MILTON, PENNSYLVANIA — In perhaps one of the weirdest attempted home invasions of 2017, a machete-wielding man attempted to clear open the front door of a complete stranger’s house. When his machete proved to be ineffectual against the front door, he found a pane of glass and smashed it apart with his machete. The homeowner, probably fearing for his life, got out his .22 LR pistol and fired one shot at the suspect.
According to testimony at the arraignment hearing, the suspect was flabbergasted that the homeowner would attempt to shoot him.
via the Daily Item News
“You shot me!” Gary Gonzalez reportedly yelled, arrest papers state. However, the homeowner told police he may have grazed him at worst.
And, indeed, medical examination of Gonzalez concluded he only suffered superficial injuries likely caused from the broken glass of the window he smashed open. No signs of a gunshot wound were apparent on him.
The next humorous part is when Gonzalez must now be arraigned. The bail was set to $200,000 cash.
h/t the Daily Item News
Gary Gonzalez, 54, of Milton, is jailed on $200,000 cash bail on felony attempted burglary and related charges following arraignment Wednesday afternoon by Magisterial District Judge Michael Diehl.
“Why so high?” Gonzalez asked at arraignment.
“It’s a serious charge, sir,” Diehl replied.
“Wow,” Gonzalez whispered before saying more loudly, “I’m never getting out.”
It’s like this guy didn’t even realize that his actions would be interpreted as dangerous or threatening. How in the world someone could live over a half a century and not figure out that wielding a machete while trying to break into someone’s home by force could be interpreted as threatening behavior.
If anything, I guess I’d applaud the homeowner in this situation. He obviously had no clue that Gonzalez was short more than a few cards from his deck. Once a single shot from his pistol was enough to stop Gonzalez from continuing his attempted break-in, he stopped there. That’s neutralizing the opponent.
Despite what a lot of people say, you only need to use deadly force up until the person ceases to be a threat. So, if the bad guy throws down his firearm or weapon, or flees, or in any way stops posing a threat to you — that’s when you stop applying deadly force.
It doesn’t mean you drop your guard or invite the guy in for tea. It just means you don’t need to apply deadly force any more.
Once Gonzalez realized there would be real life-or-death consequences to him continuing, he immediately waited for police to take him. Good enough.
Now, 2017 is just beginning so I have high hopes we’ll get something even wilder than this before the year is through. But, given the nature of this case, I’d say 2017 is off to a weird start.
