A female homeowner shot and killed an intruder in Las Vegas Saturday morning after police say the would-be burglar had been casing her home for hours.
“This should be a lesson to anybody who’s thinking about breaking into other peoples’ houses,” neighbor Joseph Sterling Boyd told local media station 8 News Now. “You never know what you’re going to come across, so you might want to think twice.”
Local media reports that a woman called 911 around 11:15 a.m. to report a man who had broken into her home. The burglar had knocked on the front door, and when he didn’t receive an answer, he went to the back of the home and broke the sliding glass door.
The homeowner retreated to her bedroom to retrieve her firearm, and when the burglar confronted her, she shot him.
While Nevada is a Castle Doctrine state, and the homeowner had no duty to retreat, she also claims the man lunged at her in her bedroom.
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After being shot once, the burglar ran out of the house to his car and drove away. Police found the car crashed about two blocks from the home.
Boyd says he saw the car driving away but didn’t realize what had happened.
“I did notice it was a car that was driving somewhat slow and that the front left tire was flat. If the car had stopped I was going to offer assistance with the flat tire,” Boyd told local media. “I didn’t think much of it at the time until I saw the yellow tape and was able to put it together.”
The burglar was pronounced dead at a hospital a short time later.
Police say the perpetrator had been casing the home for hours before knocking on the homeowner’s door.
“We have some preliminary information that we believe the suspect may have been here for several hours parked in front of the house and could’ve possibly been casing the area prior to the burglary that occurred,” said Metro Lt. Ray Spencer.
SEE ALSO: Homeowner, 76, to Wounded Intruder: ‘You just lay still. I got another shell in here’
While summer is the peak burglary season in most states, CNN reports that burglaries also spike around the holidays, especially in the week after Christmas.
Many families leave their homes unattended over the holiday season, and in some states unshoveled snow can tell criminals that no one is home. Burglars are also attracted by newly unwrapped gifts, many of which are left under the Christmas tree in plain view of the windows.
The burglar in Las Vegas was typical in another way as well: according to the FBI, 65% of these crimes occurred during the daylight hours between 6:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. in 2011.
To minimize risk of burglary while on vacation, the United States Concealed Carry Association recommends barring doors and windows, installing a home security system, investing in a quality gun safe, and putting interior lights on timers.
I tend to disagree with the advice to put bars on the windows. It is the criminal who belongs behind bars and barred windows are likely to trap the true occupants inside in the event of a serious fire.
Well shit. Picked the wrong house huh.
This happened to my mom several years ago. Called PD, retreated to safe place in house, PD arrive, perp detained in garage. Wow. No way to protect other than hide!
Christmas rolls around, and mom gets Defensive Handgun Training from my wife and I as a gift. You don’t want to break-in there now!
Great gift! Happy New Year!
AND WHO SAYS GUNS DON’T SAVE LIVES. RIGHTEOUS SHOOTING MA’AM
One of the Democrat hopeful nominee should openly depart from the other Democrat Losers, saying the goal must be concentrated on encouraging the continued wise use of the 2nd Amendment the way the founding fathers intended.
The emphasis should be on keeping the guns out of the hands of criminals, dangerous anti-social problem people, and the good training of average good citizens to be armed at all times, and tremendously effective at hitting targets of opportunity with semi-auto, concealed carry arms, especially in gun free areas and peoples homes.
We need to eliminate “Gun Free Zones”, These are starting to be used to bait bad guys into becoming targets. Hunting down bad guys should not become a new trophy hunting sport.
We need to capture armed criminals and drop them off in those countries where guns are out-lawed, and only the bad guys have guns. That would be fun and challenging for our bad guys to figure out how to acquire guns in those societies and compete in a more just and fair domain for bad people.
Burglary/robbery is NOT a risk free occupation. Play the game and you’ll pay the price. Glad this episode has a happy ending.
Burglars who end up getting shot in the course of their work get what they deserve, what gives them the idea that robbing people is ok?
I don’t feel bad for any of them, the fewer there are the better off we all are.
Agreed: Ever notice you don’t hear about horse thieves anymore? because they were hung on the spot back in the day. problem solved!