Police kill homeowner who shot intruder to protect his family after seeing him holding a gun

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Tragic but hopefully people can learn from this. Two things immediately come to mind.


1.) If you are the one who shot and called 911 let the 911 dispatcher know that and that you have a gun, your description, and that you are the home owner.

The dispatcher will most likely advise you to put the gun down long before police arrive.

If the suspect is still a threat and in the home and you are keeping him at bay also let the police know that. The dispatcher will also tell you to put the gun down once police arrive.

2.) If you are not the 911 caller but police arrive because someone else called once the police arrive put the gun down and your hands up. Or whatever the police advise.

No matter who called 911, once police arrive, do what they say and hopefully things will work out.


Had a friend in who had a very similar situation minus the shooting someone part and officers ordered him to throw the gun down when he arrived, he was the 911 caller. He told them with his hands, gun, and phone in the air, "This is an expensive gun, I will put it down but I'm not throwing it down." The officers allowed him to place it on the table and back away and everything worked out luckily.



http://dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6009103/Police-suburban-Denver-kill-resident-shot-intruder.html




'He was a grandpa protecting his family': Police kill homeowner who shot intruder to protect his family after seeing him holding a gun

By ASSOCIATED PRESS and HANNAH PARRY FOR DAILYMAIL.COM

PUBLISHED: 20:42 EDT, 30 July 2018

Cops gunned down a grandfather in his own home after he shot an intruder and called the police.

Aurora police received multiple calls about a break-in at the suburban Denver home at about 1.30am on Monday.
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Tragic indeed. I'll be interested to hear more details.

Cops heard the shot so I'd imagine they came in pretty quick after. No telling what state of mind the defender was in when the cops came through the door. According to the article the cops were already there when the shooting happened, I'm really interested in how much time passed from the time of shots until they came in.

Sounds like the perfect storm timing wise.
 
And THIS is precisely just one example of why calling 911 may not be the wisest thing to do if you suspect or actually have intruders in your home. At least not initially.
 
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RPZ said:
And THIS is precisely just one example of why calling 911 may not be the wisest thing to do if you suspect or actually have intruders in your home. At least not initially.
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Agree. Just make 911 is your first call and not a lawyer or your friend who's a cop. lol
 
Mmmmmm, have a bit of experience with part of this scenario:

15 years ago, I came home from my bar job at 3AM, on my motorcycle, to find my front door kicked in and all the house lights on. I lived alone, out of town a bit and (at the time) without any close neighbors. I knew that if the intruders were still in the home, they would have heard and seen me coming and could have been preparing to rush me at any moment.

I retreated to and took cover behind my bike which was still in the driveway and got my .380 Mustang from the stowage compartment under the seat where I kept it while riding- carrying concealed on a bike is a legal grey area here in FL and could get you jammed up if the DA is feeling froggy that day. The underseat box was lockable and clearly met the "securely encased" statute we have here.

I covered the front door while dialing 911 on my flip phone (!). The operator dispatched Sheriff's Deputies and advised me to leave, but I told her I wasn't abandoning my position as there was no other cover within sprinting distance except the house itself and I wasn't going that way! I gave her my general description, what I was wearing, and informed her that I was armed with a handgun.

As the first Deputy on the scene came up the road slowly with his lights out and stopped at the end of the driveway, I slipped the Mustang into my jacket pocket and walked over to him, my hands clearly visible. He asked me if I was the homeowner and if I was armed, to which I replied yes on both accounts and told him my pistol was in my pocket. He asked me to put my hands on the trunk of his car and frisked me, then removed my gun and put it on the passenger seat of his cruiser. Then we waited there for three more Deputies to arrive, who cleared the house and confirmed the scumbags were gone. One Sheriff remained outside with me.

Once they checked my ID and concealed permit, and did some paperwork, they returned my gun- unloaded- and wished me good luck.

All in all, they were very professional. A bad night for sure, but could have been much worse.
 
Just avoid interacting with cops, for any reason. Especially if its a tense or potentially dangerous situation.
Sometimes it's unavoidable, and sometimes the cops are awesome guys (just like us). But sometimes they shoot mindlessly at anything that might kind of resemble something that could possibly be mistaken for a vague threat, or something. At least they didn't shoot him in the back, did they?
I feel like we should hold LEOs to a much higher standard, but they are people, after all.
 
This is very unfortunate, but probably could have been easily avoided.

Feel bad for the families of the deceased.
 
DeadFlies said:
Just avoid interacting with cops, for any reason. Especially if its a tense or potentially dangerous situation.
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Not really relevant, not ways possible.

There is not enough information yet for anyone to draw any real conclusions. Undoubtedly there'll be numerous reenactments to help give some answers.

There are a few truths that we can hold to be self-evident:
  • A sworn officer who hears gunfire in a house is duty bound to investigate it--without delay.
  • Entering the house necessarily involves danger.
  • Said officer should certainly expect that he or she is very likely to encounter some real trouble.
  • That the man with the gun may be a "good guy" is not known to anyone at the time--except to himself.
  • When an officer, or anyone else, encounters a man who is holding a firearm after there has been shooting in a house, there will be absolutely no time to lose before acting--except in screen fiction.
Realistically speaking, it one happens to be holding a gun in a situation that is likely to involve immediate intervention by law enforcement officer, one can expect to be shot.

The best way to avoid it is to put down the gun--very quickly.
 
Being shot is more expensive than the gun being dropped. I've run some exercises in Mas' class and elsewhere. If you don't drop the gun immediately, you can quickly shoot the officer as you slowly seem to be putting the gun down. Thus, I would expect immediate compliance to drop the gun and want NO discussion. You are foolish not to comply. As said, if you can secure the gun before contact with the officer do it.
 
Similar experience as NIGHTLORD40K.

Sleeping when I was awakened by someone coming into my bedroom window. Called 911 and took cover in the bathroom. When the officers arrived the 911 operator who stayed on the phone with me told me there was an office at the door, gave me the officers name, which the officer identified as, told me not to open the door with my gun in hand. I laid the pistol on a table and opened the door enough to catch it with my foot and leaving my hands in plain view opened the door all the way. The officer never once even mentioned the gun.
 
Well, my SD guns are supposed to be drop safe. I grant you some aren't. However, I'd put it down as fast as I can and no speeches about it being expensive.

Dropping a Glock or SW revolver should be OK. A P320?
 
The homeowner made mistakes, or he would almost surely be alive.

You have to understand the cops responding have no idea who the bad guy is, who you are, or what either of you look like, they also don't know if a clever bad guy will be acting as if he is the good guy, then capping them when they let down their guard.

Don't be stupid, be ready for them to arrive in "go" mode. Prepare accordingly.

Tragic, no doubt, but you have to be smarter than that.
 
Walkalong said:
The homeowner made mistakes, or he would almost surely be alive.

You have to understand the cops responding have no idea who the bad guy is, who you are, or what either of you look like, they also don't know if a clever bad guy will be acting as if he is the good guy, then capping them when they let down their guard.

Don't be stupid, be ready for them to arrive in "go" mode. Prepare accordingly.

Tragic, no doubt, but you have to be smarter than that.
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I have been in many homes after a break in or intrusion. Very traumatizing to say the least. And then to have a shooting. Not sure everyone stays level headed. It is always wise to have a plan. One which the whole family is on the same page.
 
Tommygunn said:
What would you do in a situation in which you and an armed intruder were each aiming guns at each other in a "Mexican Standoff" type situation, and the police entered the house?
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There would be no standoff.

Somebody points a gun at me, other than law enforcement, I'm shooting them. Whether they fire back is their problem.
 
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Walkalong said:
You have to understand the cops responding have no idea who the bad guy is, who you are, or what either of you look like, they also don't know if a clever bad guy will be acting as if he is the good guy, then capping them when they let down their guard.

Don't be stupid, be ready for them to arrive in "go" mode. Prepare accordingly.
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Very well put indeed.
 
DeadFlies said:
Just avoid interacting with cops, for any reason. Especially if its a tense or potentially dangerous situation.
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This is the exact advice my BIL gives me and he's a sargent of detectives with the state police.

He also tells me to never make any statements at all if I'm ever involved in an incident or arrested... as in NEVER!
 
SSN Vet said:
Since when is "making mistakes" a capitol offense?
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It isn't. But mistakes can result in death or crippling injury.

SSN Vet said:
I'm about as pro-police as you can get (blue family members) but these officers need to be held accountable.
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Accountable? We do not yet know if any of them did anything wrong--at all.

SSN Vet said:
He also tells me to never make any statements at all if I'm ever involved in an incident or arrested... as in NEVER!
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That's generally pretty good advice, but in the event that you have injured or killed someone and intend to mount a defense of justification, it can prevent you from succeeding. Plenty of discussion on that here.

https://www.thehighroad.org/index.php?threads/what-to-do-after-a-self-defense-encounter.589272/

Of course, it has absolutely nothing to do with the case at hand. This man's "interaction" involved having a gun in his hand when police arrived at the scene of a shooting.
 
SSN Vet said:
Since when is "making mistakes" a capitol offense?

I'm about as pro-police as you can get (blue family members) but these officers need to be held accountable.
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I made no comment about accountability at all, I merely made the point that mistakes were made by the homeowner, and that it almost surely made the difference between survival and being killed. Whether or not the cops made mistakes or should be held accountable will be the job of those who investigate these things. I have no idea what happened there, only the obvious that the homeowner made mistakes that cost him his life.
 
DeadFlies said:
Just avoid interacting with cops, for any reason....
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If you use force in what you will claim is self defense you will not be able to avoid interacting with police. If you report a crime of violence at your residence you will not be able to avoid interacting with police

DeadFlies said:
...sometimes they shoot mindlessly at anything that might kind of resemble something that could possibly be mistaken for a vague threat, or something....
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How is a man with a gun a vague threat when responding to a "man with gun, shots fired" call? And of course the news article possibly left information out. For example, did the responding officer give the man with the gun instructions with which he did not immediately comply?

Note also that the source, a UK news outlet, has in the past slanted firearms stories in a negative way. Obviously the intended lesson here is that a private citizen should not have a gun to defend his home with.

But we need to understand that when officers respond to a violent crime scene, they do not know who the good guy is or who the bad guy is. You might have been defending yourself, but you don't have a "certified good guy" neon sign on your forehead.
 
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