Was this a justified shooting in Vida Monday Night?

[JRuby]

My wishes however naive they are

I wish our government supported those that support our country by working hard paying taxes and trying to obey the law instead of defending those that are preying on society

I wish there were politicians that actually tried to reduce taxes on the working class.

I wish honor and doing the morally correct thing carried more weight than making a profit regardless of wether it is legal or not.

I would like to elect individuals that truly want to make America great instead of saying it and then using the position for financial gain.

I wish we could choose the charities we wish to support rather than having to support those we don't care about by raising taxes

I know so naive I must have lost my mind

 

[Hawaiian]

ORS 161.015
(1)"Dangerous weapon" means any weapon, device, instrument, material or substance which under the circumstances in which it is used, attempted to be used or threatened to be used, is readily capable of causing death or serious physical injury.

(2)"Deadly weapon" means any instrument, article or substance specifically designed for and presently capable of causing death or serious physical injury.

(10)"Weapon" means:

(a)A firearm;

(b)Any dirk, dagger, ice pick, slingshot, metal knuckles or any similar instrument or a knife, other than an ordinary pocketknife with a blade less than four inches in length, the use of which could inflict injury upon a person or property;

That said, he would have been better off to stay inside.
And, I don't even want to think about 'what if', it had been a 12 year old kid that shot him with a slingshot.

 

[bbbass]

And, I don't even want to think about 'what if', it had been a 12 year old kid that shot him with a slingshot.

Regardless of whether or not it was wise to go outside, where is all this "he didn't identify his target" coming from? The article states that he returned fire at Wilson, the intruder/trespasser. Sounds like he identified his target just fine... and hit it!

 

[etrain16]

Great ^^^^^Post^^^^^ Mister Bisley, nailed a number of very important points!
I think we all agree, our culture has given away OUR rights, and Given them to those who would do wrong upon us! My self, I do not think I would have gone back out side armed and confronted the bad guy, but I wasn't there, and I do not know if the bad guy was doing more bad while still on the property, potentially elevating the threat level against the home owner doing what ever he might have been doing! Just some thoughts

Edit for pre Black Rifle Coffee

How is that Black Rifle Coffee? It's a bit on the spendy side, but I have a hard time finding coffee I think is really worth the $$. It would be nice to support a vet owned company if the stuff is good.

 

[Mister Bisley]

HA! I was just wondering the same thing about Black Rifle Coffee. Their T-shirts are great!!

 

[JRuby]

I was taught that if I robbed stole lied or did something wrong way before 12 years of age there would be h3ll to pay.at an early age I was taught not to shoot at things I did not want to destroy. If I was being shot at by a 10 year old and felt my life was threatened I would do what I could to stop the threat. I would not have created the situation but responded to it. Age is not important to me if i feel threatened to a point where i had concerns over my safety however I would certainly feel remorse after the fact.

 

[bbbass]

Tween shooters must die!!!!

 

[Ura-Ki]

How is that Black Rifle Coffee? It's a bit on the spendy side, but I have a hard time finding coffee I think is really worth the $$. It would be nice to support a vet owned company if the stuff is good.

I like it a lot, it's good and strong when you need, and can be mellow when you don't. I like the flavor, not smokey like the Seattle brands, It reminds me of LongBottom brand coffee.
I have tried the victory blend, Black Beards delight, Gunship, and the V-tac Bezerker! Fun names, and really good flavors! I let the wife pick the next order which should be here in a week or so!

 

[cdmontgo]

Based solely on the info in the OP since I haven't bothered to educate myself further on the facts of the case, here is my take.

The homeowner has no duty to retreat from his own property, so he is justified in securing his property and it was smart for him to bring a weapon to help ensure his safety to do so.

Since the intruder attacked the man on his own property with deadly force, the homeowner was justified in returning deadly force.

 

[Mountainman38]

Not long ago, the sheriff here in Polk County was pushing for more funds to hire more deputies. I occasionally got email from the sheriffs office that would say "Due to budget cuts, there will be no patrols in your area between the hours of"...

And that's when I got serious about being able to protect wife and homestead. Before that, I really never gave it much thought.

Since then, I've learned quite a bit - including the well known nugget "When seconds count, the police are only minutes away."

They've since been able to hire more deputies. But living "out in the boonies" definitely gives us a different mindset than folks who live in town.

I read a lengthy article about the situation further south, in Josephine County. They are so short staffed on law enforcement, that people routinely call the fire department when there's a situation of violence.

The jail had to basically open its doors and let people go free, since they couldn't afford jailers.

In this situation, waiting for the police might mean days or weeks.

 

[Mountainman38]

ORS 161.015
(1)"Dangerous weapon" means any weapon, device, instrument, material or substance which under the circumstances in which it is used, attempted to be used or threatened to be used, is readily capable of causing death or serious physical injury.

(2)"Deadly weapon" means any instrument, article or substance specifically designed for and presently capable of causing death or serious physical injury.

(10)"Weapon" means:

(a)A firearm;

(b)Any dirk, dagger, ice pick, slingshot, metal knuckles or any similar instrument or a knife, other than an ordinary pocketknife with a blade less than four inches in length, the use of which could inflict injury upon a person or property;

That said, he would have been better off to stay inside.
And, I don't even want to think about 'what if', it had been a 12 year old kid that shot him with a slingshot.

You might want to check that reference. The Oregon code that you listed, doesn't list deadly weapons, that I can find. 166.240 does talk about a slungshot, which is not a slingshot.

 

[Mountainman38]

I was taught that if I robbed stole lied or did something wrong way before 12 years of age there would be h3ll to pay.at an early age I was taught not to shoot at things I did not want to destroy. If I was being shot at by a 10 year old and felt my life was threatened I would do what I could to stop the threat. I would not have created the situation but responded to it. Age is not important to me if i feel threatened to a point where i had concerns over my safety however I would certainly feel remorse after the fact.

When I was about 12 or 13, I was visiting a distant cousin, who thought it would be fun to have a BB gun vs. slingshot war. He thought he was being tactical superior by choosing the air gun, but I'd been everyday carrying a wrist rocket for several years at that point, and really liked rapid fire shooting.

I ducked down for his one shot, then lay down a heavy suppressive fire that quickly helped him decide this wasn't as much fun as he had thought it would be.

 

[Massolo]

It doesn't make any difference what we think, but what the ADA thinks. If he/she is a leftist, then the homeowner tried to "gun down" an innocent man. If he is a realist, the home owner acted thinking that his life was in danger, and responded accordingly while under duress. This is why I pay the yearly fee for the "shooting insurance". You can never know what the police or ADA are going to think, and legal defenses are very costly. It was dark, so he could not have know what device was shooting him, so he should get away with no charges. Too bad the criminal who brought a slingshot to a gun fight survived, he was probably a repeat offender.

 

[caarecengi]

Well, it appears that the guy was actually stealing valuable stuff from his property, hence the 1st degree burglary charge.

The other point that I should bring up is that Vida is a tiny unincorporated town, with only a little over 1,000 people living in the entire zip code, and no police department. Since the Lane County Sheriff had to cut back on its rural patrols, it can now take 30 minutes or more for law enforcement to be able to respond to a 911 call from Vida.

People living in such small rural communities face a different problem when it comes to defending their homes, compared to those of us that live inside a substantial city. The only government building in Vida is their post office.

Here is a photo from Google Maps, showing the view that you see when you enter Vida from the west. You will see the tiny Post Office on the immediate right with its American flag, with the town's only market right next to it. A bit further to the right down the road, you will see the town's only gas station.

And a little further yet down the road on the left, you see a few parked cars. They are parked at the only place in town to eat: The Vida Cafe.

That is it. This is the entire town of Vida.

View attachment 341250

IMO - especially out in those rural areas, you never know if the trespasser is on drugs. Drug addled people tend to be very unpredictable and once they're on your property, they do pose a threat. Add to that the fact that the intruder started the conflict by shooting first (albeit with a slingshot), so Hell Yeah the homeowner is justified in protecting himself.


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[KKG]

While the shooter might be OKay on legal grounds, although I still might wonder about the fact that it sounds like the bad guy seems to have been invited in the house at one point, and it didn't say just when the police were called so that is also an unanswered question; he might be on shaky civil grounds for the guys injuries.

 

[I594 Sucks]

A homeowner living in the rural town of Vida, along the MacKenzie River, was confronted late Monday night by a hostile man who came uninvited onto his property. After the initial confrontation, the homeowner went outside into the dark night armed, to check and make sure that the man had gone.

At that point he was struck in his leg. Believing that he had been shot, he then fired his handgun at the intruder, who was still trespassing on his property, after being told to leave earlier.

However, it turns out that the man had only struck the homeowner with a rock fired from a slingshot. The trespasser was arrested by responding sheriff deputies, and charged with several crimes: first-degree burglary ( he was caught stealing property ), unlawful use of a weapon, fourth-degree assault, reckless endangering, menacing, and second-degree criminal mischief.

The shooting of the prowler, however, is still under investigation, to determine if any charges will be filed against the homeowner.

Did the homeowner make any mistakes? Should he face any kind of criminal charges? What do you think?

Here is a link to a news account of the incident:

Vida man hit by a slingshot-fired rock shoots McKenzie Bridge man, sheriff's office says

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I wish, when they say "a jury of his peers" that it meant, exactly, that...a jury of 12 fellow gun owners.

 

[JRuby]

I wish, when they say "a jury of his peers" that it meant, exactly, that...a jury of 12 fellow gun owners.

So you think you should be able to stack the court in your favor. I imagine the amount of inequities that would come out of that. Equivalent to saying only multi millionaires can try a millionaire on financial fraud. The rules would be all over the place. How about only police officers can be involved in police trials.