This story brings two key questions to mind for those of us who plan to defend ourselves and our loved ones in our homes.
The incident happened around 3 a.m. in the 1400 block of East Maddox Avenue, where a victim told police that several males wearing ski masks and armed with guns broke into his house, according to a police news release.
The victim, 30-year-old Cristian Robles, shot at the intruders, and they returned fire. One of the intruders was shot, and found nearby after calling 911 for assistance. The resident was not hit, but injured himself when exiting through a window — he cut his leg on the glass.
The neighbor’s home had approximately 9 bullet holes in it. The article didn’t specify whether those bullets were from the resident or an intruder.
The first thing that comes to mind is to consider where bullets may fly if they miss the target. In this case, a neighbor’s occupant may have been narrowly missed. Though it is not always possible to consider and manage all the angles, it may be one of a multitude of factors to consider when defending oneself.
The next item is that Cristian injured himself leaving his home. Again, it isn’t always possible to plan an exit route, but if possible one should preplan a couple exits from the home if necessary. In this case, I suspect the multitude of intruders caused Cristian to decide he needed to exit, even if it resulted in injury.
