Quote:
California man, 80, guns down 'pregnant' home intruder: 'I shot her twice'
LONG BEACH, Calif. -- Prosecutors were waiting Friday for the results of a police investigation into the killing of a burglar by an 80-year-old homeowner who says he shot the woman in the back as she fled his home and ran down an alley, the district attorney's office said.
Long Beach resident Tom Greer, 80, told KNBC-TV that the burglar had said she was pregnant and asked Greer not to fire but he shot her twice in the back anyway.
An autopsy later found that Andrea Miller, 28, was not pregnant, said Ed Winter, coroner's spokesman.
"Long Beach police are still investigating," said Sarah Ardalani, spokeswoman for the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office. "It's ongoing and so we're waiting at this point."
Prosecutors filed murder, burglary, robbery and weapons-related charges against 26-year-old Gus Adams, a suspected accomplice of Miller. He was being held on bail of more than $1 million.
A court appearance initially set for Friday was rescheduled for next month.
The murder charge is possible because Adams is accused of participating in a felony that led to a death, said police Chief Jim McDonnell.
Police said Friday that Adams' mother, Ruby Adams, also was involved, and she was arrested Thursday night on suspicion of robbery. They gave no details on her alleged role or the evidence against her.
McDonnell said the homeowner came home around 9 p.m. Tuesday and surprised 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 he 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 grey 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?"
McDonnell declined to say how many shots were fired or to confirm that Miller was shot in the back.
No phone listing was available for Greer and he could not be reached for comment by The Associated Press.
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I have no doubt that the old man is gonna get away with it, even though she was running away, he shot her in the back and it was not in the immediate cicinity of his house.
Those aspects of the law tend to be disregarded when it comes to killing intruders.
I get that she wouldn't have been shot if she hadn't been committing a felony, but I still don't understand how that makes it okay to shoot someone period (let alone to death) when they're already running away.
You can already tell, though, that the police are looking for ways to exonorate the old man. "Everything was happening so fast. He's just been robbed and assaulted." They won't confirm the autopsy findings, i.e. that she was shot in the back.
The way they're going on this one seems a foregone conclusion.