/appleciders)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2009, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/johns-hopkins-student-kills-intruder-with-samurai-sword/510264/56 "2009-09-17T00:19:33Z")
> [@The\_Scrivener](#): > > Unless the burglar – actually, robber – was naked, how could the resident be sure he was unarmed, instead of having a gun or knife tucked into the back of his pants, etc.? Plus there’s the sundry objects to be found in the garage itself… there were probably lots of improvised “weapons” at the ready, should the guy turn violent. > > I hope the sword-wielder is spared any prosecution. Or if the guy turned the sword around on the student. Even if the burglar was unarmed, his intent could still be deadly, given the deadly weapon in the room. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2009, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/johns-hopkins-student-kills-intruder-with-samurai-sword/510264/57 "2009-09-17T02:35:40Z")
These arguments are a little silly. A student confronted a burgler with a long criminal record in his home and slashed him with a sword when he lunged for him. Do you really think any DA in the country is going to try and prosecute the kid for anything? It’s a clear case of self-defense. The only time it becomes an issue is when people become excessive in their zeal to defend themselves. For example, if the kid followed the burgler out and then lopped off his head to finish him off. Or if he had his friends grab him so he could go at him with the sword. None of that happened. No DA wants the political liability of trying to prosecute a kid defending his home against some piece of shit no one cares about. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2009, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/johns-hopkins-student-kills-intruder-with-samurai-sword/510264/58 "2009-09-17T02:47:14Z")
I hope somebody cleans the sword right away. Blood is hell on the finish. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2009, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/johns-hopkins-student-kills-intruder-with-samurai-sword/510264/59 "2009-09-17T02:48:02Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > Do you really think any DA in the country is going to try and prosecute the kid for anything? Hell, yes. If it were I, they’d throw me under the jail and brick it in. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Koxinga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4af34b/32.png) [@Koxinga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koxinga)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2009, 5:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/johns-hopkins-student-kills-intruder-with-samurai-sword/510264/60 "2009-09-17T05:43:43Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > Do you really think any DA in the country is going to try and prosecute the kid for anything? Depends on whether the DA in question thinks he can make political capital out of it. Hope the kid’s not a lacrosse player. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/johns-hopkins-student-kills-intruder-with-samurai-sword/510264.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/johns-hopkins-student-kills-intruder-with-samurai-sword/510264.md?page=4)