Reply #17: Vigilante. [View All]

Sleeping in his office with a shotgun is fine,

Attempting to detain and arrest a thief is fine,

Blocking the door so the thief couldn't leave would have been fine. But if your too slow to catch the guy, your out of luck.

What's not fine is taking a shot at a thief as he is running away. Especially if he is empty handed.

It's clearly not self-defense, and it appears it's not even defense of property, which may or may not be legal in Hanover, Mass.

So, in response to your question, if the thief was empty handed, there is no valid way to argue he was attempting to protect his property.

That makes him a vigilante.

This guy was out of line.