Homeowner Shoots Next-Door Neighbor During Burglary(my town)

[rmodel65]

http://www.wsbtv.com/news/18028645/detail.html

serves the man right, breaking into his neighbors house


GLYNN COUNTY, Ga. -- A Glynn County homeowner frustrated after his house was broken into twice and his vehicle once in recent days shot a 20-year-old next-door neighbor in the process of stealing a rifle from his home, according Glynn County police.Police were called Wednesday morning by James Detloff, 53, who said he shot an intruder in his home on Mitscher Drive. Officers said Detloff reported he left briefly and when he returned he found a young man in his home holding his rifle. Detloff told officers than when the intruder pointed the rifle at him, the homeowner pulled a .32-caliber handgun and fired twice.Detloff said when he went to another room to call 911, the intruder ran out of the house.Police said they found the burglar -- later identified as Roderick Leon Manigault -- at a nearby home. He was transported to Southeast Georgia Regional Medical Center for treatment of two gunshot wounds. He will face charges upon his release from the hospital.A search of Manigault's home -- he lived on Mitscher Drive next to the victim -- turned up stolen property from Detloff, police said.Police said no charges are expected to be filed against Detloff.

 

[RKBABob]

Sounds like a pretty open and shut case of justified shooting... but imagine comming home to see your neighbor stealing your guns

 

[hso]

Having your own rifle pointed at you certainly would lead the homeowner to have a reasonable expectation of grave bodily harm or death and justify using deadly force to defend yourself.

 

[Dr. Tad Hussein Winslow]

I don't foresee a lot of neighborhood barbeques going on, where everyone's invited.

 

[Kind of Blued]

Mousegun > Rifle



Sounds like a good shoot. I'm glad the good guy isn't getting any(more) trouble.

 

[1858rem]

i read a local newspaper article where a neighbor getting stolen from... neighbor suspected/new who was robbing him so he duck taped the "burglarizer" into a chair, doused him with gasoline and threatened to set him ablaze unless he confessed (my crazy town).... so which neighbor would you prefer , id opt for the guy with a .32 i think lol

 

[rmodel65]

the reason for the small caliber is the suspect had stolen his other hand guns already i talked to his mom, she is my neighbor

the man was already a felon at 20y/o and had buglarized the home a few times before, they served a warrant on the home and found a lot of items that were stolen. i hope mr detloff gets his other guns back, the suspect dropped a gun when fleeing idk if it was one of the ones stolen

 

[MagnumDweeb]

I have two gun safes, a 500lb old-school pawnshop I bought at a police forefeiture auction (had three of my powerlifting buddies help me put it in my closet) and the other a run of the mill rifle 200lb+ rifle safe that I put two 80lb concrete bags in the bottom of (luckily I only have three rifles and they are all in disassembled condition, but my 12 gauge with a pistol grip fits quite nicely). When I'm not home only one gun is out in my room locked in my walk in closet and yes my room is locked and any sob looking for it will have to moove a tote full of really heavy books (almost 300lbs at last weigh in) to get to it. Luckily It's not real problem for me because of my strenght. And I generally keep on gun on me when I'm out and about when not going to school that day.

Lock your guns up so you don't risk them getting used against you.

 

[LaEscopeta]

Sounds like a pretty open and shut case of justified shooting

Yes it sounds that way and likely it is. But we all know the newspaper don’t always get everything correct. If this were in my town I would want the police to continue to investigate (interview friends/neighbors, look for signs of forced entry, question both participants several times and look for inconsistencies, etc) until they were reasonable sure none of the follow could be true:
- Shooter gave/sold stuff to shootee and reported it stolen
- Shooter/shootee have a history of arguments and/or involvement in questionable activities.
- Shooter previously invited shootee into shooter’s house.
- Tthird or fourth party involvement.
- Neighbors seem fearful to talk about the shooter.

 

[zminer]

This brings up an interesting question about what to do if you shoot someone and they're still mobile enough to escape from the house. Obviously you shouldn't continue to shoot at someone who's retreating and is no longer a threat, but at the same time I feel like I would want to keep the guy around for the police to deal with, if I could do so without danger. In this case, it isn't clear if the offender was still holding the gun as he fled, so there might still have been a threat.

Sounds like the homeowner did the right thing in calling for help. Still, it makes a good argument for having a cell phone, or at least a cordless, so you can give the cops a good idea of where the offender went when he left the house.

 

[Kind of Blued]

Sounds like the homeowner did the right thing in calling for help. Still, it makes a good argument for having a cell phone, or at least a cordless, so you can give the cops a good idea of where the offender went when he left the house.

Of course, once he is no longer a threat, stop shooting. Justice is part of the reason for carrying a gun, but of minimal importance. Keeping yourself alive is the key.

Chances are he'll be one of the guys showing up at the hospital with two .32 slugs in his torso with no good explanation as to how they got there... Don't worry about "tracking him down".

 

[Double Naught Spy]

Wow, so the homeowner drew on a drawn gun after taking a pistol to a rifle fight and still won?

 

[SSN Vet]

Wow, so the homeowner drew on a drawn gun after taking a pistol to a rifle fight and still won?

given the character of his neighbor, I'll bet any plausible story the home owner presents will be believed.

do you store your rifle loaded (I'm assuming it wasn't in a safe or RSC)?

do you store your rifles with ammo. in same location?

would the crook stick around to load stolen weapons?

I suspect the crook was holding the rifle and home owner knew it was unloaded, so drew his 32 and shot him... BANG! BANG!

of course he justified this by saying "he pointed the gun at me"

which should not have even been neccessary, but was certainly a prudent cya thing to do.

Dead men tell no tales...

and though this guy lived, who's going to believe anything he says.... (besides all the bleeding heart libs, that is)

and now.... for those who are old enough to remember this little diddy ....

"He's got a 32 gun in his pocket for fun, (and a razer in his shoe?)"

 

[rmodel65]

well the suspect was in possession of a handgun also that was dropped while fleeing, police recovered. idk if it was one of the stolen home owners or not. so even without the rifle there was a chance the man could have drawn that one

 

[jordan1948]

He's got a 32 gun in his pocket for fun, (and a razer in his shoe?)"

I don't "remember" it per-se but I love that song along with all of Jim's other songs.

Anyone else hear about that guy that came home and somone had broken in and trashed the place looking for goods and was still there when the home owner got there so he held him at gun point and made him straighten up the house where he had trashed it lol I thought that was a great one right there.
But about this story, the guy had every right to shoot at the crook I mean even if he didn't aim the rifle at him he didn't know if the crook had loaded it or not and I for one wouldn't want to find out the hard way.

 

[WardenWolf]

"He's got a 32 gun in his pocket for fun, (and a razer in his shoe?)"

"And it's bad, bad, Leroy Brown, baddest man in the whole damn town. Badder than ole' King Kong, and meaner than a junkyard dog!"

But yeah, the homeowner did the right thing, no doubt.

 

[Steve N]

OP's original thread title made this sound like an accidental shooting at first glance. Maybe should have read "Homeowner shoots burglar who turned out to be next-door-neighbor."

 

[LTB15J]

that's why threads dont consist of just the title. the first small sentence clearly explains what happened


cant believe no charges are filed. just goes to show how different things are done here (CA)

defend yourself and go to jail pretty much

 

[Aran]

- Shooter previously invited shootee into shooter’s house.

If I invited you into my home last week, and last night you broke in to steal my rifle, that doesn't make you any less guilty.

 

[Deanimator]

Stealing is a bad idea. Pointing guns at people while you do it is an even worse idea.

As an Army Reserve captain once said about a trainee who fired a practice LAW with the rear of the tube pressed against his shoulder, "Bet he doesn't do THAT again..."

 

[jaholder1971]

To make things interesting, I'd ask that as part of the dirtbag's bond be that he cannot be within 1000 feet of the victim. That means the kid's homeless.

 

[Double Naught Spy]

do you store your rifle loaded (I'm assuming it wasn't in a safe or RSC)?

do you store your rifles with ammo. in same location?

would the crook stick around to load stolen weapons?

It isn't about me, but in the case of the homeowner, we don't know that the rifle was "stored" per se. It could have been his ready reaction rifle that he kept by his bed or behind a door. He very well may have stored the rifle with the ammo given that the rifle doesn't appear to have been locked in a safe. And yes, if the ammo was with the rifle, the perp might have taken the time to load it.

 

[TCB in TN]

Don't care whether a gun was stored or not, if a guy points a gun at you, do you really want to take the chance that it is loaded?

Just another instance where it shows that if you don't wanna get shot, then don't break into other people's houses and steal stuff!

 

[LaEscopeta]

If I invited you into my home last week, and last night you broke in to steal my rifle, that doesn't make you any less guilty.

No, it does not make the shootee/thief any more or less guilty. But it may (repeat may) indicate more maybe going on than the newspaper article would indicate, that may or may not have a bearing on the innocence of the shooter/homeowner. i.e. Two criminals have a falling out and one shoots the other, claiming he shootee broke into the shooters house. The shootee does not say anything to the police because he is a criminal and figures he will settle the score himself when released. Not saying this is the case for the situation in this thread, but this is the kind to possiblilty the police should investigate enough to eliminate.

 

[Old Guy]

Police are simple beings

911 what is your emergency? "I just shot a burglar in my house" Are you injured sir? "No" can you wait outside for the Officers, not with a gun in your hand!? "yes ma rm"

Police find gun on ground previously reported stolen, shot kid in house, off to fix up place, warrant obtained, stolen goods recovered, lots!

Individual in Hospital, at 20 years of age, a convicted felon, HULLO!

There are question here? Sure!