CA - Man fires gun to scare 3 gang banger burglars. Charges?

[Hoss356]

It still sounds fishy to me, we're not getting the whole story but I wouldn't be surprised to find out the victim was shady as well.

[Safetyhit]

In my mind; if he was compelled to act with the firearm, he should have been shooting at the suspects. To me; the fact he felt a warning shot would suffice could cause me to believe he didnt feel that he was in mortal danger. I'd have to look at the actual case (statements, locations, etc) to get a better understanding of what was done and why.

You make a ton of sense, I would never dispute this. But there is still speculation as to nearly each detail of the specific incident involved.

In my humble opinion, as someone who has been down a very similar road (see mentioned thread if desired), the biggest mistake he made was to go outside to investigate with a firearm. This not because of the act itself, but because of the state he resides in and it's abundance of laws designed to prosecute him for doing so.

Once he made that morally correct but legally incorrect decision, the warning shot may have been the only option other than to actually kill.

[SteyrAUG]

Cali is so ****ed up.

Three KNOWN gang members advancing on one guy during an altercation...seems like disparity of force to me. He should have shot and killed all three without incident.

[SteyrAUG]

In my mind; if he was compelled to act with the firearm, he should have been shooting at the suspects. To me; the fact he felt a warning shot would suffice could cause me to believe he didnt feel that he was in mortal danger. I'd have to look at the actual case (statements, locations, etc) to get a better understanding of what was done and why.

Or he simply exhausted every possible opportunity before he was forced to shoot and kill his attackers. And he was fortunate enough that they accepted the warning.

I, like you, believe he "should" have shot them. But sadly we live in a modern world where what should be done often isn't. This can result from fear of prosecution for shooting unarmed attackers (even though there was disparity of force) to later retaliation by other gang members.

When a ordinary citizen is dealing with things like known gang members, I give special consideration just as most would when dealing with cop killers. Citizens aren't trained officers, they aren't schooled in what is legal and what is not and what they should do in such a situation. Most of them do the best they can trying not to do more than they have to and balancing that with the need to protect themselves and their family.

The victim didn't create the situation, the gang members did. Almost all responsibility for every action that resulted should lay with them.