General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Already, another Trayvon Martin incident has just happened [View all]TorchTheWitch
(11,065 posts)imminent death or great bodily harm. Sure, pretty much anyone would be fearful if they saw a stranger hop their fence into their yard, but certainly not in fear of imminent death or great bodily harm, and it is the latter that is the ONLY justifiable reason to shoot. If you're in your house with a door between you and the trespasser there is no reason to fear death or great bodily harm. BEFORE shooting in such a situation you first let the person know that you see them, you're calling the police and you're armed. If they then try to bust into your house there STILL isn't reason to fear imminent death or great bodily harm. If they bust into your house, and come after you especially with a weapon THEN you're justified to shoot.
In this case, there was no justification to fear imminent death or great bodily harm. The shooter was in his house, had no idea why the person hopped their fence and was in their yard, and the kid was not doing anything more threatening at the time he shot him - he was just standing next to the guy's car. He also gave no warning to the person that he knew they were there and that he was armed. Had he done so the kid would have likely freaked out and hopped back over the fence and ran away.