I just watched Perfect Neighbor....and this happens.
By now this news is all over the world. A 32 year old Guatemalan woman, a cleaning lady, arrived at a house in suburban Indianapolis for a cleaning assignment around 6:40am. When she tried to enter the house, not sure if she knocked or tried to use a key, the homeowner fired a shot through the front door. Apparently it was the wrong house. This woman, a mother of four, was hit in the head and died. The homeowner had called 911 and police were on the way.
I'm trying to think of a circumstance when I would feel it necessary to fire gun through my closed front door. Who knows who's on the other side? Someone lost or needing help? A salesperson? Many different possibilities. It's hard to believe the house, in what seems to be a nice neighborhood, didn't have a video doorbell.
Firing a gun is the nuclear option. It's so final. So destructive. To do this you need to be in real danger and you need to be VERY sure what you're doing. The homeowner couldn't wait a few minutes until the police arrived? They didn't see who was on the other side of the door? A small woman with a mop. Was this woman really going to break the door down?
No charges filed yet. No surprise. It took days before charges were filed in the Perfect Neighbor. The homeowner's name has not yet been released by the police, and it looks like wagons are circling. The police have denied that the homeowner is a present or past police official. Indiana has a strong "Stand Your Ground" law and it's questionable if there will be charges.
Did the homeowner fire the gun because he could? Or because he needed to?
What a tragedy.
This was news to me, hadn't seen it yet in the media. I take a break from media on the weekends. There is a reason why it's called lethal force. I'm sure the homeowner that fired the shot probably feels horrible. You have to think BEFORE you act but in the heat of the moment when emotions are high common sense takes a backseat. It is sad that this happened. Life doesn't come with an undo button, like we see in cartoons.
ReplyDelete