Michigan Homeowner Who Shot Unarmed Teen Girl Found Guilty Of 2nd Degree Murder

This thread has very little to do with the heinous crime, which it was, but rather a thread to justify personal fears/ignorance of many.

I have seen many a good thread or article come and go with little fanfare.

IMO, this is an open and shut case. He got what he deserved.

No need for an extended discussion on what should have been done that fateful day.

originally posted by: TKDRL
a reply to: Flatfish
That is exactly what he said. To buy a double barrelled shotgun, fire off both rounds in the air to scare people off.

Yeah, I think those used to be called "warning shots." So maybe you could explain just how that translates into shooting through your screen door, (which is apparently see-through) to kill a teenage girl in need of help?

originally posted by: TKDRL
Would only work on a moron who never seen a double barrelled shotgun before lol. Most people would see double barrelled shotgun, hear two booms, and know they are out of ammo and a sitting duck. Horrible advice.....

All I can tell you is, if you decided to charge after hearing me shoot off two rounds from my double barrel shotgun, (thinking that I was out of ammo) you'd be making a deadly mistake. Can you tell from the sound of the warning shots that it's for sure a double barrel and not an automatic or pump shotgun capable of holding 5 to 8 rounds? Do you realize how fast I can re-load a double barrel shotgun?

originally posted by: TKDRL
Shotgun with birdshot worked OK for me when I lived in an APT,

Ever heard of buck-shot? There's only 9 pellets in a 12ga shell and it will pretty much stop or destroy anything it's fired at, (at short range) short of an armored vehicle.

originally posted by: TKDRL
now a human intruder is getting a 50 caliber AR15, no need to worry about hitting a neighbor now

If you're using a 50cal to ward off intruders, your neighbors should be extremely worried about being hit by "friendly fire!" (and that's assuming that your neighbors even consider you to be friendly.)

I hope you realize that you can pretty much knock the engine right out of a bus with a 50cal and when it comes to penetrating houses, I would imagine it's going to go right through 3 or 4 of them before it comes to a stop. If anything, you're much more likely to hit a neighbor with a 50cal than with a shotgun.

I'd never challenge a 50cal with a shotgun at long range because a 50 cal is designed to be a long range sniper rifle, but at short range (as it would be during a home invasion), if you didn't hit me with your first shot I'd be all over your ass with my shotgun before you could even recover from the recoil and chamber another round. I can't think of a worse choice of weapons for home protection than a 50cal.

What a piece of crap, to shoot through a door, just because he hears pounding on his door, WTF. This could have been anyone, so we must all fear this type of reaction from gun owners without a brain. My god

a reply to: Flatfish
See, I have these things surrounding my house called woods. Even a 50cal aint going through a few miles of trees. I have a shooting range in my backyard and shoot off lots of guns, including my 50cal. Recoil is not as bad as you would think, which is why I kept that setup after I tried it. Then again I am a very strong man, due to the manual labour aspect of working construction, might help a lot in that aspect.

And with the double barrel, notice I said see you shoot off two warning shots, maening see the gun, double barrels are distinctive in looks, especially when you are breaking it open to reload.

He wasn't trying to "murder her".

People arm themselves to defend their home from just such scenarios, right?
Consider it. The worst fear a homeowner has is the intruder that is going to harm them or their family.

One way of gaining entrance is to come late at night, pretending to be in distress and when the door is opened the girls cohorts swarm the entrance and rape and kill everyone in the house.

Follow me so far?

He "dismissed her" in his mind as that possibility and did the only thing his fear oriented posture allowed… he pulled the trigger.

He should have said, I am armed, back off the porch, I'll call 911 for you. Whats your name?

How she responds helps to identify any subterfuge. Look where his response got them both. Now she's dead and he gets to remember it all the time in a cell.

If he shot her cause she's "black", thats different.

I'm all for defending your own home with a gun, but this is definitely a case of going too far.

Frightened by someone pounding on your door? Give me a break.

Discharging a shotgun, through a screen door, without "aiming at anything"??? Wow...way to go, dumbass.

The things that bother me about this article:

A white suburban Detroit homeowner was found guilty on Thursday of second-degree murder in the shooting of an unarmed black teen on his porch.

The killing has sparked protests in Dearborn Heights and comparisons to the 2012 Florida shooting death of Trayvon Martin, a black teenager who was also unarmed.

If a black man pulled the trigger, do you think the writers would have mentioned race? Would the writers have compared it to a case in which 'black on black' crime was committed? Doubtful.
If the female would have been white, would the article even mention race? Would the writers have compared it to a case in which 'white on white' crime was committed? Doubtful.

It's a shame this girl lost her life while trying to get help, but it's also a shame that this 'white vs black' bull# will be pushed by the media well beyond my time on this planet.

a reply to: diggindirt

Theirs alog of different kinds of shock... And her being in shock for whatever reason will never know, isn't uncommon. Maybe she was being chased by a killer.....

originally posted by: marg6043
I am very happy that the man got a guilty sentence, after reading all the information on the case, he didn't have to take the life of another person.

He had the choice to call the police and no to open the door.

He is guilty.

Guilty for sure but let's for a moment, exercise this thought.

We know after the fact this person fired his firearm negligently, but at the time, in the heat of the moment, is a different story.

Police are, in a manner of speaking, allowed to shot first and ask questions latter. An disturbing trend is killing a family pet, all on the premise of feeling in danger....

How is this case any different?

Some years ago, we had a jerk neighbor who was constantly drunk with his girlfriend of the week all through the early AM hours. Every chick he briefly dated usually stormed out totally trashed, screeching at him, and him back at her. One night, one girl really laid into him verbally. After a lot of top-of-the-lungs profanity, they started throwing crap at each other. After a while of them stomping through the place and tossing everything but the kitchen sink at each other, she stormed out on the warpath, still yelling at the top of her lungs. At that point, porch lights started turning off (lol, says a lot there)
The upside to this place is that it's pretty soundproof from the outside. If you're next door to someone loud, though, you're up bleep crick. So, once everyone around us started hearing them out in the parking lot, they started turning off their porch lights (the universal sign of "you're on your own") She noticed that, and went on a tirade in front of our window . I quietly slipped over to the door and made sure it was locked, deadbolted and chained for good measure. Like she was telepathic or some crap, she stomped right over and started pounding on our door like it was an obstacle to be removed. "HEY! OPEN THIS DAMN THING! I KNOW YOU'RE HOME! I NEED YOUR F***ING PHONE!" She pounded and kicked hard enough that she loosened the jamb up some.
I hollered right back at her through the door that she didn't need it, because I was on it with the cops. Yep, she left in a hell of a hurry. They eventually tracked her down up the road, passed out cold in a ditch.

Now, had there been no loud lead-up to that, I'd have probably crapped myself. I can see exactly how someone not expecting any kind of loud disturbance would opt for fight rather than flight. It totally depends on the individual, not everyone's auto-reaction is to dial the police, for some it's defend. I can't really fault this homeowner for his reaction, and I can't say the verdict is wrong either if he didn't holler out any warning first.