A Granger, IN homeowner found a stranger in one of his outbuildings. That stranger had just been in a car chase with police and had abandoned his car and attempted to hide on the homeowner’s property.
The homeowner fired one shot at the suspect, and shortly after, police arrived on the scene and took the suspect into custody and then to a local hospital. He is expected to recover. Of course, the entire incident is under investigation.
The report doesn’t mention if the homeowner had any knowledge of the police chase before shooting the suspect, but that may not be relevant as to whether the shooting was justified. Simple trespassing is not grounds for a deadly force response.
For the homeowner to be justified in shooting the suspect, he would have had to been facing a reasonable deadly force threat from the suspect. If the homeowner shot him just because he found him in one of his buildings, that could be grounds for prosecution. Of course, that is entirely up to the local authorities.
The use of any defensive firearm is only for the purpose of defending life and even then it should only be used as a last resort. It is not for defending property.
