All things considered I would highly suggest people put a barrier between the outside and the main entry way into their home. It can be everything from decorative gates to a storm door. Criminals by nature are lazy so they are going to take the path of least resistance. When I look around most people have only the wooden door to rely on for their safety. For most home invaders these doors are very easily breached. Another thing I have noticed is that many people leave their blinds or curtains completely open so that anyone passing through can see all the way to the back of the house. Not a good idea. Criminals can see all kinds of goodies such as flat screen TVs and laptop computers.I realize no one wants to turn their home into Fort Knox. However there are some things we can do to make our homes less inviting. Unfortunately that's the times in which we live.

@bbk: But you don't know their intentions when they break in. Do they want to rape you? Your child? Are they willing to kill you if they get spooked? I will always assume to worst about a home invader.

True you don't know

Agreed, you just don't know. So that is why if someone decides to break into my house and I am home, well the decided BEFORE they broke into my house that whatever was on the inside they wanted, was more valuable to them than their life! That is their choice. I would hope they believe in god, cause they are about to have a chance to meet him.

Self elected suicide.

We used to live on that street, just a few houses down, that's so crazy! What a nerve, right in the middle of the day! I'm glad the victim is not injured. Everytime I hear this kind of news I pray if I'm ever in that situation God gives me strength to do what these thugs deserve. I don't think of it like killing someone over the things I think of it like saving somebody's life in future. It's just a mater of time that they take some innocent person's life, be that by robbing, invading a house or running over trying to get away. They don't deserve to live.

I honestly don't know what I would do with someone in my house. I hope I never have to find out. I have given a good deal of thought as I have the idea of being car jacked, held up in a parking lot - followed home, etc..I feel pretty certain that I would shoot someone that was threatening my life or anyone around me - but not so sure I'd do the same over theft. Taking a life is not a little thing no matter how wrong the other person(s) may be. That is why I feel so sorry for the homeowner involved in this mess yesterday. There are many things we do not know here. Were these criminals armed?
Was the homeowner possibly physically impaired? (He was a retiree, so maybe an elderly man - could have health issues.)Either combination would mean use of deadly force for me.I don't think you can wait around to decide what someone's intend is if they clearly see you are in the house and they come inside anyway. That again is time to use deadly force. I'm not going to go hide in a closet and hope the police get there before the criminals get to me. So many considerations, all of which are being made under duress in a matter of minutes or seconds. How many of us in a similar situation will get it right? We could be reading a different story about an elderly man found beaten/shot/stabbed to death (take your pick) during a home invasion "gone wrong". Thank God this man had given some thought about what HE would do if put in a horrible situation like he faced yesterday. I feel so badly for him and what he may be going through right now.

I haven t read thru this whole thread and perhaps already mentioned...but these young girls still have to face the charges of breaking into this mans home...and most certainly other charges that will be able to be tied them now.I pray for them as they now will have a daily reminder of bad decisions which dealt great consequences. Consequences for bad decisions...it is how we learn and grow and be better...hopefully that will be the case here, since their lives were spared.As I tell my wife because of my busy travel....if they are coming into the house, shoot and ask questions after. No one has any good intentions when they are coming into your home uninvited.

We looked at a newly built house on that street when we were house hunting 5 years ago, we crossed it off of the list because we found a house more suited for us in Eagle Springs.

I'll say this, and it is only my opinion as my husband and I have been having a deep conversation for a while. This was just making it an urgency of putting it back on the top of the list.I did read all the posts and I must say I can care less what color they were, good and bad come in all colors, nationalities, and all religions.However I would shoot to kill. I have been raped more than once and it WILL NOT be happening again. I don't have to answer my door to anyone, but usually holler go away. And always find the spot where I can see. I did call a neighbor one morning after just waking up, 1/2 a cup of coffee quietly sitting on the couch and boom boom boom on my front door. I thought they were comin in. I grabbed the cell as I hit the floor and snippered it to the bedroom for the double gauge. I asked her who was at my door. Morman ladies. I flung that door open and let them have it. I also let them know how close they came to seeing two very dark barrels. To never ever come to my door again, that I am not interested in any religion that bangs on my door.That being said, I think this homeowner did the right thing. Those girls chose to steal a car, drive to our neighborhood and invade our neighbor. (That could have been any one of our homes.) That young boy that nearly hit the one girl running, I pray he can recover from that traumatic experience. The young boy running to check on his sister and had to witness that, I pray for him too. All the students having to be locked down Again, yep I pray for them too. To all the community, I pray we can have some serious conversations with all our neighbors on all sides of us.
Do you know them? If not say more than a wave and hello. The best defense is the eyes around you.
Someone said surround your home. Dh talked about that last night. When I was looking for a new place to rent, I passed several nice homes up due to burglar bars.
1. Makes me think it's a high crime area.
2. I don't want to live in a prison.
3. I lived with a volunteer fireman for seven yrs. They hinder.
4. They are butt uglyMy wish is that the courts got tough on crime. No time for good behavior. No early release. And stop slapping these little fers on the hand. It only makes them bolder.
Btw that chick that killed that young deputy did 2 months of a 2 yr sentence and was only out 30 days. Case in point here.Please stay alert, be safe, and hug your loved ones.

Hmmm...this was new news on KHOU.A neighbor across the street said he heard two shots and looked out his bedroom window to see more gunfire."I saw a girl run out of the house and a guy chasing after her walking speed," said witness Brian Valera. "He was very, very angry. He yelled very threateningly at them."One of the women collapsed in the street as the other one lay wounded in man's doorway.The car the women traveled to the neighborhood in had been reported stolen earlier in the day, according to deputies.It was visibly riddled by gunfire after the shooting."I saw the car this morning patrolling up the road, and I actually looked for a cop to warn him about the vehicle," said neighbor Jennifer Lechner. "I just saw how slow they were going, and the driver's side door was kind of open."Neighbors say the women, identified by law enforcement as young adults, knocked on several doors before picking their target.

@HumbleGirl: Wow lots of adrenaline at the moment.
I stand with my neighbors and community.
Same stolen car? Was the car reported stolen from a familiar source? Happened to an old friend yrs ago. Hated calling it in stolen and they came back the next day but hey ya know.
Why was the door hanging open? That's all eerie and spooking on the eve of Halloween. Pisses me off these two ruined a lot of people's lives and that's not what the news are saying. Oh poor teen might loose an arm. Sorry if she wasn't doing (thieving) what she was doing, she would still have her arm. I think they are trying to fuel something.
Jmo

This part caught my eye. In Texas does the intruder have to cross the threshold before the castle doctrine kicks in? Back in college in Louisiana we discussed this in a criminal law class. In LA in order for you to act upon their version of the castle doctrine the threshold has to be breached. They can kick your door in or break your window but until they cross the threshold you can't technically shot them with the exception that they have a visible weapon.

@HumbleGirl: I can say I sure am an idiot. I read your story as it was today. The day after. Reading it again to catch Dh up I realized it was yesterday before they decided what house and what came after. My bad. Still pisses me off about how many lives are changed for ever!

I'm **** off that the media is trying to collect sympathy for one of these criminals because she is only 17. That is old enough to know if you use a rock to break a window, reach you hand through that window and enter a house to steal from other people - you are doing something very wrong that comes with a high potential consequence. To say nothing of arriving in a stolen car.Both of these people were in the house. The homeowner was completely legally justified in shooting them. Would I have done the same? I don't know. It's hard to know what you would do until you are confronted in your home by someone breaking and entering and then having a few seconds to figure it all out. Again I will say, I feel very, very sorry for this poor man and his family. He was at home minding his own business and is now going to be drug through the mud, suffer through a full investigation, pay for an attorney, cleaning costs at his home, lose his privacy and deal with whatever moral implications this all has for him as a human being.