PINE HILLS, FLORIDA — We’ve seen an uptick of Florida Man stories lately, and here we are again. This one comes out of Pine Hills. If the comment section of the source article is any indication, this kind of thing is not surprising to Pine Hill locals.
A man climbing through a window into an Orange County apartment was shot and wounded by a resident, deputies said. The shooting was reported at 1:54 a.m. in the 2000 block of North Pine Hills Road in Pine Hills.
Via ClickOrlando
According to the Orange County Sheriff’s Office, deputies were called to the home and the resident said he saw a man climbing through a window. The resident fired at the suspected burglar, who was apprehended by deputies, the Sheriff’s Office said.
The man who was shot was taken to a hospital to get treated for his wounds.
The Breakdown:
It’s about two in the morning and a resident in the apartment hears something from another room. He goes to investigate and finds someone attempting to climb through his window. In response, the resident draws his firearm and shoots the person in the window.
The police arrive, and the would-be burglar is taken to the hospital to treat his wounds.
What Would You Have Done?
Let’s place ourselves in this situation for a moment. You’re asleep, and you hear a noise from another room. You take your firearm with you to go and investigate. When you locate the noise, you find someone trying to get through a window in your home. What do you do?
In this particular case, the resident fired his gun and shot the person trying to get in. Obviously, there were other options available to the resident. That doesn’t mean that shooting the would-be burglar was wrong, but let’s look at some other possible options.
The resident could have alerted the intruder that he was aware of their presence. Sometimes these sneaks run for it once they have been caught. They thrive on stealth and going unnoticed. It’s possible the intruder could have reversed course and just left.
The resident might have also warned the intruder by pointing the gun at him and ordering him to leave. Going beyond alerting the intruder, this puts a direct threat on the intruder and incentivizes him to get out of there.
Additionally, the resident could have held the intruder at gun point and called the police to come and make an arrest. So what would you have done? What other options might the resident have had?
In the end, this was a good self defense shoot and the police are not pressing charges. It was prudent for the resident to be armed while investigating the noise, and taking quick action when he identified a threat.
