re: Can I shoot an armed gunman in the back as he's running away?

As a general rule, the standard for justified homicide is an objectively reasonable belief that your in danger of loss of life of serious bodily injury.

Several states have Castle Doctrines and Stand Your Ground laws. Castle Doctrine creates a rebuttable presumption that it is objectively reasonable to believe your life is in danger or under threat of serious bodily injury if someone is acting against you inside your dwelling (or car in states that extent it to vehicles; some states also include personal businesses). However, it is rebuttable, which means if you were to shoot someone in the back as they're fleeing your house, the DA could rebut the presumption of justified homicide by showing you were no longer in danger.

Stand your ground laws simply mean that you do not have to make an attempt to retreat before acting in self-defense (be cornered with no other option). You can use deadly force is it is justified even if there was another option available. However, this does not mean that you can become the aggressor. If someone pulls a knife 25 feet away from you, you can't just shoot them then under SYG laws. If they were to run at you, then you could, even if you could have arguable ran away.

I will say no, but could you argue you felt this person was going to do harm to another person?

He got a gun, he could turn around and shoot you, just don't tell anyone he was running away.

If he's running away and no longer a threat to you or someone else's safety the answer is no. If you do YOU will be charged with at least manslaughter.

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He got a gun, he could turn around and shoot you, just don't tell anyone he was running away.

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That's not how any of this works.

Assuming he's dead, I can take his gun a fire a few in my direction to make it appear that he was firing back recklessly as he was running....then of course place the gun right back.

Why would you want to? When he turns and runs, he's no longer an immediate threat to you.

Because he just robbed me and could have killed me. Getting away with it will more than likely escalate his thug behavior until he does kill an innocent person.

(no message)

No. Always make him turn around

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If you can make a case that your life is in danger, then you can pull the trigger.

If not, then don't.

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FWIW. The above is the correct answer with a couple of additions. The classic shoot in the back allowable scenario is when you are in a shootout and the other party runs toward available cover. This is known as "bettering his position" and is a valid defense. You don't need to let him get behind a pillar and turn around before shooting again. Likewise, if he has his back turned and is shooting over his shoulder as he runs that is certainly acceptable. The other scenario not mentioned above is if he is running away to go harm a third party. The classic scenario is the guy who says he is going in the house to kill his wife and runs towards the house while displaying the weapon. You are certainly justified in shooting him.