VANCOUVER, WASHINGTON — A man is dead after police say he was shot by a concealed carrier who found the man sitting inside his vehicle while on a delivery route.
It was a newspaper route and when the armed citizen returned to his vehicle after delivering some papers, he found the man sitting in the vehicle. Police said “at some point, the delivery person shoots the person inside the vehicle.”
The identities of both men have not been made public.
There are a number of things to think about here, and as we don’t know what transpired, we can take some guesses and then determine a proper move by the armed citizen;
- The suspect is going through the vehicle, and there is another firearm in the vehicle. In this case, the armed citizen could fear that the suspect gains access to a firearm inside the vehicle. This would be a pretty clear case for lethal self-defense.
- The suspect has a visible weapon, or threatens that he has a weapon. This is another case where justified use of deadly force would be reasonable.
- The suspect is trying to start the vehicle. Can be murky. A stolen vehicle, which is property, can get dicey when introducing lethal force. Is your life in danger? If you feel the answer is no, it will be likely difficult to convince a jury that the answer is yes.
The list can go on and on, and until we know what happened in this incident, speculation is all we have.
