Man wards off Sexual Offender with shots fired.

[Guest Guy N. Cognito]

Precisely. Personally I like to ocassionally display one of my bullet riddled beer kegs on a stump in the front yard. The image itself speaks volumes.

Yes, it does.

[Guest Jamie]

Had to do something.

Actually, in this instance... no you didn't.

Your wife and daughter were trespassing. And just because the guy was on a sexual offender list doesn't give you or anybody else reason to trespass, make threats, or commit verbal assault.

The better plan would have been to tell your wife and kid to stay off his/their property.

Obviously me calling the police would have been the prudent thing to do.

Not really.

Since you, your wife and your daughter were the ones who weren't where you had a right to be, and you were the one making threats, that call, had the police shown up, probably wouldn't have gone in a way you'd have been happy with.

It may have been a violation of his parole to be out at dusk or threaten people.

I'm not trying to defend a sexual predator here but... he was the one at home, where he belonged. And although I missed the part where he made any threats, I did see where you did. "Freeze, you're trespassing" isn't exactly a threat... especially if you are. "A good cussing and threats of beatings and worse", on the other hand, is.

At least have a record of the call. My wife had talked to the Chief when they first moved in, he said anything thing they do could be seen as harassment if they did not have something specific to go on.

Again, I don't see where this person did anything wrong. I can see where your paranoia caused you to though.

But yes defiantly lucky, by the time I got to the house I was raging and getting shot was not something I was thinking. Pulling that sob out of the house was about it. The dad did step out with me and was very apologetic and quickly calmed me down. I got mad after I left because he did it so easily, he has probably done it several times.

Shot, sued, arrested... yep, there's a long list of things that could've happened to you.

Unfortunately, you have to wait until people actually do something wrong, unprovoked, before you can do what you did. In this case, given what you've described, I just don't see where you had any right or reason to behave the way you did.

Sorry.

Again they knew someone was right behind them that would do anything to protect his family, even irrational, stupid, and not well thought out things.

Yeah, the irrational and stupid was probably pretty easy to see.

Again, I'm not trying to defend a criminal or predator, but it sounds like you really over-reacted on this one, and could have set yourself up for all sorts of trouble that would have been hard to defend against.

[Guest Guy N. Cognito]

I'd say you're lucky they didn't shoot you. That would have been quite the assortment of charges you'd have racked up there.

I was thinking the same thing. Even ex-cons have the right to private property.

[Mechanic_X]

I agree with everything said, mostly. Technically they were walking through the city right of way that is a storm water run off. Again this is a quiet neighborhood with kids running everywhere and these idiots move their animal cruelty(among other things) son right in the middle of it.

Still better than lighting of a few 12 guage rounds...Right?

[Guest Jamie]

Still better than lighting of a few 12 guage rounds...Right?

Firing a gun on your own property and at NO ONE ( and with a safe backstop like... the Earth?...) is a lot different than going to someone's house, pounding on their door, then threatening them.

[Mechanic_X]

Bottom line is my family knows if they are threatened I will react, possibly quite stupidly and be lucky of the outcome, but react none the less. Neighbors know where I stand. If I see the old man out tomorrow I may walk over and have an actual chat. It has been about two years now. Time to clear the air.

[Fallguy]

Precisely. Personally I like to ocassionally display one of my bullet riddled beer kegs on a stump in the front yard. The image itself speaks volumes.

Tells me I missed the party....

[Guest Jamie]

Bottom line is my family knows if they are threatened I will react, possibly quite stupidly and be lucky of the outcome, but react none the less. Neighbors know where I stand. If I see the old man out tomorrow I may walk over and have an actual chat. It has been about two years now. Time to clear the air.

The problem being, reacting, after-the-fact, and doing something that could remove you from your family isn't exactly a good way of protecting them.

Better to be proactive, and find ways to let the rest of the world know you're not a defenseless sheep, but by the same token not prone to fly off the handle and over-react to the slightest thing.

Yes, talk to your neighbors and let them know where you and they both stand. Do it in a rational, thinking manner, and force them to react to you. Also, teach your family to avoid known hazards - such as criminals, etc. - even when it's a bit inconvenient. That's always a better course of action than risking your own skin because you let an emotional reaction get the better of you.

ETA - I meant to mention this earlier: It's my understanding that a person can still be guilty of trespass, if they're on another person's property, even if they are in a state, county, or other right-of-way. The property owner still owns that portion of the property, but a certain agency or agencies have a right to access it for official purposes. It's not an open-ended invitation to anybody who wants to use the land or property.

Edited October 9, 2010 by Jamie