I've got a shotgun, do you want me to help?

[G]

Now i have actually listened to it I'm not sure.

Cant fault they guy for his feeling towards it.

Chances are its a **** area and they are being terrorised by these idiots fromthe ghetto robbing houses all the time and the police doing nothing.

the way i look at it is: 2 people being once previously caught of petty theft or whatever it said i cant remember

they're stealing a bag of loot - bad

someone then murders the both of them - more than bad

pulling a triggers easy, but i dont know how you could knowingly go and shoot bits of metal through someone so they bleed to death, unless he got real close and just blew their brains out. perhaps if you had no alternative, then yes if it means you or your family dont get killed, but on theft of a neighbours property. i'm sure they would much rather come home to see a few things missing (may have insurance anyway) than to see bodies and blood on their drive

[northwind]

Originally Posted by gettin2dizzy

In the US he's allowed to do that. It's perfectly legal to shoot a robber. Amazing!

Not quite, it's legal to use lethal force in self defence or to protect your own property but not this.

Originally Posted by graemepaterson

Chances are its a **** area and they are being terrorised by these idiots fromthe ghetto robbing houses all the time and the police doing nothing.

In the full message he says "Man, this is scary, I can't believe this is happening in this neighborhood"

Neither man was armed, and he fired within seconds of them seeing him, only the Met are allowed to do that Basically, he went out to kill some robbers not to stop a crime, he made no attempt to do anything apart from kill them. I think he should be charged with murder, no doubt about it, though I think the circumstances should be considered when they sentence him.

Its a tough job being a burglar in Texas. These guys would have known the risks of break and enter and still made the decision to go in.

I dont agree with killing these guys - just another cultural difference IMO.

Got a feeling that the US take on being able to shoot to kill a thief stems from the old west where potentially a bandit making off with something as mundane your mule or water bottle could leave you stranded in the middle of the desert to die... I don't think the law was ever repealed in some states e.g. Texas. I believe there was a caveat that said while you could shoot him in the back whilst making off, it only applied while thief was actually in possession of said property so you shouldn't shoot him if he dropped your mule and ran for it...

From what I've been reading, Texas has the strongest shoot-a-burglar laws in the US. They're not hold overs from the old west though, they have been strengthened fairly recently.
Sections 9.42 and 9.43 of the Texas Penal Code reads to me like this was a borderline legal shooting. There is a right to use deadly force to protect a third person's property if you have some sort of duty of care. Though it also seems a very open ended law. You could shoot kids for scrumping apples.

Yes, it's only legal to shoot to defend property in Texas, even if they're not in your house or threatening you. It has to be self defence everywhere else, which it is pretty much if they're in the house, same as in the UK by the way. Except we got no guns to apply it.

[yorkie_chris]

Seems to me all he did wrong was to shoot without giving them chance to surrender and wait for coppers, that makes it criminal IMO. Not murder though, just because they were burglars and the fact they were engaged in criminal activity means they could have been armed.

[northwind]

I like how we're talking as if this is an American thing, at least he shot these guys in the front, instead of shooting one in the back as he climbed out of a window to escape

[yorkie_chris]

Far more sporting to set the hounds on the odd pikey