Man arrested for shooting person who tried to steal the man's car

This may contribute to the debate over the use guns by civilians in response to crimes. On social media I have already noticed facts getting mangled in discussions of this particular incident.

Affidavit: Man arrested for murder after confronting car theft suspects with AR-15, firing at their vehicle

Quote:

Brice Fitch is accused of firing that shot following a confrontation that occurred at around 4 a.m. Friday in the 300 block of South Jasmine Street in Denver. According to the affidavit, Fitch told police he “heard rustling” when he was letting his dogs outside, and noticed the door to his vehicle was open and the lights were on. This led Fitch to confront the suspects he said were breaking into his vehicle, and to yell “hey, get out of my car,” the affidavit says. Fitch told police he went back inside to get his AR-15 and told another person who was home to call police. The affidavit says he then walked toward the suspect’s vehicle and that he could see a man and woman trying to get inside “The victim observed the driver reached for the console area and drive off, [swerving] in the direction of him, and the gun went off,” the affidavit reads. Fitch told police that the gun went off when he fell, and that he had his hand on the trigger, pulling it by accident. He said the driver’s side door of the vehicle – which was still open – “went over him.” The suspect’s vehicle, according to the affidavit, then stopped in the middle of the block, and Fitch said he shot at the back of it twice, hitting it in the rear.

In particular, I keep seeing people saying that Fitch fired at the people to try to stop them from stealing his car. This is not true - he saw them in his car, but by the time he got his gun, the thieves were in their own car, not his. It seems likely that Fitch's legal defense will push the idea that the first shot may have been accidental and the next two because he thought they were going to run him over.

via International Skeptics Forum http://bit.ly/2IQ1wTB