KING COUNTY, WASHINGTON — Local law enforcement had failed to retrieve a woman’s stolen property even after she accrued evidence of where the items were located. She decided to round up a posse, head to the known location of the stolen goods, and send her friends in to retrieve them.
One of her friends was armed with a gun.
When they arrived at the trailer at 1:30 a.m., police say that the gun owner crawled in through a window and opened the trailer door for his accomplices to enter. When the homeowner heard sounds of a break-in, he awoke and got a gun for his own personal protection.
He arrived in the living room to find two men inside — one of them was the alleged gun owner.The gun owner shot the occupant twice before fleeing. Police caught up to him and now he’s being charged with first-degree assault and first-degree burglary. His bail is set at $250,000 according to charging papers sourced in the Seattle Times.
The alleged stolen items may have indeed been stolen but without any evidence, what transpired was completely criminal. A gun owner has no right to enter another man’s home, armed, and shoot him for trying to defend himself.
If you think someone stole your goods and the police won’t return them, consult with an attorney and pursue it through civil court.
As for this gun owner, I’m calling his actions negligent, criminal, and irresponsible. He doesn’t reflect the merit or nature of the average gun owner I’ve encountered.
We don’t take the law into our own hands. We defend our lives from imminent threats. We defend our family from the same. This guy is going to be in jail for awhile.
As for the man who was shot, his girlfriend drove him to the hospital and it is believed he is recovering from his wounds. He sticks by his story that he purchased the supposedly stolen items from an unnamed private party.
Guess what? Without evidence, that’s the story the police are going to go with. We’re a nation of laws and presumed innocence before guilt. It’s the reason why we have inalienable rights that we can uphold and defend in our constitution. Carry responsibly.