Man holds up robbers till cops come

[bmel17]

http://www.delawareonline.com/articl...es-at-gunpoint

[MischaBurns]

for those that, like myself, dislike having to click links:

'Fed up' 82-year-old held alleged thieves at gunpoint
Threat of 'one right between the eyes' stopped escape

Joe Harper, an 82-year-old retired high school math teacher and business owner with diabetes and leukemia, says he isn't a hero.

"But people keep telling me I am," he said. "They keep shaking my hand, telling me I'm a hero, honking and waving."

Last month, Harper shot out a tire on a pickup truck loaded with stuff allegedly stolen at his house off Chapman Road near Christiana and held two men at gunpoint until police arrived.

New Castle County police took William G. Rafter, 41, of Clayton, and Mark Sturgill, 30, of Bridgeton, N.J., into custody. They were charged with felony theft and conspiracy by state police, who said they stole a generator and metal items from the yard and put them in a truck parked at University Village Apartments behind the house.

"I'd do it again," Harper said, "but not first thing in the morning."

Harper says he was just getting up Dec. 10 at another house he owns a few miles away in Ogletown, when his son David, 53, called from work in Dover. His son said a friend who works near the Chapman Road house called him saying thieves were robbing the place, he said.

Harper -- an Army veteran who served as a combat engineer and instructor -- grabbed his gun before driving over. "It's a .22 Magnum ... a target pistol worth about $250, $200," he said.

Minutes later, Harper said, he saw his stolen things in the truck and two men getting into it. "They parked at the apartments because the drive to my house was cabled," he said.

Walking to the men, gun in hand, Harper said, he yelled, "I'm an excellent shot and can shoot out your eyes at 60 paces." He fired once at the driver's side front tire and stopped about 6 feet in front of the truck.

"I said, 'If it moves toward me, the driver gets one right between the eyes,' " he said. After that, he added, "they didn't give me much guff."

Harper was not charged in the incident. But he said he wasn't happy to be frisked, have his gun and pocketknife seized and spend more than an hour in the back of a police car.

His son got back his knife. "But I'm still waiting for my gun," Harper said. "They say it's evidence."

Police advise against action such as Harper's.

New Castle County Officer First Class John Weglarz Sr. said stopping criminals is best left to police. "Taking the situation into your own hands, you could get hurt," he said. "You also have the possibility of someone else getting injured."

Delaware State Police Cpl. Jeffrey Hale said, "Obviously, it's something we don't recommend any victim of crime do. It could end with the loss of lives."

Police instead urge victims to get all the information they can -- suspect descriptions, vehicle plate numbers and details, and direction of travel.

Harper said he took his gun and used it due to his frustration as a repeat crime victim.

Police confirm a burglary at the Chapman Road house in October. Harper recalls finding his belongings piled in the yard. "They even had my toaster oven, my microwave and some new screen doors I had," he said. "The police helped me carry everything back into the house, but they never made an arrest."

The same month, he said, thieves stole more than $30,000 worth of kitchen equipment at another property he owns, the historic Shannon Inn, which he and his son are restoring at Main Street and Old Baltimore Pike in Christiana. Police had no details of that crime Monday.

Harper said he hopes not to be a victim again, adding, "I'm fed up with all this thievin'."

[crashland]

Shooting at the tire was not a good thing to do but threatening them and holding them seems like a good choice to me. It's his stuff, if he wants to keep it he has to defend it himself, if those guys got away he would probably never see that stuff again. I don't think I'd leave anything up to the cops that I really care about keeping.

[Metz]

He put himself in good position, as far as I understood. He was standing between the perps and the only way out, so every escape attempt could also be an assault attempt, so the man had no other schoice than to shoot. Things could be different if he aimed at their backs while they were running away.

[renegadephoenix]

all the more reason we need to push the Castle Doctrine through, there are goings ons behind the scenes to make the new Castle law stronger so in this case he would have been justified in using what ever force he felt necessary.

[MischaBurns]

all the more reason we need to push the Castle Doctrine through, there are goings ons behind the scenes to make the new Castle law stronger so in this case he would have been justified in using what ever force he felt necessary.

IIRC, we already have a "Castle Doctrine"

[Metz]

IIRC, we already have a "Castle Doctrine"

But there is a good reason you put it in quotes

[MischaBurns]

But there is a good reason you put it in quotes

of course. Our current one isn't worth much, but it's still better than nothing!

[renegadephoenix]

IIRC, we already have a "Castle Doctrine"

smart ass i would not call what we already have "Castle Doctrine"

[knight0334]

smart ass i would not call what we already have "Castle Doctrine"

I would.. You have no duty to retreat in one's home(or place of work). And you can use deadly force in your abode to terminate a felony upon an unlawful entry. ...that there is Castle Doctrine. Your "Castle" is your home.

Marcus Tullius Cicero~ "quid enim sanctius, quid omni religione munitius, quam domus unusquisque civium?"