Calif. man, 80, fatally shot pregnant home intruder

[Jazzy]

Police said a California man fatally shot a woman who he claimed was ransacking his home, reports CBS Los Angeles.

Authorities are investigating whether 80-year-old Tom Greer, of Long Beach, Calif., shot the unidentified woman in self-defense, according to the station.

On Tuesday night, officers responded to a call of shots fired at the home. Greer told police he walked in on a man and a woman going through his things. He said the couple tackled him but that he was able to get his gun and turn it on the woman, CBS Los Angeles reports.

"She says, 'Don't shoot me, I'm pregnant! I'm going to have a baby!'" Greer told KNBC Wednesday. "And I shot her anyway." He said the couple had been to his home twice before and that he shot the woman twice in the back while the male accomplice ran away.

Investigators would not say whether the shooting occurred inside the home or in the alley behind the house. According to the station, Greer is not under arrest and police are still determining whether or not the homeowner will face charges.

Source

Should this homeowner face charges? Why / Why not?

 

[Phossix]

Just to add on, it's been revealed that the woman that was shot was not pregnant, and that was a lie.

 

[Jazzy]

Just to add on, it's been revealed that the woman that was shot was not pregnant, and that was a lie.

Did it also reveal whether the shooting occurred inside the home or in the alley behind the house?

 

[Phossix]

The woman was shot in the alley after the old man chased them from the house.

 

[Bluezone777]

He's going to have a hard time proving self defense considering he shot her twice in the back. I can easily see him doing time for this provided the right lawyers and jury come along. It sounds like it could easily be said they ran away and he fired anyway hitting one of them before they could escape.

 

[Jazzy]

~Update~

Another suspect has been arrested for a robbery at a California home where an 80-year-old resident said he shot and killed a burglar who claimed she was pregnant as she tried to flee.

Long Beach police said Ruby Adams, 49, was booked for burglary. She is the mother of 26-year-old Gus Adams, who was arrested Wednesday. The other suspect in the robbery, Andrea Miller, 28, was killed at the scene.

Police did not say what role Ruby Adams was suspected of playing in the robbery, but said she had been arrested and was expected to be charged Monday.

McDonnell said Greer came home around 9 p.m. Tuesday and surprised Gus Adams and Miller, who were trying to break into a safe. They assaulted him, breaking his collarbone, before he was able to get a handgun, the chief said.

Police said Greer fired shots inside and outside his house.

Under California law, homeowners have a right to protect themselves with deadly force inside their homes and in the immediate vicinity - such as a patio - if they feel they are in imminent danger of great bodily injury or death, said Lawrence Rosenthal, a former federal prosecutor who teaches law at Chapman University.

But this case enters a gray area because Greer, by his own account, chased the burglars and fired at them outside his home as they were fleeing, Rosenthal said.

"The problem here is that all this happens very fast and his legal right to use force probably ended just a few seconds before he did use deadly force," Rosenthal said. "So the question is, should you charge somebody on the basis of what really was a series of split-second decisions when he's just been robbed and physically assaulted?"

Why is there still a question if he should be charged?

 

[WHO IS SERAFIN]

They broke into his home. End of story. Do not break into peoples home and you stay free of bullets in your body.

 

[WHO IS SERAFIN]

They broke into his home. End of story. Do not break into peoples home and you stay free of bullets in your body.

Absolutely! You come into my house uninvited and you will leave with a fatal case of lead poisoning. However, they were in the process of running away, they were out of the house and hauling ass down the alley, THEN the home owner started shooting. Even the most ardent supporter of gun ownership has got to agree that the home owner was no longer in danger.

I know we are supposed to be more civilized but they picked there path in life breaking into that home and if they got shot trying to escape so be it. Would I have done what he did? No. Will I condemn what he did? No.

 

[DrLeftover]

When you have a country whose leaders ignore the rule of law, guess what "trickles down".