re: Thoughts on this/chasing down thief and killing him

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Apparently he thinks nobody can ever defend their life if they are sitting in a vehicle.

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he wasn't defending his life. he wasn't in danger because the criminal was fleeing.

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Texas Penal Code Section 9.42 requires that all three of the following circumstances exist in order for you be justified in employing deadly force to protect property.

1. You must be justified in using force;

2. Must only be to the degree you reasonably believe deadly force is immediately necessary to prevent:

a. the imminent commission of arson, burglary, robbery, aggravated robbery, theft during the nighttime, or criminal mischief during the nighttime; orb. Someone fleeing from those things; or

3. To the degree that you reasonably believe that

a. The land or property cannot be protected or recovered by any other means, orb. Using a lesser force would expose you or someone else to the substantial risk of death or serious bodily injury.

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it will be hard to argue that using lesser force wouldve exposed him or someone else to substantial risk from a fleeing criminal and that there was no other means he couldve employed to recover the vehicle, such as calling the cops while in pursuit

I'm glad the thief got killed, but we can't have citizens driving down the street shooting at people legally. that is a danger to innocent bystanders. if you make it legal, then folks with shitty aim can do it also.

if you are sitting outside and see a car driving down the road shooting at someone and bullets are flying, i'm sure your first thought will be, "wait a second, this might be legal, the guy in the other car may have stole his car."