SWEET HOME ALABAMA: Birmingham Man Shoots Two Home Invaders

A 68-year-old Alabama man was surprised by two robbers that came into his home through an unsecured window, but he wasn’t nearly as surprised as the two home invaders were when they started taking fire.

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The burglars, [Birmingham police spokesman Lt. Sean] Edwards said, enter the home through a window on the side of the house. “Obviously they didn’t know he was home,” he said. “He discharged his gun several times.”

The suspects fled the scene. Police said it appears they had a getaway car parked around the corner.

A short time later, two men with gunshot wounds showed up at St. Vincent’s East. They were later transferred to UAB Hospital for treatment.

One of the suspects is expected to survive. Police said the condition of the second suspect is critical. He was shot in the neck area.

The victim apparently didn’t know whether or not he had hit the intruders.  When officer told them they had been struck, he said, “I hope they are OK.”

The Birmingham home owner is like the vast majority of law-abiding Americans. He didn’t go looking for trouble. Trouble came looking for him.

He didn’t want to hurt anyone. He just wanted to protect himself from predators.

Fortunately, he did so successfully because he was able to acquire his firearm without the criminals being aware of it, and the first indication that they had that he was home was a hail of bullets heading their way.

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The article says that the home had been targeted for burglary several times before in the recent past, and it is logical to assume that the same robbers who had targeted him in the recent past are the same robbers that he ventilated.

We hope that the homeowner understands that shooting these men was a necessary act of self-defense that saved his life, and may have prevented these two criminals from committing more serious crimes in the future. A significant percentage of murderers have an extensive record of arrests before they graduate to homicide.

This gentlemen did his community a great service by putting these criminals in the hospital, and eventually prison or the morgue if they don’t survive their wounds.

It isn’t anything to celebrate or be happy over. Like putting down an injured animal, it was something that simply needed to be done, and we pray that this homeowner is able to see this act of self-defense as a necessary act, and is able to move on with minimal emotional trauma.

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