In respect of all the hypothetical scenarios here I think for the most part everyone is in agreement. If the sister was in what appeared to be danger of(fill in the blank), then the most strategic option would be to defend from inside her house. So an effort to gain ground in her house he would have to leave his and B line for hers being alert and aware of surroundings along the way. The unknown is rather he pursued the offender or encountered him along the way.
There are many unknowns in this case right now, and this is certainly one of them. Sometimes no matter what you do, stuff happens, and in this case it is quite possible that the father happened to encounter his armed, ski-masked son along the way, given where the shooting apparently took place. It seems that in most cases home invaders prefer to use the same entrance most defenders would: the front door. Obviously this makes the probability of encountering bad guys outside pretty high, even if you're just running over real quick.
Rather he was leaving his house undefended or not, I don't now that that would be a concern giving the likelihood of the offender to recognize that he had been discovered and would then turn his attention to a neighboring house. If it was unclear which house was undergoing the attention of the offender,tactically that changes everything.
The best course of action depends on what you know and what you don't know. It also depends on other factors, such as whether your sister and the members of your own household are armed and able to defend themselves, and all of the obvious implications that arise from that knowledge. All I'm really saying, ultimately, is to take a moment to assess and evaluate, rather than charging in right away without thinking--you may have to take risks no matter what, but take the fewest, most acceptable ones rather than doing more than you have to and possibly exposing yourself or others unnecessarily to danger as a result.
It sounds as though it was not a call made due to current forced entry but a sinister looking man outside a window. Would it not have been wise to announce loudly,"Hey, what are you doing? I have called the police,and I am armed!", from inside the house while in contact with the sister after or simultaneously, if plausible with cell and land line,calling the police.
Unless you have an immediate reason to hide, issuing a verbal challenge is generally advisable. Let them know that you're armed and prepared to defend against them, and hopefully they'll get the message and leave. Have your sister shout out the same message, whether it is true or not. Be ready to act quickly, of course, because in this scenario, with an unknown prowler, you don't know what their motivations really are.
If in fact the offender was committing forced entry then the man would be aware the offenders positioning by description of his sister and may have been in line of the quickest available route to the offender.
Right, he might have had no choice if that's what happened. Currently we don't even know how far the offending son had gotten in whatever he was attempting to do, though. If he was kicking the door, then obviously that would be the time for decisive action, come what may.
Which is subject to debate of rather that is sound tactics due to the unknown variables of lighting visibility and so forth. I agree but I would think that it is more likely that the offender is shot by an armed citizen trained for self defense vs and officer trained to diffuse and arrest.
My ultimate goal is to achieve the lowest risk with the smallest level of violence necessary, and this is what police officers are best at, hence all the emphasis on waiting for them in case they arrive on time (while being armed and ready for the worst case scenario, of course). Even if we disregard training, the mere sight of a patrol vehicle, uniform, and badge has an immediate effect in most (albeit obviously not all) cases, whereas a private citizen doesn't automatically receive the same level of "respect." If the situation can be defused instead of ending in bloodshed, then I'll take that, and I think the father in the specific case being discussed, in hindsight at least, would agree. Now, I'm NOT saying that he definitely did the wrong thing because frankly we don't know enough yet, but he might have, and it's good for us to consider hypothetical variations of such an incident.
If I was the offender I would fear the citizen more as it would be better to get a chained bracelet than a bullet,
As for who bad guys fear more, obviously they fear private citizens more once we've drawn our weapons, but I don't think that bringing arms to bear is the preferred course of action in the vast majority of cases.
I feel that this should be self-explanatory, but in any case once weapons and fighting are involved, people are going to get seriously wounded or killed, including possibly the good guys.
but then again if they did that much thinking to begin with they wouldn't be the offender.
While they may not be the intellectual type
, I would still venture to guess that those who plan to break into occupied homes have probably done more thinking on the subject, on the average, than the vast majority of law-abiding citizens who are busy just living their lives, even those who own guns for home defense. What I wish to emphasize here is that those who have gotten far enough into the subject to be physically and mentally prepared to apply lethal force in defense of self and others should also be mindful of when and where NOT to apply their deadly skills and tools. In general, if you can avoid a fight without jeopardizing safety, then that's what you should do (preaching to the choir for the most part, I know).
More to the point regarding the scenario in question, if hypothetically you're already inside your sister's home, then don't go outside. Verbally warn the would-be home invaders that you're armed and the police are on their way, and leave it up to the bad guys whether there is going to be a fight--they'll have their say in the matter anyway, and I think that staying inside makes it easier for them to decide to bug out, in addition to putting you in a better defensive position. Leaving your own home to get to your sister's is a different matter but with similar considerations, depending on what is known and other factors that I mentioned previously.
However, those who don't know me may not.
