I guess in Chicago you are supposed to wait to see if the burglar to shoots you first.
Neighbors are calling on prosecutors to drop charges against an 80-year-old owner of a local tavern who allegedly shot a burglar in his Englewood home on the South Side.
"If a man can't defend himself from harm, what can he do?" asked Darryl Smith, surrounded at a news conference by dozens of longtime Englewood residents and activists. "If he hadn't defended himself, we would be here for a different reason -- because an intruder came in and killed him.
"We're outraged as a community and we're calling for the state's attorney's office to drop the charges," he added. "This man has done nothing wrong."
Police say Homer Wright and his wife were sleeping when someone broke into their home in the 6400 block of South Morgan Street about 6:30 a.m. Monday. The intruder, identified by police as Anthony Robinson, broke through several boards and entered through a rear bathroom window attempting to steal some liquor.
Wright was awakened by his wife and grabbed a handgun and shot Robinson in the lower right leg, police said.
Robinson, 19, of the 6000 block of South Wood Street, was charged with felony burglary after he was treated at St. Bernard Hospital and Health Care Center and released.
Wright was charged with one felony count of unlawful use of a weapon after police discovered he had two prior weapons convictions from 1968 and 1994, officials said. Records show Wright also was convicted of theft in 1990. Wright turned his gun over to detectives.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/...glewood-both-charged-20120326,0,3175723.story
Neighbors are calling on prosecutors to drop charges against an 80-year-old owner of a local tavern who allegedly shot a burglar in his Englewood home on the South Side.
"If a man can't defend himself from harm, what can he do?" asked Darryl Smith, surrounded at a news conference by dozens of longtime Englewood residents and activists. "If he hadn't defended himself, we would be here for a different reason -- because an intruder came in and killed him.
"We're outraged as a community and we're calling for the state's attorney's office to drop the charges," he added. "This man has done nothing wrong."
Police say Homer Wright and his wife were sleeping when someone broke into their home in the 6400 block of South Morgan Street about 6:30 a.m. Monday. The intruder, identified by police as Anthony Robinson, broke through several boards and entered through a rear bathroom window attempting to steal some liquor.
Wright was awakened by his wife and grabbed a handgun and shot Robinson in the lower right leg, police said.
Robinson, 19, of the 6000 block of South Wood Street, was charged with felony burglary after he was treated at St. Bernard Hospital and Health Care Center and released.
Wright was charged with one felony count of unlawful use of a weapon after police discovered he had two prior weapons convictions from 1968 and 1994, officials said. Records show Wright also was convicted of theft in 1990. Wright turned his gun over to detectives.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/...glewood-both-charged-20120326,0,3175723.story
