This weekend, Caleb Gordley, 16, was shot and killed in a home that he mistook for his own after sneaking out for a party. The homeowner confronted Gordley on the stairs inside the home and said that the teenager ignored a warning shot. The shooting occurred after the failure of a “Castle Doctrine” law in Virginia’s General Assembly — a law that we have discussed previously on this blog that gives homeowners protections in the use of lethal force with anyone illegally entering their domicile. Ironically, the bill was shot down by gun groups that felt that the common law offered more protection.
Caleb was told that he could not go to the party because his room was not cleaned up. He decided to sneak out and his friends helped him get back in through a window. He had mistaken a similarly constructed home for his own. He had been drinking. The home is owned by Donald West Wilder II.
The scene is all too familiar to critics of Castle Doctrine laws. We have seen a long line of mistaken shootings of neighbors and others who go into the wrong house in developments with similarly constructed homes. There are also cases of standard home and workplace disputes that lead to fatal shootings.
In this case, there is the questioning of whether the first shot was a warning shot or a miss. However, in these circumstances, there is no alternative account to rebut the homeowner and police are left only with the trajectory of the bullet to confirm the account. The strongest case would be a round in the ceiling where there was clearly no attempt to aim at the suspect. When you add that the teen was drunk, the homeowner is unlikely to be charge presuming the forensics do not conflict with his account.
The Castle Doctrine law proposed in Virginia failed due to opposition from gun groups which did not like the requirement of an “overt act” by the intruder to justify a shooting. The gun groups felt that such a requirement is more restrictive than the common act and opposed the requirement that the intruder show aggression or threatening behavior.
Source: Washington Post
damn Bob, you have some really big stones.
Raff,
You got it. Do you really want to wake up terrified, in the middle of the night, and shoot one of your family members? That’s what guns are used for, primarily, in this country.
I don’t want my first thought to be, “Well, I’ve always got muh gun.” That thought changes your attitude and behavior.
I’d rather ask someone who they are, and why they’re here, than just blow them away “because I can.” We owe human beings that much. If you ever kill someone by accident, you’ll NEVER forgive yourself. NEVER is a very long time. That man who killed his neighbor’s kid? Sucks to be him.
Late 60s, some guy, late at night, came looking for a bootlegger “friend” of his who once lived upstairs in the duplex. He put 5 or 6 .38 slugs into the door jamb.
I opened the door into the hallway, and asked him what he was doing.
Told him the guy had moved out. He got scared, apologized, and left.
I could’ve just blasted him with me trusty S&W .38 Special, but he was a human being, entitled to explain himself. He didn’t shoot me, either.
Nobody needed to be shot. As a result, it’s an amusing story, not something I’ll never forgive myself for.
Bob K. I hope that you were kind enough to him to give him the forwarding address too. While it might make YOU feel good, I guess you figured the intended victims have it coming to them. I suppose that is one way to get rid of the less productive members of society. Personally, I would have opened fire on the SOB and saved some lives down the road, and not to mention saving the criminal justice system some money if you are a good shot. I hope that you at least had enough civic sense to call the cops and give them a good description and volunteer to work with an artist to get a good likeness of the criminal.
rafflaw,
Here’s a reason you shouldn’t have a phone around either.
**
Teen Texter In Massachusetts Guilty Of Vehicular Homicide
http://www.thecarconnection.com/news/1076779_teen-texter-in-massachusetts-guilty-of-vehicular-homicide?utm_source=outbrain&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=outbrain
And here is one as to why you should be opposed to the crime/corruption that Wallst/London Banks/Insr co are causing here/everywhere.
http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2013/03/18/for-one-chicago-police-officer-the-job-became-too-much-to-handle/
or he was just leaving
Sad story. This story gives me another reason why I do not need a gun in my house.
The last sentence is a contradiction in terms. They meant “common law”, which is law based on decided court decisions. Common act would mean some statute. Never heard of a common act other than say Lindsey Lohan drinking and driving.
The kid was supposedly drunk, helped into a window by friends and thought it his own home. Duh. Well he got killed for being stupid. That is ok. What looks like a burglar to me in my home late at night will be treated like one. I am surprised that they did not dig out his baby photo for the article as in Trayvon the baby.
**
Mel Johansson (@H_E_Sarah) 1, March 20, 2013 at 8:33 am
As tragic as this story is, I can’t really fault either the law or the homeowner here. I don’t (and wouldn’t) own a gun, but if I discovered an adult-sized male (of any race–I think “male” is a much more powerful trigger for me) in my home I would be instantly terrified. **
MJ.
Just something to think about when you’re posting/talking about your personal security systems.
If you were in the wild nature you’d be prepared to defend yourself from wild animals, but in the USA for the most part the wild animal predators are human, some of them gang members with the Bloods, Crips, Badges & the most dangerous/violent ones, the Mafia at Wallst Banks/Insur Co, the same ones Jesus ran off with a Bull Whip.
None of us know exactly where all the threats could come from, but we can show caution & be prepared the best we can.
For example, you tell the world you are unarmed on this blog read by who knows.
Now consider some predator is looking for trouble & he/she comes to a neighborhood like here in Oklahoma that has say 1000 houses. That predator had better know at least 2/3rds of those 1000 homes are armed.
The other 1/3rd of the homes are completely defenseless just waiting to be victims.
But unless you are one of the 1/3rd of the homeowners let it known they are unarmed victims in waiting the predator is only left guessing who is armed & who isn’t.
The key point is that people who choose to be unarmed receive protection from the armed neighbors because it keeps the crooks guessing.
I suggest people try to keep their personal security measures quite as possible to increase their security.
Another thing, why are we wasting time debating this Armed Population/2nd Amd stuff when Jefferson, Madison, George Washington won the debate 200+ years ago against people like King George,Hitler,Stalin, Mao, Obama, Pol Pot.
The founders gave us all the “Right” to own Guns, Knives, Cannons, Wagons full of Gun Powder, etc..
(Yes, there are people right now the have privately owned “Legal” Cannon’s & remember the Philippine People made guns out of pieces of pipe & bailing wire to defend themselves from the Fascist Japanese.)
And Founders gave us not a Police State, but that each Stakeholder Citizen was/is the Local Police Force, it is written/called the Militia, aka: citizen police/military, with the Constitutional Office of Sheriff policing the local area & the militia under the Sheriff’s/State control & not Federal control.
If we go back to the US Constitution’s Objective, Plan, Intent, that everyone is expected to be their own US/State law enforcement with limited County/State oversight, I believe crime rates will drop nationwide just as the mostly armed Tulsa area has far less crime then the murder capitals of the world, Chicago & New York City.
Some interesting crime stats I seen. Either 2011 or 2010 about 450 people died falling out of bed, almost the same number killed by AR type rifles.
Sugar drinks kill 180,000 a year, I think it was 400,000 a year killed by doctors/hospital screw ups & no telling the numbers of the Dr’s/Hospital & the millions of collateral damaged people.
http://www.naturalnews.com/GoogleSearchResults.html?q=merck&cx=010579349100583850635%3Aw_kzwe9_yca&cof=FORID%3A11&ie=UTF-8&sa.x=0&sa.y=0&siteurl=naturalnews.com%2F&ref=&ss=6863j19545411j6
And what was the average yearly gun death rate? 40-60,000? I remember their stats says 2/3rds of those people used a gun to comment suicide instead of say dope, a car, a rope, etc,.. Then of the 1/3rd left dead by gun most of them were gang members in the govt’s run failed drug war.
So the real number of innocent people killed by guns is very small & we’d be incompetent if we didn’t attempt to find out somewhere close to the number of people saved every year by honest citizens with guns.
Seriously though… who just shoots a person who enters their home? If I shot everyone who entered my home/apartment unannounced and startled me, I’d have quite the body count by now.
Anyone that has lived in a college town has had a drunken young person wander into the wrong house or at least make startling noises outside.
How are people so quick to defend this reckless person who killed a teenager who was so drunk he didn’t even recognize his own home!!!
I served in the US military, own guns, and support gun rights. I do not support gun owners who recklessly fire shots at shadows in the dark.
This story below I’m going to change it from 2 women’s lives saved by man passing by with a *Gun*, (ewwww.., that Scary word gun again when Stakeholder owners of USA citizens have them.)
The story headline could have been: Home owner’s best friend & loyal guard dog was Murdered today while protecting the home owner’s castle/property from religious lunatics & a gun nut.
The point being is, there’s always at least 2 sides….
BTW: I have No Trespassing & Beware of Dog signs up on my property’s fence/building, as was suggested from Sheriff office, to protect strangers & my dogs from each other.
**
Posted: 5:29 a.m. Wednesday, March 20, 2013
Passerby shoots dog that attacks two women
Victims in critical condition taken to Tulsa hospital
**
http://www.krmg.com/news/news/local/gun-owner-saves-womens-lives-shooting-pit-bull-was/nWxdz/
** Caleb was told that he could not go to the party because his room was not cleaned up. He decided to sneak out and his friends helped him get back in through a window. He had mistaken a similarly constructed home for his own. He had been drinking. The home is owned by Donald West Wilder II. **
The trouble with these type news articles is all the hear say evidence.
Not that it is the case, but what if Caleb was Wilder’s former gay lover, would it be a hate crime then?
Or while we’re pulling maybes out of thin air, did Wilder have daughters, wife or cougar for a mother-in-law sleeping over? ( a Ms Robertson) LOL;)
Maybe God caused all this mess for a Jobe type test for Mr Wilder?
The most likely case was it was Demonic Angles sent from Wallst’s JP Morgan’s Jamie Dimon cause if I can’t get him on the millions of real Frauds/Murders he’s caused the satanic conspiracy case maybe the public will buy into, like Sandy Hook, Colorado & Arizona cases ?
http://libertyblitzkrieg.com/2013/03/19/providence-an-incredible-5-minute-film-by-laura-poitras/
http://libertyblitzkrieg.com/2013/03/19/a-letter-to-george-w-bush-and-dick-cheney-from-a-dying-iraq-war-vet/
I had a world class martial arts expert smash down my front door thinking his girlfriend was inside (drunk). I stood at the top of the stairs with a fireplace poker telling him I had called the police ( I did and they told me if he did not have a weapon they would not show so I dialed my home alarm system backwards indicating distress). He never left the bottom landing of the stairs and the police did arrive hauling him away. I had to clean up the damage and blood. I often wonder what would have happened if I had a shotgun.
Well, well Mr. Wilder … here’s some of what you may expect:
Good luck in ever selling your home, people tend to steer clear of committing money on a house where blood has seeped into the floor boards … especially when that blood came from a sensationalized killing.
Now, I doubt you have kids for what kind of fool fires warning shots in a confined area where his kids are sleeping …but if you do then you may find that fewer and fewer children are allowed to play at your house or yours at their’s. Other parents will take the view known as “better safe than sorry”.
And … 16 year old boys are fairly well known for not considering consequences and pranking so it might be wise to sit in a lawn chair on your front porch on Halloween … holding your gun, of course.
And then there is that whole “after-life” thing … if you are a believer in the all knowing deity that is.
Yep, sucks to be you.
Darren,
We have had two home invasions in our area in recent months. Meth fueled armed druggies looking for something to steal. Both homeowners were men in their 80s, and both had 12 gauge shotguns. One druggie hit in center mass at close range and dead instantly. The other was hit in the groin. That one survived, but the shot eliminated any chance he will reproduce.
Neither elderly gentlemen were charged. Both the District Attorney and Sheriff complimented them on being able to remain cool while protecting themselves in the face of great danger.
There is no requirement in the law to fire a warning shot if deadly force is authorized. An intruder in your home after dark in circumstances such as this is a reasonable belief that serious bodily harm or death could ensue thus deadly force is justified. The law does not require you to be a trick shot artist or warn an intruder so that he might flee. If the intruder withdraws an argument could be made that the threat to the homeowner’s safety is likewise withdrawn but the odds of convincing a jury of that is quite slim.
It is important to recognise what information the homeowner had available to him at the time of the incident. It was at night, a back window was entered and these are common methods burglars employ to enter homes. There is a high probability of harm to the homeowner or death from assault by burglars. Attempting to second guess that the homeowner would have been able to ascertain, putting his life potentially on the line for being wrong, that the burglar was actually a drunken 16 year old who snuck out of his house and reentered the wrong one is not at all practical. I know it turned out badly, but not every situation has someone to “blame”.
I feel for his parents who are no doubt devastated.
This was an alcohol related accident. It’s horrible and two lives have been destroyed in different ways. But blaming this on guns or castle doctrine is ridiculous.
Terminator-
“If possible, confronted with the same circumstances, my .12 gauge would have blown him back through the window”
No it wouldn’t have.
“with a basketball size hole in his midsection.”
No. Maybe you were using hyperbole for effect, but this is gun physics borne of video games, not reality.
This could happen anywhere. There have been many comments on blogs about racism being a motive. IMHO, racism was not the key factor. Homeowner shoots intruder who will not stop coming at him in a dark house. That scenario has been played out a lot.
I have a suggestion for anyone who plans to have a firearm for home defense. Plan a two-level line of defense. Have your firearm, but also invest in a tactical flashlight. I am not talking about a Maglite you can get at a sporting goods store or Walmart. What I am referring to takes it to a whole different level. I bought one for my daughter recently at the local police supply store. Never paid $140+ for a flashlight in my life, but got her a Streamlight Stinger DS LED. That is a small flashlight to carry on her tactical belt. It is about the same size as a regular pocket flashlight that uses two AA batteries. They sell them a lot bigger than that. Link takes you to information on that flashlight.
http://www.streamlight.com/product/product.aspx?pid=135
There is no way to describe how bright it is on high beam if shined in your face at close range. When she first got it, one inmate wanted to see how bright her new flashlight was, and begged her to shine it at him. She told him repeatedly he really didn’t want to go there. He insisted until she gave in to get him to stop pestering her about it; “OK, but don’t complain I didn’t warn you.” He was looking out of the glass panel in his cell door when she pointed it at him from a distance of two or three feet. He staggered backward, yelling “I’m blind!” covering his eyes with his hands. He was still complaining of seeing spots the next day. 24,000 candela (converts to 24,500 candlepower) at close range.
When clicked to the strobe setting, it is not only blinding, but can cause disorientation and vertigo.
The reason I bring this up is the fact if the homeowner had a good tactical flashlight, he would probably have stopped the kid, and seen who he was as well. My business partner has a pistol for home defense. He has a laser designator, and a small tactical flashlight attached to the pistol.
http://www.streamlight.com/en-us/product/class.html?cid=10
Expensive flashlight, but well worth the money if you are using it for self defense. I recommend one for anyone who might be out alone in a dangerous area and don’t wish to carry a firearm. Unlike Tasers, pepper spray, and knives, a flashlight is legal to carry just about anywhere.
Thanks OS for that flashlight tip. You come through as usual with common sense solutions.
I suspect there are more than traces of the drug testosterone, in here. Time for a DUI check. Do you really think that someone who drools about this situation, should be allowed to own a firearm?
Too much fantasizing about how wonderful it would be to justifiably kill someone. Show of hands, please. How many of you have ever actually confronted an armed intruder in your home? Oh boy, didja get to kill ‘im?
Must happen to everyone, judging by the plethora of firearms in this country.
How about saving your fantasy time for something that doesn’t involve killing people? No one needed to die, here.
Warning shots can be made after the fact: Jack!