<p>When the solvation rate for theft/burglary cases becomes more than 50%, then I may let the thief go and trust the police.</p>
<p>What am I supposed to do – let the thief live, file a police report, never get my stuff back and lose 5 years’ worth of income? How would you feel if five years’ worth of work went down the drain?</p>
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<p>Well then say what you mean rather than putting words in my mouth. I have not expressed an opinion that the Hopkins student was wrong in any way. I have only said that his actions scared me to death as a mother and I would not have been happy that he took that risk. </p>
<p>My response was to WuTang’s assertion that he should be able to kill someone who is running off with his stuff so that he doesn’t lose his stuff. That is completely different from the Hopkins situation and you cannot infer anything from my reaction to it. Then WuTang comments that the reason I questioned his values is because I am rich and he comes from a low income family. If that is not one of the most pathetic things I have ever read, it is near top.</p>
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<p>What you say inappropriate stuff like that Carter45, it seems like you are baiting and shouldn’t be surprised what comes your way in response.</p>
<p>BTW, I am glad you are rich and hope you get richer every day. And I hope you tell everyone else how to do the same.</p>
<p>“What you say inappropriate stuff like that Carter45, it seems like you are baiting and shouldn’t be surprised what comes your way in response.”</p>
<p>^^That is exactly what I found horribly offensive. To vilify a poster’s entire family like that is completely uncalled for and extremely self-righteous.</p>
<p>I never claimed to be rich - never have been and don’t see much changing in that regard. WuTang made that completely inaccurate assumption. He chose to blame his low income family for his valuing stuff over life. Coming from a low income family has nothing to do with values - or lack of them. If that were the case, I’d have no problem shooting someone in the back as they run off with my VCR.</p>
<p>“Because thieves’ lives are worthless and my property is more important to me?”</p>
<p>Sad. I would have to think very long and hard before I thought of someone’s life whom I valued less than my belongings.</p>
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<p>Sorry, I though you were saying you are rich. Too bad. Maybe some day we will all be rich.</p>
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<p>If it was just “someone’s life”, I would agree with you. Rice was a career criminal. He pulled a gun on police and who knows what other crimes he could have committed. Rice’s life was of no value to our society. At age 48, he was not about to change his life of harming others. I am glad he is dead.</p>
<p>pugma - you do you realize that from a legal perspective that the young man had retreated about as far as he could in his garage (still a residence)? The facts reveal it was a corner. </p>
<p>And while you are personalizing this as to your kid, that variant does not speak to the actual facts at hand. </p>
<p>I don’t understand why this is not being looked at in a balanced way. Yes, one should use force (and a sword is lethal force) only when necessary, but I am a bit perplexed as to why the same does not apply to the burglar, at least in the eyes of apologists. Did he have to rush at the young man to protect his ill gotten haul? Or was (as is likely) the burglar acting out of impulse, committing an assault to avoid getting caught, a 29 time soon to become 30 time loser. After all, if one is there to steal, why did he need to approach the young man? Just, as pugmakate strongly suggests, run. As as cartera states, the burglar should have valued life (his own and the student’s) over property, and rather than attack should have indeed just left. </p>
<p>I fear for this kid. In many jurisdictions, this would be a clear case of self-defense in a home. But not in Baltimore. It is a dangerous place in more ways than one.</p>
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<p>I don’t get what’s wrong with this idea.</p>
<p>“The reason why men enter into society is the preservation of their property.” (John Locke, Second Treatise on Civil Government)</p>
<p>mam- I think post 129 is spot on.</p>
<p>So do you believe, WuTang, that the state should be able to impose the death penalty for, say, stealing a loaf of bread? A dollar? Five dollars?</p>
<p>If not the state, then why you, in a hypothetical situation where you are in no physical danger?</p>
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<p>Because that’s after the fact, when the thief has been caught. The thief is in custody. The thief is compliant.</p>
<p>You should be allowed to pull a weapon on a thief. (“Stop running, or I’ll shoot!”) In my situation, the thief is being non-compliant: the thief is running.</p>
<p>" After all, if one is there to steal, why did he need to approach the young man? "</p>
<p>We don’t know the burglar did this. The man said the burglar did this, but we don’t know that’s the case.</p>
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<p>The police are happy with the explanation. If the prosecution is happy with the explanation, it sounds to me as if that’s good enough. We don’t know that’s this is the case but the young man states that it is, the police have said nothing to contradict his account and the perp has a history of aggression. One can use their brain to determine that the account of the young man is quite plausible.</p>
<p>“Sad. I would have to think very long and hard before I thought of someone’s life whom I valued less than my belongings”</p>
<p>Charles Manson?</p>
<p>The local police have said that they don’t believe the young man set out to kill anyone. It seems he found the man in the area between the garage and the home, raised the sword and told his friends to call the police. I’m sure the man had no intention of going back to jail so soon, so he lunged. Whether he lunged to hurt the kid or lunged to get away, we’ll never know and the student probably just reacted by swiping down with the sword. I don’t think charges will be brought, but I don’t think the student should be held out as a hero either. I doubt he feels like one. It had to be horrifying.</p>
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Ahhh, that is what forensics are for. If the man lunged at the student as the student claims, and the wounds match with this description, we will know. The study of the sword victim will help to establish if he was wounded while cowering in the corner, or if he was wounded while approaching the student. The blood pattern will also help establish if the student was backing up to a wall. There will be some questions answered by the victim.</p>
<p>Here’s what a member of the JHU track team relates: </p>
<p>Incidentally, the Johns Hopkins senior track/XC house is right across from where the incident occurred…Certainly, made for a very interesting last couple days. The buzz on campus is immense, and way overshadows what it was like when Obama was elected or anything else. The kid has taken on legendary status among the student body. Our neighborhood (locals & students) seems to be united in support of what he did(whether this is right or wrong). People were really getting fed up with petty criminals running free doing what they wanted without consequence.</p>
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<p>I don’t think encouraging a mob mentality is the right thing, but I can understand why people get angry when they feel besieged by predators. And when a 29 time convict is running amok, confidence in law enforcement is not exactly high. </p>
<p>I still fear for this kid. My solution in my younger days would have been (unless there were vulnerable friends I had to help protect) would have been to observe carefully, then run. Then again, easy for me to say - I was the fastest guy on campus.</p>
<p>This morning’s Sun reports that the kid was trying to keep the burglar confined while his roomates called 911. [Police</a> doubt Hopkins student intended to use sword to kill – baltimoresun.com](<a href=“http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/baltimore-city/bal-md.ci.sword18sep18,0,2280312.story]Police”>http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/baltimore-city/bal-md.ci.sword18sep18,0,2280312.story) Apparently the fatal injury came from just one swing of the sword while the thief lunged.</p>
<p>The article further describes the police involvement. Apparently, the cop(s) who responded to the video game theft included the roomates in a canvas of the neighborhood. An opinion in the article says that implies the cops don’t discourage citizen action.</p>