NC: Defender not charged in self-defense shooting

[seamusTX]

Boiling Springs, North Carolina (really in the middle of nowhere) -- Late at night on October 24, a man allegedly drove "under" a locked gate onto private property. The homeowner came out with a rifle. The intruder drove his vehicle toward the homeowner, then got out and advanced on foot. When the intruder tried to grab the homeowner's rifle, the homeowner fatally shot him.

The district attorney announced today that the defender will not be charged:

If a person is not the aggressor and he is in his own home or his own premises, he may stand his ground and repel force with force regardless of the character of the assault being made upon him. In this case, the evidence is that [the homeowner] was defending his home, defending his wife and defending himself. In such a situation, criminal charges are not sustainable.

Several days after the incident, the home burned to the ground. Two friends of the deceased have been charged with various felonies.

http://www.cherokeescout.com/articles/2 ... 256981.txt" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

- Jim

[surprise_i'm_armed]

The homeowner was assaulted with the BG's helmet and then shot him twice with .223.

The LEO's response time from being dispatched to arrival was 29 minutes.

Tell some anti that when they say "Don't use a gun. Just call 911 to protect you."

SIA

[Purplehood]

The homeowner was assaulted with the BG's helmet and then shot him twice with .223.

The LEO's response time from being dispatched to arrival was 29 minutes.

Tell some anti that when they say "Don't use a gun. Just call 911 to protect you."

SIA

Unfortunately there is a brain-disconnect somewhere in the noggin for anti-2A folks. They just cannot bring themselves to see any option other than to wait on the police. To them, it is the "right" thing to do. The time-lag is simply a snag having no bearing on the issue, until and unless it happens to them.

[seamusTX]

The LEO's response time from being dispatched to arrival was 29 minutes.

Look up Boiling Springs, North Carolina, on a map site. It is in the middle of national forests. It is about ten miles from the highway, 50 miles from the nearest town in North Carolina. (It's closer to Atlanta, Georgia.)

You're on your own in a place like that.

- Jim

[Purplehood]

The more I think about it, the more this looks like a country-feud to me.

[seamusTX]

The more I think about it, the more this looks like a country-feud to me.

The story that I linked to said that the assailant and defender did not know each other.

We could speculate all day about the motive. Maybe it was judgment clouded by testosterone, alcohol, or drugs. Maybe it was straightforward mischief-making for thrills. Maybe it was envy of the out-of-state owners of the vacation home.

That last factor is pretty common in areas where the local people are not well-off, and outsiders build vacation homes. Those homes are frequent targets of burglary and vandalism.

- Jim

[casingpoint]

Too weird. The back story must include drugs.

[chabouk]

I grew up and spent a big chunk of my life in a rural area that is mostly national forest. There is an attitude among some folks that a certain area belongs to them, and they can go anywhere and do anything, and that includes private land surrounded by the NF.

There's some Corps of Engineers land around here that's the same way. A very backwoods and violent family are the descendants of the people whose land was taken, and they still consider it rightfully theirs. No matter if it's "public" land, you better not try to hunt there.

I'm just saying that there could have been something like that at play here. Blocking a private driveway with a gate, in some folks' minds, is the same as doing a #2 in their living room.