A 42-year-old man is in custody after spending a few days in a South Carolina hospital, where he was recovering from the injuries he received after tangling with the wrong senior citizen.

According to police in North Charleston, both the homeowner and the man who was shot breaking into the residence are acquainted with one another, and had an encounter just a short time before the attempted break-in occured.

Early on the morning of Friday, Feb. 17, officers responded to Cambridge Avenue in reference to a break-in, according to a report. The owner of the home told police that he and a female acquaintance were at a gas station when [John] Jones approached the woman and started an argument.

According to the witness, Jones put the woman in a chokehold, but she was able to get away. The two returned to the home on Cambridge Avenue.

Police say Jones then showed up at the home and proceeded to kick in the screen door and front door. The homeowner, who armed himself with a pistol, shot two or three time in the suspect’s direction.

After he was hit, Jones fled the area, police say. He was later found on South Allen Drive and treated for his injuries before being taken to MUSC.

At the moment, the man shot by the homeowner is only facing burglary charges, but based on police reports I wouldn’t be surprised to see a few additional charges filed by prosecutors in the days ahead, at least if there’s any physical evidence pointing to the alleged assault on the woman.

Honestly, this seems less like a burglary and more of a home invasion to me, but regardless of the charges I’m glad that the homeowner was able to protect himself and his friend.

As it turns out, Jones was already wanted on an active warrant issued in Charleston County, though police haven’t detailed his previous criminal history. Between this incident and the warrant, however, Jones has plenty of legal issues to deal with going forward.

The armed homeowner, on the other hand, appeared to have been acting in self-defense according to police. Investigating officers say they found “visible damage” to both the screen door and the front door of the home, which backs up the homeowner’s account of Jones kicking in the doors in order to gain access to the home. Police also found shell casings inside the residence, which indicates that Jones had actually breached the door and was inside the 70-year-old’s residence when he was shot and further bolsters his claim of self-defense.

We might not know what specifically led to Jones allegedly choking the homeowner’s acquaintance, or why he was apparently so enraged that he showed up at the man’s house and forced his way inside, but no matter what was said there’s no justification for Jones’ alleged actions. And if the 70-year-old man had not been armed with a pistol, who knows what Jones might have been able to do to the pair once he’d broken in. It sounds like Jones is in jail today because of a series of unquestionably bad decisions on his part, but the homeowner and his friend are alive and unharmed thanks to his very wise choice to exercise his Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms in self-defense.