CANYON COUNTRY, CALIFORNIA — An apartment tenant is in custody pending the results of the Santa Clara sheriff’s office in connection with the shooting of a home invader. The suspect was reportedly shot five or six times and was found deceased by law enforcement upon arrival. The renter reported the shooting to police but still had his gun confiscated and was detained by authorities.
According to CBS Los Angeles, neighbors reported that they heard gun shots but no one knows the motivations of the man who attempted to enter the tenant’s apartment.
“It was probably five or six shots like dah, dah, dah, dah, and then it stopped. And then from there I kind went outside and uh, what’s going on?” said one neighbor to CBS Los Angeles.
“I was a little scared. I didn’t think it was actual gunshots. I just thought it was fireworks so I was a little confused,” said anther neighbor.
To be honest, it’s kinda crappy that a guy defending himself in his own apartment is going to get his gun taken by civil forfeiture and held in custody. He shouldn’t have to defend his actions in the event he did not give permission to the other party to enter his apartment. If that doesn’t turn out to be the case, then by all means — but that’s called evidence. And, at the time of this report, there was no evidence to indicate the man in question had acted outside the due boundaries of self defense.
It’s just another example of how some states arbitrarily set the limits on acceptable use of deadly force. Apparently, in California, self defense inside one’s own home — leased or owned — isn’t a good enough motive.
That said, I’d rather have to surrender up my home defense handgun to police than have a criminal take it from me because I was afraid of defending my own life. Truly unfortunate. I hope this gets resolved quickly.