It’s Not My Place To Second-Guess…

The Tacoma, Washington Tribnet.com has this story:

Bedridden homeowner shoots burglar who entered his room

As his back door was kicked in Monday afternoon, a South End homeowner – confined to his bed because of a disability – called 911 with one hand and grabbed his 9 mm Glock handgun with the other.

Within seconds, a burglar was in the bedroom and inching closer.

“He didn’t stop coming toward me until he was looking down the barrel of a 9 mm,” said the 64-year-old homeowner, who didn’t want to be identified out of fear for his safety.

The burglar, disguising his face with a handkerchief, backed off several steps and called out to someone else.

“I thought he was going to take off, but he turned back around and he said, ‘I’m going to get you,'” the homeowner said. “That’s when I shot him.”

Injured and bleeding, the burglar and his accomplice ran out of the house. Police had not found him late Monday.

Investigators have alerted area hospitals and clinics to be on the lookout for a man with a gunshot wound to the hip, Tacoma police spokesman Mark Fulghum said. The suspect is described as white, in his 20s and about 6 feet tall.

Officials suspect at least two men broke into the home on South 88th Street about 12:30 p.m. It appeared the homeowner fired his gun in self-defense, Fulghum said.

“He’s bedridden, and a guy came around the corner and he felt threatened,” Fulghum said.

The homeowner said he has kept a gun in his home for years for protection. He had not fired it outside of the range before Monday.

“I didn’t shoot him to kill him,” said the homeowner Monday evening as he lay on his side in bed. “I’m thoroughly convinced this guy would have killed me.”

The homeowner said he first heard a loud noise behind the house shortly after his wife left to run errands. He thought she might be moving the garbage cans around.

“I never know what she’s doing,” he said.

Moments later, someone kicked in the back door. The homeowner grabbed the phone and dialed 911. As it rang, he searched for his gun. He called out.

“Is that you?” he said, asking for his wife.

A man’s voice responded. Then the man entered the room and moved toward the homeowner.

“He came at me like he was going to choke me,” the homeowner said.

He fired a single shot.

“I didn’t say a word,” the homeowner said. “If he’d grabbed a gun, it would have been me.”

A 911 dispatcher answered the homeowner’s call moments after the shooting. The dispatcher called the man’s wife and told her to come home.

“He thought he had a helpless victim,” the homeowner said of the man he shot. “All of a sudden he realized he wasn’t in charge any more.”

Gun in one hand, phone in the other. You’ll note which of the two stopped the attack.

I’m not going to second-guess the man, but I’d have put half the magazine in him. And I wouldn’t have been aiming for the hip.

Remember – defending yourself this way in England will put you in jail. Doing it in NYC without paying the government for permission will too.