Elderly man shoots, kills burglar after 13 break-ins: ‘I’ve been a prisoner in my house’ - Sensationalist Headlines

[t]http://twt-thumbs.washtimes.com/media/image/2017/03/30/John_Croft_c40-0-599-326_s885x516.jpg?f906da64ead95a677d8b73272e21f19bd2e33fb7[/t] [QUOTE]An Alabama man whose home has been robbed 13 times since last summer shot and killed a burglar Wednesday. John Croft, 79, woke up early Wednesday morning to hear the command, “Don’t move.” The Center Point homeowner pulled out his personal handgun and then fired when the teenage suspect in his bedroom used a racial epithet. “I’ve been a prisoner in my house,” Mr. Crofttold a local Fox News affiliate. “When I heard the noise, that’s when they opened the window from the basement coming to the level where the bedrooms are. I have three bedrooms. I think they checked the other two bedrooms out and then he came over there and said, ‘Don’t move!’ He heard the bed squeak. I was getting my gun. He said, ‘Don’t move’ and he used the N-word and I shot.” [/QUOTE] [QUOTE]“I just hate to meet his mother because it was a teen,” Mr. Croft said. “And there’s nothing as precious to a mom as a son. And you know what’s been happening to black boys today. For another black man to shoot one don’t look good. But like I say, I had no choice.” [/QUOTE] [url]http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2017/mar/30/john-croft-79-shoots-kills-burglar-after-13-break-/[/url]

Now even as a gun control advocate, this is what I call a decent use of self defense. Not only did the robber have a gun, the house has been consistently robbed over a year, he had more than enough rights to defend himself here.

I mean, you assume the worst of anyone robbing your home. Definitely double so when they have a gun on them. :v: Got exactly what they deserve in this situation.

Poor dude. Thirteen times is a hell of a lot of times to get robbed.

Poor guy...not only does he deal with the trauma of being burglarized [B]13 times[/B] but now he has to deal with the trauma of killing someone. :'(

Good riddance.

I feel no sympathy for someone who robbed an elderly man 13 fucking times.

[QUOTE=gk99;52037707]I feel no sympathy for someone who robbed an elderly man 13 fucking times.[/QUOTE] I don't think it was that particular burglar who robbed him all thirteen times but he just happened to be unlucky number thirteen at the time.

[QUOTE=gk99;52037707]I feel no sympathy for someone who robbed an elderly man 13 fucking times.[/QUOTE] I don't think it was the same person but rather 13 seperate incidents.

The guy is so genuinely upset about it too. He didn't want to, but he felt that he had to. This is a good man who was scared for his life. [QUOTE=gk99;52037707]I feel no sympathy for someone who robbed an elderly man 13 fucking times.[/QUOTE] I don't think it was the same kid every time, m8

Honestly if you break into someone's home you deserve what you get. I got no sympathy for burglars. At that point people should know better than to violate someone's property.

12 times and he didn't learn that it's not OK to rob someone 13th time and he can't learn his lesson any more

Regardless of whether or not it was the same kid all 13 times, that shit's not okay the first time around, and I can't say I feel bad for him for making the choice to do what he did. My heart goes out to the old dude, he seems legitimately upset that he had to shoot.

I swear to god we've had a thread with almost the same title before

[QUOTE=J!NX;52037795]12 times and he didn't learn that it's not OK to rob someone 13th time and he can't learn his lesson any more[/QUOTE] Who's to say it wasn't his first Why would one guy continually return to the same place to rob it if he knows he'd picked it clean, having searched it a dozen times before within a year

Guy even knows that it was a terrible event, it was definitely a last resort for him.

Poor guy, but he had no choice, and he can take some solace in that. [QUOTE=Hat-Wearing Man;52037874]Who's to say it wasn't his first Why would one guy continually return to the same place to rob it if he knows he'd picked it clean, having searched it a dozen times before within a year[/QUOTE] steal replacement items, or maybe items they couldnt grab last time.

Ohh damn, I live in Center Point. (Well, technically in a gap between it and two neighboring areas.) Yeah, it's not necessarily spectacular here. Several years ago our neighbors on our left were robbed. The kids in the family across the street from them then bragged to our neighbors kids about having their big screen TV in their living room. The cops told our neighbors that if they pressed charges, they couldn't guarantee their kids safety in school. Our neighbors immediately moved.

[QUOTE=SirJon;52037807]I swear to god we've had a thread with almost the same title before[/QUOTE] We did, and I'm pretty sure it was the one where there was audio of the guy killing the two teens who broke into his house for like the 14th time, and then after he shoots them both he sits down and mutters to himself for like 15 minutes. Super fucking creepy thread. [editline]31st March 2017[/editline] [URL="https://facepunch.com/showthread.php?t=1228670"]Found it[/URL]

[QUOTE=RetaDepa;52037721]I don't think it was the same person but rather 13 seperate incidents.[/QUOTE] What kind of neighborhood did you grow up in where getting robbed multiple times a year by different people was likely? Why wouldnt it be the same person over and over? Does the house have a big "I LEAVE MY SHIT UNLOCKED" sign on it?

[QUOTE=hippowombat;52038027]We did, and I'm pretty sure it was the one where there was audio of the guy killing the two teens who broke into his house for like the 14th time, and then after he shoots them both he sits down and mutters to himself for like 15 minutes. Super fucking creepy thread. [editline]31st March 2017[/editline] [URL="https://facepunch.com/showthread.php?t=1228670"]Found it[/URL][/QUOTE] That was Different circumstance entirety though. He more or less set a trap for them then after shooting them shot them again and waited for them to bleed out. He was looking to kill them from before they even stepped into the house, which is murder (to which he was charged and convicted of).

Meanwhile on the french-speaking equivalent of SH, people were calling this man a psychopath monster who should have shot the burglars in the legs or tried to disarm them. One of the guy who posted also assumed that the "Stand your ground law" allowed you to kill children asking for treats on Halloween :unimpressed: Anyway, the man did the right thing, the burglars played a stupid game, too bad for them...

[QUOTE=Hauptmann;52038136]Meanwhile on the french-speaking equivalent of SH, people were calling this man a psychopath monster who should have shot the burglars in the legs or tried to disarm them. One of the guy who posted also assumed that the "Stand your ground law" allowed you to kill children asking for treats on Halloween :unimpressed: [/QUOTE] TBH I've been waiting for some of our resident 'nobody needs a gun, just call the police' commenters to come in and argue as to why this guy is in the wrong, but so far nobody has.

How could someone read this and not think, "Gee, this old man has had a rough year, having his home broken into 13 times. Now the poor guy is forced to kill a teenager even though he knows the pain it will cause someone." What do people think an elderly person with a gun would do when they wake up to somebody pointing a gun at them? Politely ask the armed robber to leave? This isn't an ethical grey area, this is a life or death situation for someone who probably has trouble moving around. Why is it so hard for some people to put themselves in someone else's shoes?

Well one suspect was shot dead by the victim, and the police are searching for two other suspects. I think it's safe to say these 3 people with potentially more accomplices are all responsible for the 13 break-ins. [editline]31st March 2017[/editline] It's highly unlikely that each robbery was done by different groups of people unaffiliated with each other.

[QUOTE=UncleJimmema;52038125]That was Different circumstance entirety though. He more or less set a trap for them then after shooting them shot them again and waited for them to bleed out. He was looking to kill them from before they even stepped into the house, which is murder (to which he was charged and convicted of).[/QUOTE] Oh for sure, the situation was p different and way more nefarious, but the headlines themselves certainly sounded similar, at least to me.

The eldery man who shoot and killed two teenagers was a total different case. Those two kids IIRC broke into the home unarmed and the man set up a trap for them and violently killed them. I mean, the old man was already planning to kill them. The man already knew that the kids were gonna break in after being robbed multiple times. He could have called police and explain them "There are two kids breaking into my home and I think they're gonna break today at this time", but he decided to trap them and kill them instead. In this case, the kid broke into a home carrying a gun, the victim woke up to see the kid pointing at him and threatening him. He fired at him to protect himself. He wasn't planning to murder the thief, he just protected himself. Plus, he actually feels bad about having to kill the thief.

So he triggered the gun when he heard "niggah"? That's some SJW stuff right there man. Nah just kidding. I'm glad that he came unharmed and not so glad that he has to endure knowing he killed someone. It might have completely justified but it could mess him up pretty badly.

If I was a 79 yr old black dude that lived through civil rights and lives in Alabama, I'd blast some idiot with a gun waking me up to "Dont move, nigger" in a heartbeat. Good on him. Preying on the elderly is vile and hopefully he can find some peace now. [QUOTE=Cutthecrap;52038799]So he triggered the gun when he heard "niggah"? That's some SJW stuff right there man. Nah just kidding. I'm glad that he came unharmed and not so glad that he has to endure knowing he killed someone. It might have completely justified but it could mess him up pretty badly.[/QUOTE] What is the point of this post

[QUOTE=Hauptmann;52038136]Meanwhile on the french-speaking equivalent of SH, people were calling this man a psychopath monster who should have shot the burglars in the legs or tried to disarm them. One of the guy who posted also assumed that the "Stand your ground law" allowed you to kill children asking for treats on Halloween [/QUOTE] can we make it a law of internet discourse that in order to criticize firearm and self-defense laws, you're required to actually know what the laws are and what they pertain to first?