"Accidental" home invasion

[Gottahaveone]

ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. -- A man who mistakenly walked into the wrong house during a power outage at his duplex was shot and critically injured by his neighbor.

Orange County sheriff's deputies said Jeff Conway, 24, mistakenly walked into the home of Berky Deguzman, 62, near Huntsman and Gray Fox lanes near the University of Central Florida campus late Wednesday.

Deguzman apparently thought Conway was a burglar and opened fire, officers said.

"(Deguzman) said he was in his house and somebody started banging and the next thing he knows, the guy is standing in his house and he got his gun," an officer said.

Deguzman called 911 after shooting Conway twice.

Deputies said Deguzman will not be charged because he was in his legal right to shoot Conway.

"You have a right to protect your property," an officer on the scene said. "Florida passed that law so basically he is protecting his domain."

Local 6 reported that many of the duplexes where the shooting happened look similar.

Conway remains at Orlando Regional Medical Center in critical condition.

Watch Local 6 News for more on this story.

http://www.local6.com/news/17668933/detail.html


I'm with the homeowner on this one. I don't know about the rest of you, but I believe that I wouldn't have had to have gotten very far into the house to realize that it wasn't mine. I certainly would have been voicing my apologies and willingness to leave before the homeowner had time to go retrieve his weapon. I expect we'll find that the "intruder" was perhaps a bit inebriated.

 

[AlexM105]

A man who mistakenly walked into the wrong house

So that's when I started laughing...

 

[General Geoff]

Gotta be pretty damn drunk to stumble into the wrong house without realizing it...

I'd probably just as soon be laughing at the poor fellow if I confronted an obviously drunk, confused man knocking stuff over in my house in the unlikely event that I left the door unlocked. The main thing here to remember is to IDENTIFY THE THREAT, before you shoot.

I won't jump the gun though, perhaps this guy DID seem to be a valid threat to the home owner, and if that's the case, he was completely justified.

 

[texas bulldog]

1. was the door locked? if not, why not? if the "banging" was him forcing his way past a locked door, then the fact his key didn't work should've been clue #1 that it wasn;t his home.

2. agreed that the guy should have had his arms up apologizing for the error as soon as he saw what was in the house (i.e. not his stuff).

3. agreed that inebriation likely played a part.

 

[ZeSpectre]

I'd love to hear more details on this one.

A number of years back I used to get this drunk who'd come beat on my door (Right apartment, wrong building) yelling ">nasty word< you don' lock me outta my own house you stupid >nasty word< you open this door right now or I'm gonna kick your ***" (and so on, you get the idea).

He was finally evicted when he smashed his way into another apartment, saw the guy who lived there, and instantly (drunkenly) assumed his wife was having an affair (you know, he was drunk and thought this guy was in HIS apartment with HIS wife) so drunk guy immediately started swinging, got beat down, and then arrested. He's REALLY lucky he didn't get shot!

 

[BruceRDucer]

Good reason to never make a mistake.

 

[yourang?]

uh....power outtage....

maybe really dark.....cant see anything?

might take a couple seconds to realize you are in the wrong spot?

yes..we need more details, but without knowing more, i would
say that maybe he was premature in firing?

maybe throw a light on him...look for a weapon or something

yes...i know this is a split second decision where lives might
be on the line and an immediate reaction is needed......but.....

 

[Claude Clay]

along 441 in southern FL are 3 separate century city complexes of 5000+units each. same blue prints from the numbered parking spaces to the numbers on the condo doors. and 5 miles apart along the road. happens often, happened to my uncle in the 80's--he was watching tv and door opens(was locked) man walks in and looks around and looks perplexed. key fit but he was off by 5 miles. now the entry gate is swiped by a card but people find other ways to mess up. justified legally, perhaps, righteous, no.

note to self: if buy condo--change key cylinder brand, don't just re-key

 

[Picard]

I bet that the media is spinning this in a way to make it sound like castle doctrine and the like are wrong.

"Officer, I swear, I thought it was my car. I didn't mean to steal it."

 

[ZeSpectre]

"Officer, I swear, I thought it was my car. I didn't mean to steal it."

Flashback to 1980 something (I think 84).
Out grocery shopping with my mom in her new (maybe a week old) shiny-red Ford Escort. She sends me out to get the car and bring it up to the store.

I go out and spot the car (after looking for our old blue Hornet), unlock the door, start the car up....and realize it has somehow turned into an automatic on the floor, not a stick shift

I turn the car off and get out and spot OUR car in the same spot one lane over.

As I'm walking over to our car I see that car's owner come out and go to his car so I walk back over and tell him the tale. Amazingly enough his keys opened everything on OUR car as well though it wouldn't start the ignition.

It was more than a little freaky!

 

[D94R]

uh....power outtage....

maybe really dark.....cant see anything?

might take a couple seconds to realize you are in the wrong spot?

I was thinking more like:
power outage ... really dark ... perfect time to rob a place under cover of darkness? (with or without alcohol involvement since it wasn't mentioned)

Amazingly enough his keys opened everything on OUR car as well though it wouldn't start the ignition.

Unusual, yes. But, auto manufactures (before PATS, identity chips, and other electronic recognition devices) only used a limited number of key cuts per vehicle. Every now and then you'd run into the situation you experienced.

 

[BHP FAN]

Yeah,this is a common excuse for a burgler to be ''in the wrong house''.They must teach that one in ''burglar 101''.Public defenders try that one all the time.

 

[jnyork]

Many years ago, in the dark of night, 3 individuals burst into our back door and ran down into the basement. My wife immediately ran to the top of the stairs and screamed at them to come out with their hands up or the husband (me) would come down there shooting. Out came three very sheepish and frightened teenagers, inebriated to one extent or the other, they were looking for a house party being put on by the teenager next door!! We cut them loose and then called the cops, who arrived on the scene a few minutes later and cleaned out the party.

I have always been very thankful I didnt get "trigger happy" and have to live with tragic results.

 

[Aaryq]

Know your target. Know your target. He was in the legal right but for gosh sakes, man...if you don't know your neighbours, get to know them...at least by face. And if someone breaks into your house, get positive identification and don't just shoot in the dark. Sheesh

 

[Loosedhorse]

This one doesn't set right with me, and it reflects badly on all gun owners. Stating you had the legal right to shoot someone--even if you shot someone who had no intention of doing harm--is cold comfort. And just plain cold.

Agreed: flashlight, identify target (and agreed: I wasn't there and don't know the details). But all of us should think: "Could this have happened to me?"

If so, please change something about your response plan, equipment, or training--so we don't read about you next.

Staying safe does mean in part avoiding shooting someone you didn't have to.

 

[TexasRifleman]

yes...i know this is a split second decision where lives might
be on the line and an immediate reaction is needed......but.....

But, as in the part where you left out the banging?

If you have to kick the door in it's hard to argue you thought it was your house huh?

 

[ridata]

Amazingly enough his keys opened everything on OUR car as well though it wouldn't start the ignition.

Unusual, yes. But, auto manufactures (before PATS, identity chips, and other electronic recognition devices) only used a limited number of key cuts per vehicle. Every now and then you'd run into the situation you experienced.

My uncle locked his keys in his truck here a few weeks ago. After trying a few break in methods we got the key to our truck which is the same make, only 10 years newer. After a couple seconds of wiggling it opened right up. We didn't try it in the ignition.

It really gives you a different perspective on security, knowing how easy it really is to get into the car/house.


I guess this is what you get when you build a row of spec homes that are identical.. I think the guy was drunk/mentally impaired enough to think about a robbery.

 

[Czar]

Wow, thats just a bad situation all around. I can empathize with both sides on that one, espeically since I live in a cookie-cutter townhouse. I've never had anyone walk in my place thinking its theirs, nor vice versa, but I did something similarly stupid in college.

Moved from one apartment to another in the same building but one floor higher and down the hall (from 202 to 308 or something like that). All the halls looked the same. One day first week of the semester coming back from class, I go up to my old floor but walk to where my new door was (208 - the apartment right below mine) and walked in on autopilot. The door (it was unlocked) so I didn't notice that using my key (the wrong key for the door) didn't actually unlock it but turned the unlocked knob. Obviously nothing looked right and the guy who lived there looked at me and asked, "who are you and why they hell are you in my place?" I was mortified and apologetic. Completely honest mistake, and once we figured out what happened it became a joke between me and my neighbor - fortunatly he was cool about it.

This situation was just a bad one all around with no one (probably) at fault. The guy is lucky he wasn't killed but I can't blame the resident from shooting.

My big question though is, Did the shooter have his door locked, and if not, why not? My house is ALWAYS locked except for when I open the door to let someone in - especially since anyone who's going to be coming or going will probably use the garage.

 

[NG VI]

I think the resident having time to go retrieve a firearm and the guy still being there when he got back is a bad sign for the shot fellow. I think that speaks worlds about the situation, if I were to accidentally break in to someones house and the occupant came out and spotted me, I would be sure to vacate before they returned from mysteriously going back into their room.

 

[mr.72]

My dad was a service writer at a Ford dealership in 1984. He said at that time, Ford only had 12 or fewer different keys in production. The dealer had a set of all 12 and could open and start any new car or customer car on the premises. Doesn't surprise me that people with Fords of that era could confuse their car with another just like it and get in and drive.

As for the supposedly innocent guy barging into someone else's house thinking it was his own, that doesn't exactly compute. Someone who is defending his home with a gun is most likely going to lock the door, especially late at night while the power is out. Otherwise if the door is locked, then it was forcible entry and hardly understandable for someone with innocent intent.

 

[nplant]

The shooter deserves the same consideration an officer would in a potentially life-threatening scenario, where the "jury" (in this case, us) must look at the facts in the light of what the shooter knew at the time.

There's really not enough information to say that this is a good or bad shoot, but it appears at least that the shooter has the law on his side. Good for him.

But a separate issue is one that's already been brought up: when do you shoot? I'd agree with those who would say you shoot when you have a threat, and would go farther to say that it doesn't mean you have a visible threat only, although that would certainly help. If the guy is outlined in shadow by moonlight from outside the apartment, and you can't see his hands, how do you know there's a threat?

In ZeSpectre's example, the guy might have been enraged and said, "I'll KILL you!" and run into your apartment. Were I on a jury, that might be enough in the right circumstances.

 

[ZeSpectre]

If the guy is outlined in shadow by moonlight from outside the apartment, and you can't see his hands, how do you know there's a threat?

I understand your point, but the reverse is also true. If an unknown someone is INSIDE your dwelling under the same circumstances how do you know he/she is NOT a threat.

The best thing you can do is make sure you have some "buffers" built into your response system to help clarify the situation.

For example, I know someone who has a floodlight built into the stairs going up to where all the bedrooms are. If someone triggers the house alarm the floodlight goes on brightly illuminating the front door/living room and the entire stair area and any threat can be assessed (like his teenage son who "snuck in drunk and late" from a party one time).

Another good buffer is a door that can't just be smashed open giving you time to find out what the person on the other side is really up to.

However, some situations require an immediate judgment and response in spite of completely insufficient information about what is really going on. My best advice in such a case, have a lawyer on retainer.

 

[jakemccoy]

Intruder must have been mentally unstable or on drugs.

 

[Telumehtar]

The thing that doesn't set well with me is the lack of identification the shooter attempted. I agree with the sentiment, legal is not the same as moral.

And had circumstances been a little different, say a family member who came by the house to check on the man, and they were shot for entering, I bet things wouldn't be so cold at that point.

 

[06]

Accidents do happen though I doubt this one was an accident. Why was he making so much noise-probably forced his way in and said it was an accident. Bet he will not make a "mistake" again.
Took my two sons to the National Boy Scout Jamboree at Ft. AP Hill near Washington. We checked into a hotel that morning but kept our gear in the vehicle. That night we returned to our hotel and my son went up to open the room. He walked in on guests that had decided to stay another night. It could have been tragic for I keep a gun on the nightstand when I am in a hotel room. We went downstairs and I raised h--- with the clerks for endangering us. They deeply apoligized and gave us another room. We contacted the company about the mistake and again got an apology. It could have been tragic for I would have returned fire on that room had my son gotten shot. Dangerous scenario-now we knock everytime we go to a room--just to be safe, wc