If reported correctly, chock one up for the good guys!

[txwhitetail]

Prayers up for all involved. As for the grandfather's comment, I will say I don't have anything in my house anybody needs to break into and get killed over! If it's not your house stay out!

Yep

[kumathebear]

You come in my house I assume you mean to do me, my family, Kuma "deadly harm."
I return the "favor" before you can...nuff said!

[Draco]

You come in my house I assume you mean to do me, my family, Kuma "deadly harm."
I return the "favor" before you can...nuff said!

Deadly harm to Kuma? Has he gotten too old to bite an arm off?

[47]

"We don't even think Cameron was in the house in there," says Craigen. "We come to find out there was two other kids with them and they had masks on. We're thinking Cameron was out standing by the road watching out for them."


.

So now he was just the lookout? I thought he was a good kid, and din du nuffin.

[Uncle Saggy]

Sad thing for sure. My son is the same age and knew this boy. He apparently loved to fish. I cant help but wonder what would make him do such a stupid thing. The homeowner had every right to shoot him and I would have done the same thing.

No doubt that is a sad deal all around. To answer your question of what would make him do such a stupid thing...... My guess would be something drug related.

If I encounter a masked intruder in my home, especially in the dark of night..... That person will be shot until dead, unless they get the draw on me first. Either way, one of us will end up at the morgue

[Beleg]

Prayers for all involved, the family that lost the 16 year old and the family that were the victims of the intrusion. Both have to live with the outcome.

It's a risky decision to attempt to confront an intruder even in your own home. A gun fight in the dark could end badly for the homeowner and that could leave the family unprotected? What kind of criminal breaks into a occupied home at night? The professional thief comes in the daylight with a truck and waits until your not at home and then takes everything. They're not looking for a confrontation with the homeowner and they're in and out in a short time. To me, the night time intruder is much more dangerous. Likely a drug addict that is willing to take risks and even do harm to fund a drug habit. My primary concern in a home intruder situation is to protect my family first, my property second. I can't protect my family if the intruder takes me out. A better tactic than confronting the intruder would be to first make sure all family members are gathered together and secure then hunker down well armed in a defensible position, like in a bedroom at the end of a hallway, call 911, and let the police search and clear the house. Hopefully the intruder will have fled while I'm doing this. If the intruder is bent on harming me or mine and not just thievery, then I’ll be ready to deal with the threat with lethal force from a place of my choosing. The intruder will enter my kill zone. There are no guarantees of surviving a gun fight in the dark even in my own home. A gun fight puts everyone at risk including family members and neighbors. Walls are thin and bullets have been known to penetrate several. I'm responsible for every bullet fired from my weapon from the muzzle to the end point. If I decide to confront the intruder and try to clear the house with a flashlight or weapon light, I give my position away to any intruders. Yet I have to illuminate the intruder to be sure of my target before pulling the trigger. If I give the intruder the advantage then my tactics suck. If there’s more than one armed intruder, I'm out gunned and I may focus on the one while the other takes me out. If I'm DRT, what happens to my family? It’s a risky business for sure to confront an intruder.

[JSAPP]

Prayers for all involved, the family that lost the 16 year old and the family that were the victims of the intrusion. Both have to live with the outcome.

It's a risky decision to attempt to confront an intruder even in your own home. A gun fight in the dark could end badly for the homeowner and that could leave the family unprotected? What kind of criminal breaks into a occupied home at night? The professional thief comes in the daylight with a truck and waits until your not at home and then takes everything. They're not looking for a confrontation with the homeowner and they're in and out in a short time. To me, the night time intruder is much more dangerous. Likely a drug addict that is willing to take risks and even do harm to fund a drug habit. My primary concern in a home intruder situation is to protect my family first, my property second. I can't protect my family if the intruder takes me out. A better tactic than confronting the intruder would be to first make sure all family members are gathered together and secure then hunker down well armed in a defensible position, like in a bedroom at the end of a hallway, call 911, and let the police search and clear the house. Hopefully the intruder will have fled while I'm doing this. If the intruder is bent on harming me or mine and not just thievery, then I’ll be ready to deal with the threat with lethal force from a place of my choosing. The intruder will enter my kill zone. There are no guarantees of surviving a gun fight in the dark even in my own home. A gun fight puts everyone at risk including family members and neighbors. Walls are thin and bullets have been known to penetrate several. I'm responsible for every bullet fired from my weapon from the muzzle to the end point. If I decide to confront the intruder and try to clear the house with a flashlight or weapon light, I give my position away to any intruders. Yet I have to illuminate the intruder to be sure of my target before pulling the trigger. If I give the intruder the advantage then my tactics suck. If there’s more than one armed intruder, I'm out gunned and I may focus on the one while the other takes me out. If I'm DRT, what happens to my family? It’s a risky business for sure to confront an intruder.

Well said. Most won't be able to swallow their pride and say this is the best way to deal with an intruder, but the logic is sound. Many folks wil say they have the right to protect their property with deadly force if needed. Which is correct, but not the smartest way to protect your family. Truth is, if you've never been faced with a life or death, shoot or don't shoot situation, then you have no idea how you will react. You can hope and prepare best you can, but you just don't know what you're capable of.

[tvc184]

A better tactic than confronting the intruder would be to first make sure all family members are gathered together and secure then hunker down well armed in a defensible position, like in a bedroom at the end of a hallway, call 911, and let the police search and clear the house. Hopefully the intruder will have fled while I'm doing this. If the intruder is bent on harming me or mine and not just thievery, then I’ll be ready to deal with the threat with lethal force from a place of my choosing. The intruder will enter my kill zone.

I have no clue how many people are in your family or how they are scattered through the house. I think it would be next to impossible to gather anyone at any location once an intruder has made entry.

Short of a husband and wife being in the same room, hunkering down with a family seems like a great idea that can never happen in the real world.

[Lungbustr]

Seems simple to me. Find an intruder in the house, weapon light on, sight picture, bang, bang, bang. Of course if it's contact distance, or enough light we can bypass sight picture or weapon light. There won't be any talking once someone forces entry into my home.

[Backwoods101]

Prayers for all involved, the family that lost the 16 year old and the family that were the victims of the intrusion. Both have to live with the outcome.

It's a risky decision to attempt to confront an intruder even in your own home. A gun fight in the dark could end badly for the homeowner and that could leave the family unprotected? What kind of criminal breaks into a occupied home at night? The professional thief comes in the daylight with a truck and waits until your not at home and then takes everything. They're not looking for a confrontation with the homeowner and they're in and out in a short time. To me, the night time intruder is much more dangerous. Likely a drug addict that is willing to take risks and even do harm to fund a drug habit. My primary concern in a home intruder situation is to protect my family first, my property second. I can't protect my family if the intruder takes me out. A better tactic than confronting the intruder would be to first make sure all family members are gathered together and secure then hunker down well armed in a defensible position, like in a bedroom at the end of a hallway, call 911, and let the police search and clear the house. Hopefully the intruder will have fled while I'm doing this. If the intruder is bent on harming me or mine and not just thievery, then I’ll be ready to deal with the threat with lethal force from a place of my choosing. The intruder will enter my kill zone. There are no guarantees of surviving a gun fight in the dark even in my own home. A gun fight puts everyone at risk including family members and neighbors. Walls are thin and bullets have been known to penetrate several. I'm responsible for every bullet fired from my weapon from the muzzle to the end point. If I decide to confront the intruder and try to clear the house with a flashlight or weapon light, I give my position away to any intruders. Yet I have to illuminate the intruder to be sure of my target before pulling the trigger. If I give the intruder the advantage then my tactics suck. If there’s more than one armed intruder, I'm out gunned and I may focus on the one while the other takes me out. If I'm DRT, what happens to my family? It’s a risky business for sure to confront an intruder.

Great post

[Nailhead]

I feel sorry for all involved. Never a good situation. Regardless of why the kid was there, he was there and shouldn't have been. That's the main problem. Had he not been there at someone else's home in the middle of the night this wouldn't have happened. I can understand the family of the deceased being upset and in denial. But truth of the matter is, the kid made a mistake and unfortunately it was a fatal one. It only takes one mistake to cost your life! And I am sorry, but ANYONE who enters someone else's home unannounced and uninvited knows and has checked the box that says "I understand I may not come out of this alive". I don't care if they are just there to look around and don't take a thing and are buck naked with their hands tied. If you are in someones home unannounced and uninvited, you are in the wrong and you have chosen that the risk is worth losing your life over. There is no questions about it. Whether you agree or disagree, they know the risk when they enter the home and they chose to roll the dice.

I also feel for the shooter. It's bad enough he has to deal with the fact that he had to pull the trigger on someone. Then they did end up dead, and it just so happened to be a kid. Talk about a total mind ****. That guy will have nightmares for years.

[fishingsetx]

Prayers for all involved, the family that lost the 16 year old and the family that were the victims of the intrusion. Both have to live with the outcome.

It's a risky decision to attempt to confront an intruder even in your own home. A gun fight in the dark could end badly for the homeowner and that could leave the family unprotected? What kind of criminal breaks into a occupied home at night? The professional thief comes in the daylight with a truck and waits until your not at home and then takes everything. They're not looking for a confrontation with the homeowner and they're in and out in a short time. To me, the night time intruder is much more dangerous. Likely a drug addict that is willing to take risks and even do harm to fund a drug habit. My primary concern in a home intruder situation is to protect my family first, my property second. I can't protect my family if the intruder takes me out. A better tactic than confronting the intruder would be to first make sure all family members are gathered together and secure then hunker down well armed in a defensible position, like in a bedroom at the end of a hallway, call 911, and let the police search and clear the house. Hopefully the intruder will have fled while I'm doing this. If the intruder is bent on harming me or mine and not just thievery, then I’ll be ready to deal with the threat with lethal force from a place of my choosing. The intruder will enter my kill zone. There are no guarantees of surviving a gun fight in the dark even in my own home. A gun fight puts everyone at risk including family members and neighbors. Walls are thin and bullets have been known to penetrate several. I'm responsible for every bullet fired from my weapon from the muzzle to the end point. If I decide to confront the intruder and try to clear the house with a flashlight or weapon light, I give my position away to any intruders. Yet I have to illuminate the intruder to be sure of my target before pulling the trigger. If I give the intruder the advantage then my tactics suck. If there’s more than one armed intruder, I'm out gunned and I may focus on the one while the other takes me out. If I'm DRT, what happens to my family? It’s a risky business for sure to confront an intruder.

With my wife and I being on the opposite side of the house from my 3 year old son and the living room and kitchen being in between, other than making sure any pass throughs or misses don't enter his room (it is 90 degrees from where the engagement would happen) I would have no choice but to engage. To gather everyone together would require myself and wife or my son to pass through the living room and kitchen where it is most likely to confront anyone in the house. From a strategic standpoint, it would be better for them to stay put and me to confront the perp. Otherwise, my son could be in danger. Every situation is different and you should plan accordingly. We have a plan in place to prevent my wife from being struck by stray bullets and trust me, no one would want to enter the area she would be in! Perfect cover and we'll armed. As I said, my son is at a 90 degree angle from where any shots would be traveling and has been coached to take cover in the safest place possible if there are loud noises in the house putting walls, funature, etc between him and the rest of the house.

Now if my son is in our room or we have time to get him to our room safely, no one will be entering our bedroom and coming out on the winning side of things. Everything else is replaceable and in that situation, it would be better to hunker down from a defensive position.

I have no clue how many people are in your family or how they are scattered through the house. I think it would be next to impossible to gather anyone at any location once an intruder has made entry.

Short of a husband and wife being in the same room, hunkering down with a family seems like a great idea that can never happen in the real world.

This is the case in our situation. No chance to hunker down with the family in the middle of the night. No choice but to engage. I may not come out on the winning side but I can promise, with the close ranges involved, I will most likely be eliminating the threat in the process. My main concern in that situation would be the safety of my family before my personal safety.

You can't plan for all situations and the goal is to minimize risk. Short of everyone being in the same room and having a fortified safe room to enter, you can never eliminate all risk in a situation like this. You have to do the best you can in with the cards you are dealt!

[K-Train]

If reported correctly, chock one up for the good guys!

This happened in the town I teach in. I coached the kid personally in football the last two years and knew of the shooter also. Situations like this make you see things a little different when it's people you know and the place you live. I wouldn't think much of it if it had i read it in the New York Times about total strangers

I don't understand it, nor do I know all the details of what actually happened, but nonetheless it is a sad deal for everyone. Regardless of who's right or wrong, I don't think anybody wants someone to die, especially a 16 year old kid. The shooter has every right and is justified, but he still has to live with it and know that was a life that could have been turned around someday. I feel for him. Truthfully, The family of the burglar would probably do the exact same had someone broken into their house. They may know their kid was in the wrong, but they still have to live without him now. Nobody wins in these situations.

Say a prayer for the both families involved, and use this as a teaching moment for your kids as we have. Think before you act. Bad decisions have bad consequences. Pray the good lord takes it from here

[Speedgoat]

Prayers lifted. I am conflicted.

[Kaycee11]

This happened in the town I teach in. I coached the kid personally in football the last two years and knew of the shooter also. I don't understand why nor do I know all the details of what actually happened, but nonetheless it is a sad deal for everyone. Regardless of who's right or wrong, I don't think anybody wants someone to die, especially a 16 year old kid. The shooter has every right and is justified, but he still has to live with it and know that was a life that could have been turned around someday. The family of the burglar would probably do the exact same had someone broken into their house. They may know their kid was in the wrong, but they still have to live without him now. Nobody wins in these situations.

Say a prayer for the both families involved, and use this as a teaching moment for your kids as we have. Think before you act. Bad decisions have bad consequences. Pray the good lord takes it from here

This is very well put. I agree with you