Around 11:00 PM, a 63-year-old legally blind man in hospice care heard someone violently kicking at his door. He immediately went to get his gun. He later testified to police:
“And then, all of the sudden, BLAM and I said, ‘what the hell?’ And I ran and grabbed my gun and then just WHAM they hit it again. And the door flew open, and I started shooting.” Reported KCBD.
Even though he said, “the door flew open, and I started shooting,” the evidence at the scene showed that he fired two shots through the door, probably just as it was giving way. That’s not an unreasonable misspeak giving his medical condition. One can only imagine how terrified he must have been at that moment.
It turns out that the attacker was nothing more than an extremely intoxicated young woman that thought it was her apartment. She reportedly had left her keys at a drive-in theater and just wanted to get into her home. One person that was with the woman was trying to get her to leave when she kicked in the door. He was the only one shot by the homeowner.
The woman was arrested on a number of charges related to her condition and actions.
The police said:
“In this case, it very well seems that that was the case. Somebody’s kicking down your door after 11 o’clock at night. You’re home alone. You feel that you need to defend yourself then in this case, it seems like it might have been a justified shooting.”
The homeowner said police told him, “that I did the right thing.”
This woman was very fortunate that nobody was seriously injured. The whole thing could have been much worse.
While it is always a very bad idea to shoot through a door because you simply don’t know who is on the other side, this man’s actions may end up being justified, at least in part because of his health. All of our actions regarding self-defense must be reasonable for the circumstances, and being blind and on hospice care in this situation would raise the level of fear considerably.
