Loss of life is awful, not matter the excuse.
An 80-year-old man named Tom Greer from Long Beach, California shot and killed a pregnant burglar who pleaded for her and her baby’s life, but was gunned down by Mr. Greer anyway.
Mr. Greer says he found upon entering his home that the woman, Andrea Miller, and her partner Gus Adams, were robbing his house — which had previously been ransacked three times already.
Here’s what he said happened when he entered his home:
“When I went in there, they tackled me. Both of them jumped up on top of me.”
They broke the 80-year-old’s collarbone and went back to trying to pry his safe open. However Mr. Greer was able to go unnoticed into another room to retrieve a gun which he promptly used to open fire on them. He said:
“I come back and they see me with a gun, and they run.”
While the man got away, the woman wasn’t as fast and while running away tried to reason with the old man. Here’s how Mr. Greer described the event:
“She says, ‘Don’t shoot me, I’m pregnant! I’m going to have a baby!’ And I shot her anyway. She was dead. I shot her twice, she best be dead … (The man) had run off and left her.”
Although Mr. Greer has never shot or killed anyone in his life, he believes that the killing of the pregnant robber will send a message to her partner. He said:
“I’ve never in my life shot anybody, killed anybody. I shot her so that’s going to leave a message on his mind for the rest of his life.”
Legal analyst Royal Oakes is also not sure if Mr. Greer will be charged for his actions. The analyst said:
“Investigators have to look at both sides of this coin. On the one hand a frail man in his 80s is being attacked in his own home by intruders, he has a right to self-defense. On the other hand, he did shoot a person who was trying to get away, so he wasn’t in imminent danger himself and the law says you can’t shoot somebody under those circumstances.”
Seems like it is going to be up to the court to decide Mr. Greer’s fate!
We’re curious to know what they end up doing.
[Image via KNBC-TV.]