A Missouri man is facing several criminal charges after allegedly attacking his neighbor with a shovel; an attack that ended only after the homeowner grabbed a gun and fired a shot towards his assailant.
Sheriff's deputies in Franklin County, Missouri were called out to a home on a report of a burglary last Thursday evening, but as they were en route dispatch informed them that shots had been fired. When the deputies arrived on scene in the unincorporated community of Beaufort, they were able to speak with the homeowner, who had quite the story to tell.
The victim said a man was beating on his back door, and when he opened it, the man pushed his way inside and confronted him about urinating in his yard. According to court documents, the man was upset that the victim had urinated off the back porch of his own home while the man’s 13-year-old stepdaughter happened to walk by.
The victim said he was able to push the man out the door, but the man then grabbed a shovel, broke through the door, and started swinging the shovel. The victim grabbed a firearm and fired a shot between the suspect and the doorframe. The suspect left, but when he got outside, he allegedly used the shovel to shatter the rear windshield of the victim’s car.
I will admit that one of the joys of country living is being able to relieve yourself in the yard if necessary. But there's an important distinction here: I can't see my neighbors from my home, and they can't see me either. It's one thing to take a leak on your private property when your property really is private, but if folks can walk by and see into your yard, you should probably do your business indoors.
As unneighborly as that might be, barging into someone's home to accost them for their semi-public urination isn't the answer. At a minimum, that's trespassing, but 41-year-old Ryan Madonna is actually facing more serious charges of first-degree burglary, first-degree property damage, and fourth-degree assault.
I can understand Madonna's ire, but if the allegations against him are accurate then he escalated things far beyond what was needed. If he believed that his neighbor had intentionally exposed himself, he should have called police and reported that. If he believed it to be a stupid and correctable mistake, Madonna could have simply informed the urinator in question that his stepdaughter had seen more than she needed to and that the man needed to be more circumspect about when and where he watered his lawn in the future.
Instead, he allegedly decided to take matters into his own hands, or more specifically, into his own hands while holding a shovel. That's a pretty good way to turn a neighborly dispute into a felony case, and an even better way to get yourself shot.
Now, I'm not endorsing warning shots as a general rule. Quite the opposite, as a matter of fact. Firing a gun is a serious matter, and bullets have a nasty habit of going somewhere even when we're not aiming at a particular person. Plus, firing a "warning shot" can undercut any claim of self-defense. I can certainly understand why someone facing a shovel-wielding intruder inside his own home would believe his life was in danger, but you shoot to stop the threat, not to give them a warning.
There are lessons here for both men. For the homeowner, a little discretion can go a long way when nature calls. And the next time Madonna gets ticked off at his neighbor, he might want to remember that bringing a shovel to a gunfight is a pretty good way to dig your own grave.
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