What a waste

Tigh Croff of Detroit had his house broken into three times in one week. When he found two guys in his backyard, presumably in the process of theft and they fled he pursued with licensed gun in hand. One successfully eluded him. The other turned, surrendered, raised his hands, and...

“What are you going to do?” Herbert Silas of Detroit reportedly asked, his hands still in the air. “Shoot me?”

“Absolutely,” Croff told investigators he replied before pulling the trigger, the source said. Silas was hit once in the chest, killing him.

....and with the pull of a trigger Tigh Croff ceases to be a law abiding gun owner and becomes a murderer. I wasn't self-defense. If Michigan had a Castle Doctrine I doubt this incident would have applied. So why do I even note the incident? In reading this exchange, I have two thoughts. One is that he had probably watched one movie too many, and two, what a waste.

UPDATE: Ric Ector, a CCW instructor in Michigan offers his opinion on the incident here.

If the facts presented in the news story are accurate Mr. Croff is well and truly screwed. I agree with Ector that Croff should have lawyered up immediately and told the police jack. I can’t argue with anything Ector has to say about the law or state of CCW in Michigan. I’m in North Carolina. I assume, like myself, that what Ector knows about the incident comes from the news or police. I admit that we might not have all the facts.

Based on those sources Croff found the two men on his property. He had been the victim of three break-in s within a week. They fled and he gave chase. One stopped and tried to surrender. Croff shot him once in the chest. Was the thief trying to close on Croff? If he did I can’t say I wouldn’t have done the same thing. I do know this I would have maintained my distance so it would not have been an issue. Did the thief reach into his pocket or indicate he had a weapon in any way? In that case I might have shot him as well. If the thief kept his hands raised and there was no weapon in those hands Croff wasn’t justified in using deadly force. In the end only Croff and the dead know for sure. What I do know is this. Croff did not have to give chase. In doing so he placed himself in the position where he might have to use deadly force. He did it over property. Once they ran neither he nor his family were at risk. He’s going to have a hell of a time justifying his actions. In any event, I wish him luck.