A 23-year-old man from Camdenton, Missouri is behind bars and facing charges after his alleged involvement in a Camden County burglary earlier this month. Austin S. Rippe has not only been charged with second-degree burglary, but also second-degree murder after his alleged accomplice was shot and killed in self-defense by an an armed citizen.

A probable cause statement says the shooter, who called police to report the incident, was looking after a neighbor's property -- an office with an equipment yard -- when he saw a dark-colored vehicle. The man told investigators that he fired a warning shot in the area and then saw the burglars running toward him and fired at them, the statement says. 

Investigators believe that Rippe was able to get away.

Investigators found a vehicle's cargo door open and tools strewn along the ground when they went into the equipment yard, the statement says. The property owner told detectives that several items had been taken.

Rippe was found a couple of days after the burglary with some of the items that had been stolen from the equipment yard. 

Even though Rippe didn't pull the trigger, he's facing murder charges because 44-year-old Derek A. Wayman, his alleged accomplice, was killed in the commission of a felony crime. Under Missouri law, parties to a violent felony can be prosecuted for murder if one of their accomplices is killed while committing that crime. Those charges aren't exactly common, but they not unheard of. 

In fact, just a couple of days before Rippe was charged with second-degree murder, two men in St. Louis County were charged with murder after one of their cohorts was killed during an attempted home invasion in Ferguson, Missouri.

The robbery, captured on a Ring doorbell camera, showed the victim shoot and kill Tavon Williams while Williams and two others, including the recently freed Joshua Thomas Haegele, tried to rob him at gunpoint in St. Louis County, charging documents said. 

Haegele and Vernon Williams were both charged with second-degree murder, first-degree attempted robbery, armed criminal action and unlawful possession of a firearm.

According to charging documents, Haegele, Vernon Williams, Tavon Williams and an unnamed woman contacted their cousin to buy marijuana. When the four pulled up to the house, their cousin ran out after his dog, at which point Tavon Williams pulled a gun on the victim and said, "You know what time it is, give it up."

Haegele and Vernon Williams got out of the car and held a second witness at gunpoint in the victim's garage.

Police said Tavon Williams pushed the victim toward the garage while continuing to hold a gun to his head. The victim tried to grab the gun from Williams, and the two fought.

The victim then pulled out his own gun, and while still at gunpoint, he shot Williams.

Haegele was convicted of involuntary manslaughter five years ago for the shooting death of a 14-year-old boy. Prosecutors said in that case that Haegele, who was 17 at the time, was playing around with a loaded handgun in an apartment when he accidentally shot and killed the teen. 

While Haegele spent about five years in prison after the involuntary manslaughter conviction, he faces far more time if he's convicted of murder in the death of his alleged partner in crime in the home invasion. Under Missouri statute, a second-degree murder conviction comes with a mandatory minimum sentence of ten years in prison, but judges can issue stiffer sentences, including life in prison, depending on the circumstances of the crime. 

I don't know if this statute has a deterring effect on those thinking about committing a violent felony with friends or fellow gang members, but at the very least it offers an avenue for prosecutors to keep violent offenders behind bars and away from the public for a longer period of time than a simple conviction for burglary or unlawful use of a weapon. That's a good thing as far as I'm concerned, though I have a feeling Rippe, Haegele, and Vernon Wiliams would disagree.