Burglars shot in East Nashville this morning

[EastHipster]

Sounds like the homeowner could get in trouble.

Let's hope not.

And for the record...on two occasions I have lost my cool and chased burglars outside of my house and luckily I didn't have a gun then and didn't catch them.

So I'm not 'preaching' against the homeowner.

Just saying we need to be careful

http://m.wsmv.com/w/main/story/53323185/

On the clinical side...would be interesting to know what his Shotgun loads were as it sounds like he missed/didn't stop them firing two rounds while they were crawling through a window.

Edited February 5, 2012 by EastHipster

[Fallguy]

Sounds like he may have been ok up to the point of shooting at the truck driver.

However he if can show any kind of reasonable fear, which he may very well easily can do, he should be ok there too.

[Guest NYCrulesU]

Not sure how things will play out for the home owner...but...IF it were up to me...looks good. No harm, no foul. Crooks and thugs need to get the message, one way or the other.

[JGunner]

I know that if someone had just tried to rob me, and then came right back after they had ran off (i.e. the guy in the pickup truck) I would be pretty scared that he might try something, and therefore fearful for my life.

[DaveTN]

Shooting the pick-up driver in the head while he was fleeing will likely be a problem. Especially when he claims he was not one of the burglars.

I can remember in Illinois when we could shoot fleeing burglars; stop or die. But the good ole days are gone.

[Dennis1209]

IMO, if you break into my house and then return, something inside me tends to think it's not for my benefit. Would I be scared and in fear for my life against two BG'S, damn tooten. Would being a victim of such a violation of your sanctuary trigger a vigilante response? In me, you bet your bippy! Would a cool head and common sense prevail? Unless you want to personally MEAT Bubba in person, you better hope so...

A home invasion no doubt will trigger fear, panic, revenge, hatred, and action all at the same moment.

If I were on this guys jury of twelve, the worst possible outcome would be a hung jury and the best would be Jury Nullification. It's time to stop giving criminals more rights than their victims and give them a taste of their own medicine.

Should criminals be treated like humans caught in the act of a violent crime or in prison? Or treated like an animal?

IMO, a human possess's and exercises compassion, empathy, respect, logical reasoning, love, civilized, not voluntarily introduce mind altering drugs into yourself, take personal responsibility for one's own actions and not blame everything else. What separates us from the animals?

Under my impressions of what a human is, are hard-core felons human? Should we take the higher road and be "civilized", show compassion and forgiveness, slap their wrists with three hots and a cot. You tell me...

Soap Box / Off

Edited February 5, 2012 by Dennis1209

[EastHipster]

Sounded to me like he chased them down, subdued one and forced him back to the house.

That's the part I wonder about.

Second guy returned in the truck to help the one that was caught.

That seems like a good reason to be defensive.

[diablo982]

This is a perfect example of when you should give the responding officers a broad overview. "These guys broke into my house and I defended myself." Make no further statements until you have a day or two to collect your thoughts and get legal representation. His story about the pickup truck guy could be problematic. Rest and an attorney could have helped him articulate better.

Edited February 5, 2012 by diablo982

[dats82]

Legal troubles or not, I have to commend the guy. I applaud the fact that he did not just let them get away with it. Was it wise? Not sure, as the story is obviously a bit ambiguous. However, I do believe it will take more of this fighting mentality if all this home invasion crap is ever going to get under control. Too bad he just could not have taken care of both of them as they were coming through the window. If anyone every breaks in my house, I hope to hell I can just drop them where they are; it would be entirely too much work to have to drag their ass back to my house.

[DaveTN]

State law needs to be changed to allow the use of deadly force on fleeing forcible felons.

[Guest NYCrulesU]

Legal troubles or not, I have to commend the guy. I applaud the fact that he did not just let them get away with it. Was it wise? Not sure, as the story is obviously a bit ambiguous. However, I do believe it will take more of this fighting mentality if all this home invasion crap is ever going to get under control. Too bad he just could not have taken care of both of them as they were coming through the window. If anyone every breaks in my house, I hope to hell I can just drop them where they are; it would be entirely too much work to have to drag their ass back to my house.

Perfectly said.

(Psst..careful, there are some here that will claim you advocate murder because of your statement above). Shhh.

[tnhawk]

It appears he needed a better defensive weapon at the time they were breaking into his home. A few rounds of 45 acp might have simplified the problem. Hopefully a good attorney and jury can correct it.

[Guest NYCrulesU]

It appears he needed a better defensive weapon at the time they were breaking into his home. A few rounds of 45 acp might have simplified the problem. Hopefully a good attorney and jury can correct it.

I was thinking lack of training and a weak minset might have been the problem. If you have a shotgun and are in the same room as the BG and can't end him with a center mass shot....well...

[Currently]

I wonder what I would decide if I sat on that homeowner's jury ...

Let us pray that there are several righteous Tennesseans empaneled on that jury.

What is going to suck is his legal costs and bills, it won't be cheap if the DA moves to push this to the grand jury and it passes for trial.

[Mr. Brooks]

I agree with NYC, if the homeowner can't get a vital hit with a shotgun then odds are he would miss all together with a 45. And of course, the 45 isn't the death ray some people seem to think.

I hope the homeowner comes out on top in this situation.

[Makiaveli]

Here's hoping he comes out ok, but isn't chasing them down a no-no? As in they fled the confrontation and he continued it? Not saying he shouldn't have, just trying to get the law straight.

BTW, can you volunteer for jury duty?

[ExMachina]

From the short account:

"once the homeowner caught the man, police said he began striking him with the shotgun."

That's where it all breaks down as the homeowner was evidently no longer in fear for his life. His actions from this point forward are not going to serve him well and he can easily be painted as being a vindictive and overreactive lunatic. There is no mention of the burglars having weapons at any point, and shooting at a guy while he was driving away is at best described as revenge and at worst as reckless endangerment (this happened in an urban neighborhood). Unless there's more to the story, then all three people involved lost.

And in a way, we all loose as this story can easily be viewed as reflecting poorly on the self-control of gun owners

[EastHipster]

From the Mugshot it looks like the burglar only caught a couple of pellets

http://www.police.nashville.org/news/media/2012/02/06a.asp

[TMF]

From the short account:

"once the homeowner caught the man, police said he began striking him with the shotgun."

That's where it all breaks down as the homeowner was evidently no longer in fear for his life. His actions from this point forward are not going to serve him well and he can easily be painted as being a vindictive and overreactive lunatic. There is no mention of the burglars having weapons at any point, and shooting at a guy while he was driving away is at best described as revenge and at worst as reckless endangerment (this happened in an urban neighborhood). Unless there's more to the story, then all three people involved lost.

And in a way, we all loose as this story can easily be viewed as reflecting poorly on the self-control of gun owners

I'm still not seeing ANYTHING about him shooting the driver as he was fleeing. What I read was that he engaged the driver when he RETURNED TO THE SCENE TO GET HIS BUDDY. Sounds like a good shoot to me.

And how 'bout this, I could give a DAMN about how something relfects on the "self-controlled" gun community when I think my life is in danger. So before hanging this guy some of you should consider how you would react in the middle of the night as someone invades your property, then comes back for more.

[Guest PapaB]

You're supposed to be tried by a jury of your peers. If they try the homeowner, the jury should be HCP holders.

Judge: Did the jury reach a verdict?

Foreman: Yes, your honor. We find the prosecutor charged the wrong party.

Edited February 7, 2012 by PapaB

[c.a.willard]

Im not criticizing him, but what the heck was he using in that shotgun, bird shot or something maybe rock salt.

[Guest Lester Weevils]

Unless Old Dad was fibbing, he said that in 1930's AL, if kids happened to get caught sneaking around after dark and stealing out of a watermelon patch, then it was common that a farmer would shoot at them with rock salt. And occasionally hit the mark.

As far as Dad would admit, the extent of juvenile delinquency, at that time and place, was limited to pilfered watermelons and the occasional hard-core antisocial act of pushing over a haystack.

Unfortunately we have bigger fish to fry nowadays.

[JeffL]

I'll take my AR or shotgun over a .45 ACP any day of the week. 30 rounds 60gr TAP in the AR, 9 rounds of 9 pellet high velocity 00 buck in the shotgun. Pistols are for fighting your way to a long gun.

[thefinder808]

Ok so I work in East Nashville at a restaurant and I have a lot of regulars. One of my regulars who works at a local gym and knows just about everyone told me today (before I heard about this story) about how a guy he knows shot a robber. While we can all see the legal problem with the home owner chasing after the fleeing robber and hitting him with his shotgun, what the news story link doesn't go into detail about is (and as I wasn't present I can't swear is the truth) that when the robber in the truck got back into his vehicle after calling for his partner in crime, he tried to run over the home owner as he was hitting the one he caught with his shotgun. The home owner saw the truck with the other robber driving coming toward him and shot him in the head. So, from what I heard, the home owner's life was in danger from the crazy robber trying to run over him. I hope I'm making sense as it's late and my eyes won't stay open. Anyway that's the word on the street in East Nashville from a reliable friend of mine (doesn't mean it's absolutely true).

TheFinder

[ExMachina]

when the robber in the truck got back into his vehicle after calling for his partner in crime, he tried to run over the home owner as he was hitting the one he caught with his shotgun. The home owner saw the truck with the other robber driving coming toward him and shot him in the head. So, from what I heard, the home owner's life was in danger from the crazy robber trying to run over him. I hope I'm making sense as it's late and my eyes won't stay open. Anyway that's the word on the street in East Nashville from a reliable friend of mine (doesn't mean it's absolutely true).

if that rumor is true then that changes everything.

however, as has been pointed out, the police media release says "Mayo started to get out of the truck, [the homeowner] fired two shotgun blasts at him. Mayo was wounded in the head and crashed the truck." it could be that the police are holding back on part of the story until the DA decides what to do.