Yeah, I was surprised about that. I bought a katana-wakizashi set in college but they were the display kind that wouldn’t hold an edge after use. You might be able to put a minor stabbing wound in someone, but I doubt I could cut a cucumber if using it as a slashing weapon as it didn’t come sharpened. My WAG is that he had a real one, or that he sharpened up the display type.
Well, he wouldn’t have any duty to retreat in his own home, which (assuming his backyard counts) he was, or if he was arresting the intruder, which it seems he was (though that may depend on Maryland’s laws on citizens arrest).
Also, according to this report,
So it looks as though he couldn’t have retreated if he’d wanted to.
It seems the intruder only got out of jail on Saturday.
I wouldn’t think being backed in a corner, and slashing at a hand to be excessive.
My question would be more oriented towards did he try to tournequet the wrist.
But then again, I am not sure I would want to actually approach someone who just tried to assault me…
… and quite possibly, in the darkness and confusion, it may be that no-one – including, perhaps, the victim – realised the extent of the injury until it was too late.
True, with the guy being shocky, he may not have realized how badly he was actually hurt and you can bleed out very fast from a wrist wound. With the adrenaline making the heart pump, might be faster than normal…
i do hope the kid gets off on self defense, and that the legal system laughs if any surviving family want to sue the poor kid … the dead guy was killed committing a felony and the family needs to suck it up.
I’m kind of upset now that my girlfriend stopped me from buying that Braveheart-style Claymore when we were in Scotland last year. I suppose I would have a hard time explaining to the cops why I yelled “FREEEEEEEEDOM!” right before I cleaved an intruder in half lengthwise.
Yes. Where will they find 12 jurors to convict this guy?
I heard on the news that the dead guy had a very long criminal record and had just been released from prison.
Win!
Everything I’ve learned/read about self-defense, especially in the home, says that if you injure an attacker, (1) get yourself to a safe place, and (2) call 911. Do not approach, touch, or attempt to help the attacker in any way. He may be screaming he’s dying, and when you bend down to check him, you find out it’s only a scratch and he’s now attacking you again. Never, ever, trust an attacker.
I think the cops need to pay a high level magic user to identify the sword. It could be a Vorpal Sword, or a Sword of Sharpness, or possibly a Sword of Wounding…
(A Flametongue would be cooler)
Ever wondered if you could shoot to kill in a defend-your-home scenario? Now take it up a notch:
Student With Samurai Sword Kills Theft Suspect
Mod edit: There’s already an active thread, so I merged this in. (signed) twickster
Yeah, but that would’ve cauterized the wound, and then we’d have an entirely different news story.
Crap. Sorry, I don’t understand why I didn’t see it.
Released Sat.
Took the lords day off on Sunday.
Place was already robbed on Monday.
He is dead by Tuesday.
That didnt take long.
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.
I’m just offering information. However, I am curious as to how a sword could both sever a hand and bounce off the wrist.
Depending on their positions, Pontolillo could have struck the man’s chest first and hit the wrist on the follow through.
Yeah, good point; I was just thinking about severed vessels and not an apparent amputation. Well, I was thinking about a blow to the inside of the wrist, but if the arm was between the torso and the sword, it might have essentially been in the way of a swing. Off goes the hand, sword continues on to bite into the chest.
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.
Or vice-versa: Swing at the wrist, and the tip of the blade intersect with the chest. I suspect, based on the scenario, that this is more likely the case. The assailent’s wrist would’ve been the closest target, and likely the one focused on and attacked; meanwhile, the lunge carries the assailent’s chest inside the arc of the tip of tip of the blade…
Even if this was an honest-to-God heirloom blade from the 1600s, he’s not going to have any weapons law troubles, not even in Maryland - He was still within the confines of what would leagally be defened as ‘his’ property; He’s not walking about in public in this instance.
Poor kid was likely scared half-insane, and is likely more than a bit of a wreck today. Messy way to have to defend yourself. OTOH, nice work staying alive, kid.