Three Masked Men Had a Halloween Surprise for Maryland Homeowner. He Had One for Them Too.

Halloween night turned into a real-life horror story for a Maryland man who faced three masked men, at least one whom was armed, in his driveway on Friday night. 

Thankfully, this frightful tale has a happy ending, at least for the homeowner. 

Police in Baltimore County were called out to a home in Cockeysville, Maryland around 10:45 on Saturday evening after a 911 call was made. When officers arrived, they spoke to the homeowner, who told them that he was sitting on a chair in his driveway when three men, all wearing masks, approached him and made threats. One of the men was holding a handgun, and the homeowner drew his own pistol and fired several shots. 

The three men ran away, and the homeowner called 911 to report what happened, police said.

Officers searching the area found one of the men dead a short distance away. Police identified him as 20-year-old Amon Walker. The two others, both adult men, were found after they went to local hospitals for treatment, police said.

Officers also recovered a loaded handgun they believe belonged to the men, police said. There is no ongoing danger to the community, authorities said.

Authorities haven't said if there is any connection between the three men who were shot and the homeowner who says he fired in self-defense, but the investigation is still ongoing. 

Maryland's self-defense laws aren't the greatest, which could play a role in whether or not the homeowner is charged. Maryland imposes a duty to retreat outside the home, so even if the investigation shows that the three men did pose a legitimate threat to the homeowner, a zealous prosecutor might decide that the homeowner should have tried to run inside his residence instead of shooting the men who were threatening him in his driveway. 

The state also requires that four factors be met in order to successfully argue self-defense. 

First, you can't be the initial aggressor, which doesn't appear to be an issue here. The homeowner says he was just sitting in his driveway when the three men came up and threatened him. 

Second, you must face an immediate, actual, or perceived danger of death or serious bodily harm. Depending on what was said, and the fact that police did recover a loaded handgun, it should be relatively easy to argue that the threat was immediate and actual. 

That belief of danger must be deemed reasonable, which again shouldn't be much of an issue if the homeowner's life was actually threatened. 

Finally, you can only use the degree of force necessary to stop the threat. If the homeowner had a gun pointed at him, or threats to his life were made by someone who was holding a handgun, then the homeowner wasn't using disproportionate force in defending himself with a handgun. 

Again, the biggest question (assuming the homeowner's story checks out) may be whether the homeowner had a safe avenue of escape. I would argue that any time you have to present your back to an armed individual who's threatening your life, you don't have a safe way to retreat and that you can lawfully use lethal force to protect yourself. Whether prosecutors in Baltimore County see it that way, though, remains to be seen. 

Editor’s Note: The radical Left will stop at nothing to enact their extreme gun control agenda and strip us of our Second Amendment rights.

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