Spokane7
61°
December 20, 2011 in City
Boy, 13, shot, wounded by homeowner
A 13-year-old boy is in stable condition after being shot by a homeowner during an early morning burglary in Medical Lake on Monday.
No one has been arrested, and the investigation is ongoing. Spokane County prosecutors will decide whether to file charges.
The boy, who sheriff’s officials previously believed was 14, and another teenage boy were carrying baseball bats when the homeowner confronted them after an intrusion alarm alerted him to a break-in at an enclosed room beneath his deck. The home is in the 600 block of North Grant Street, according to the Spokane County Sheriff’s Office.
Although authorities were withholding the homeowner’s identity, county property records show the home is owned by Justin J. Brown and Melissa A. Brown.
The man’s wife called 911 about 4:50 a.m. and said her husband was holding a burglary suspect in the backyard.
“Minutes later she reported that the suspect had been shot,” Reagan said.
The boy was transported to a downtown hospital where he underwent surgery midmorning, Reagan said. The second boy jumped over a fence and fled through an alley, but detectives later obtained an identity and interviewed the 14-year-old suspect after contacting him at his home.
The burglarized homeowner said the room had been broken into several days earlier. He didn’t report the earlier break-in to police, but he did install the alarm, Reagan said.
Deputies seized the .45-caliber pistol used in the shooting. Detectives were at the home much of Monday. The man had talked to detectives, “but there is evidence in and around the home that still awaits collection,” Reagan said Monday morning.
A suspect in the burglary at the home last week was arrested Monday afternoon after a blocks-long foot chase in Medical Lake. Mitchell Adam Swift, 18, of Medical Lake, was booked into jail for residential burglary and a municipal court theft warrant.
Human trafficking suspects released 
rosehips on December 20 at 5:44 a.m.
Wow, was the homeowner protecting himself or his property? Sounds like a pretty brutal case of a person taking justice into their own hands. I’m sure this guy will be lauded for his actions.
WillyPeter on December 20 at 6:16 a.m.
“Excuse me, but before I take any action to protect myself - ‘cause I notice that the two of you are carrying baseball bats - and my home and property, which you’ve now broken into, I’d like to see some ID, please.”
Shure, you betcha!
DickAdams on December 20 at 7:46 a.m.
I agree, WillyPeter. Six years ago, I decided to up-grade my 32 cal revolver and purchased a S&W 38, 5 shot revolver. I had a very good reason for doing it at the time. If, and hope it never happens, a home invasion takes place in my home, I just may shoot first and ask questions later. How dare these thugs bust into homes, for what ever reason. It might be the last home they break into in their life.
Orphan on December 20 at 8:13 a.m.
Rosehips So these well intended boys were breaking into the home to invite the residents out for a early morning baseball game, right.
Anyone that breaks into an occupied home armed, yes a base ball bat is a dangerous & leathal weapon, does not have good intentions. The fact that they were armed says enough for me. Please dont start with the but he was only 13, a 13 year old can kill you just as dead as a 50 year old. By 13 he knows not to break in to a home.
I feel sorry for the home owner he now will get to go through the meat grinder known as our justice system. Even if he broke no laws this will be living hell for him and his family.
o_pleez on December 20 at 5:21 p.m.
The homeowner might very well be prosecuted.
Under Wa law, lethal force is only allowed in case of an “imminent threat”. Someone in your house with a bat is not automatically an imminent threat, they have to be advancing on you or another person, or within striking distance of you or another person. An intruder with a bat, 10-15 feet away, doesn’t meet that criteria.
The moral of the story? If you shoot, kill. That way you’re the only witness.
Orphan on December 20 at 6:52 p.m.
o_pleeze you need to do some research start with
RCW 9.16.050
(1) In the lawful defense of the slayer, or his or her husband, wife, parent, child, brother, or sister, or of any other person in his or her presence or company, when there is reasonable ground to apprehend a design on the part of the person slain to commit a felony or to do some great personal injury to the slayer or to any such person, and there is imminent danger of such design being accomplished; or
(2) In the actual resistance of an attempt to commit a felony upon the slayer, in his or her presence, or upon or in a dwelling, or other place of abode, in which he or she is.
The kid was commiting a felony.
Why o why would you shoot to kill someone.
o_pleez on December 20 at 8:57 p.m.
The shoot to kill comment was tongue-in-cheek.
As far as research, do a bit of your own as well. The quoted RCW refers to “Brands and Marks”, ie: livestock.
The one you want is 9A.16.050, which doesn’t really apply since this wasn’t a homicide.
The appropriate one is 9A.16.020: Use of Force - When Lawful.
Sections 3 and 4 below.
(3) Whenever used by a party about to be injured, or by another lawfully aiding him or her, in preventing or attempting to prevent an offense against his or her person, or a malicious trespass, or other malicious interference with real or personal property lawfully in his or her possession, IN CASE THE FORCE IS NOT MORE THAN IS NECESSARY;
(4) Whenever reasonably used by a person to detain someone who enters or remains unlawfully in a building or on real property lawfully in the possession of such person, SO LONG AS SUCH DETENTION IS REASONABLE IN DURATION AND MANNER TO INVESTIGATE THE REASON FOR THE DETAINED PERSON’S PRESENCE ON THE PREMISES, and so long as the premises in question did not reasonably appear to be intended to be open to members of the public;
I capitalized the sections that could put the shooter in legal jeopardy in this case.
Nobody know what happened for certain, but the shooter was holding the kid, then a few minutes later he was shot.
Shooting someone that comes at you with a bat is fine. If the kid was trying to get away, shooting him is neither necessary nor reasonable.
If you’re going to shoot someone in defense of your life, you’re fine.
Shoot someone in defense of your property and you’re going to prison.