Washingtonpost:
The teenager had been drinking, and his friends drove him to his home in Sterling at about 2:30 a.m. Sunday, law enforcement officials said. But instead of walking into his house on the quiet cul-de-sac, they said, the teen entered a similar-looking red brick home in the same block.
Inside, the startled homeowner confronted the teen, authorities said, before shooting and killing him. The Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office described the shooting as a homeowner killing an unknown intruder, although officials released few details about the shooting.
It is unclear why the teen went into the wrong home, how he got inside or what kind of exchange he had with the homeowner. Law enforcement officials said that they believe the teenager did not have a gun and that it is possible he entered the home through a rear window, although they were still investigating. It was unclear whether the homeowner and the intruder knew each other; neighbors said the teen was relatively new to the neighborhood.
How totally heartbreaking. Neighbors have described Donald West Wilder II, the homeowner as a real decent person, quiet, volunteer firefighter, all good things. The name of the dead teenager has not been released. It sounds like everyone did the right thing. The teen didn’t drive drunk. The only problem is the friends dropped him off at the wrong house.
Here is the question. Can you just shoot people who are in your house or must you feel you are in danger? Does the fact that there is a stranger in your house automatically mean you are in danger? Is this even a case where charges should be pressed? Can it just be chalked up as a tragedy? Nothing will being back the dead teen and nothing will probably ever ease the conscience of the shooter.
I had a kid try to get in my house one night several years ago. It was very late (or very early.) It scared the living daylights out of me. I heard a rattling at the door and someone trying to open the door. I just sat there and turned the light out. After a few minutes the shadow left my porch. I went to the door and saw some young man getting back in the car and peals of laughter. Apparently it was a big joke that he was at someone else’s house.
I was unarmed. I guarantee you if he had gotten that locked door open I would have had scissors in my hand and the cops would have been called. As I read the story in the Post, I thought about how frightening it was to sit on the other side of a locked door. What if I had forgotten to lock the door? I might have scared him as much as he scared me. I can only imagine if I had been asleep how much more frightened I would have been.
I don’t think there is an answer to this one. If only Donald Wilder asked questions first before he shot!
This was a tragedy all the way around. I am sure the authorities will do a thorough investigation and the facts will come out.
Having said that, teens ought not to drink. This is why we have legal drinking ages. How did he get the alcohol?
yea but teenagers do drink, perhaps because they aren’t supposed to.
I have no answers here. Where are the gun people?
Virginia does not have Castle Law. I am not a lawyer nor do I play on on TV.
That said, Virginia case law seems to be quite strong on defense. If someone enters your home uninvited…… you seem to have the right to defend yourself with deadly force. I can’t speak for anyone else, but if you come into my home at night, through the back window, I am going to assume that you have evil intent. I will do my best to identify you and your intentions, but I will not put my family more at risk to do so.
Of course, if you are still there with the alarm is going off and NOT trying to exit the house, then I KNOW that you have evil intent.
or, in a drunken stupor, you could be wondering when your parents bought an alarm system….
A very sad situation. Probably a shoot first, ask questions later type of thing. The homeowner may have felt he was at risk, when in reality he was not. Very sad.
yes, just a series of very unfortunate events with dire consequences. Its hard to point that finger of blame.
I expect that poor man feels horrible and the parents of the dead boy are beside themselves with grief.
Of course, if you are still there with the alarm is going off and NOT trying to exit the house, then I KNOW that you have evil intent.
Unless it’s someone trying to tell you that your roof, car, or shed is on fire…
@Censored bybvbl
So…. you know people that will break through a back window and stumble about in the dark while an alarm is going off to notify a neighbor that their “x” is on fire as opposed to pounding on the door?
@Cargosquid
Did the homeowner know that the window was broken? Something else could have tripped the alarm – like someone breaking through the front door to get people out of the house in case of a fire. Actually, I do know a person or two who would go into a burning building, alarm squealing away, in order to get everyone out of the house. Those types of brave people do exist. And they don’t get their bravery by carrying a gun.
BTW my husband, attached to his CPAP machine, might not hear the doorbell or a knock.
@Censored bybvbl
Your are absolutely right. However, they would not be “stumbling around in the dark.” They would be yelling, “WAKE UP! FIRE FIRE FIRE! GET OUT!” In which case, it would be obvious what’s going on. THIS incident doesn’t report such.
As I said….what happens elsewhere…I can’t speak to. I would do my best to identify what is going on but would not put my family in possible greater danger…ie…let someone start walking towards my family, in the dim light with his hands not visible….while he’s ignoring an alarm…and my shouted instructions to “GET ON THE ##$%#@ FLOOR NOW!” If he turns away or is able to explain…ie…FIRE! …then all is well.
Supposedly a warning shot was fired. I like Cargo’s instructions better: “GET ON THE ##$%#@ FLOOR NOW!” I would have added hands behind your head.
Its just a horrible tragedy now. I doubt that there’s a parent alive who isn’t thinking there but for the grace of God go I.
When I was growing up in a town about the size of Manassas, no one even locked his or her door during the day and seldom at night. Only one neighborhood incident occurred when someone tried to cut the next door neighbors’ screen door to get into their house. The sheriff’s teenage son- who lived a couple blocks away – had been following this guy around because he’d tried the same thing at another house. He tackled the guy, a neighbor called the sheriff, and the stranger was taken away in a squad car. I’m not sure that crime has dramatically increased but focus on it has. No one in our neighborhood of gun owners would have thought to shoot someone who had gotten into his house. People hadn’t had decades of fear-mongering aimed at them for political gain or NRA membership drives.
How proud that homeowner shoukd feel for defending his home. THIS is what its all about?
For every Harry Homeowner whom the NRA lauds for defending his castle there’s another type of gun story. Don’t just read today’s news…
http://accidentalgunshots.tumblr.com
@Lyssa
I don’t think he feels proud. I think that he is profoundly sad that it happened that way. I know I would. But I would feel worse if the intruder was NOT an innocent and I didn’t protect my family.
These “Castle Laws” are a bit of a joke. The common law is pretty clear that you have the right to use deadly force to defend your residence against intruders. “Castle Laws” are surplusage, but they serve a useful political purpose for a lot of interests, not the least of whom these days are the gun industry. They are focal points around which one can assemble the energy of fearful people, and stimulate political contributions, votes and gun sales.
The Loudoun County matter is a tragic situation. From what the public can know about this, the homeowner had every reason to be scared out of his wits (put yourself in a similar situation at 3 in the morning). If any of us had been in that situation, we would have been very frightened, I’m sure.
I’m guilty of sloppy phrasing in that last comment. The second sentence should read “The common law is pretty clear that you have the right to use deadly force to defend yourself and others against intruders in your residence.”
@Scout
In Virginia, perhaps. Other states positively sucked at allowing citizens to defend themselves at home. AND then those defenders would get sued. Some “Castle” laws don’t allow those suits to be valid.
WE are VERY fortunate to be living in Virginia.
Anyone can bring a lawsuit, Squid. That applies just about anywhere in the country. The issue isn’t whether frivolous suits are brought. The issue is whether any of them survive peremptory motions to dismiss, and, if so, do the plaintiffs succeed. I very much doubt that in any ten or twenty year survey period, one could find instances where a homeowner who shoots a burglar/invader inside his residence is tagged for criminal or civil penalties. The law is quite clear everywhere that, inside your dwelling, particularly at night (the common law definition of burglary requires the invasion to be at night), when an unauthorized person forces entry, you are entitled to assume that the life and/or physical safety of the occupants are at risk. That justifies lethal protective force.
I am unaware of any statute anywhere that dilutes that. If you know more about that and can improve my information on the subject, I will be grateful. If you know of situations where a burglar was killed or injured by a homeowner in a residence to which he forced entry and he or his estate recovered damages against the homeowner, I would be better informed to know about it.
@Scout
Nope…looks like you may have it covered. I wrote what I knew. I don’t follow the Castle thing closely since we don’t have it. And IF I ever need to exercise self defense in the home, I won’t be thinking about it then, either. I think I’ll have other things occupying my mind.
For sure.
Let’s hope that never happens to either of us.
Or anyone else, for that matter.