In Peoria Arizona, a 62 year old home owner shoots a burglar that broke into his house through the rear arcadia door and when he confronted the man, gun in hand and told him to stop, the burglar continued towards him, so he shot him.
Kallas heard Rodriguez break into the house and told police he armed himself with his handgun when he went to investigate and found Rodriguez, told him to stop where he was and when Rodriguez continued walking towards him, in fear for his life, he shot the would be burglar in the shoulder.
Rodriguez was taken to a Valley hospital, his shoulder wound was not life threatening and has been booked into the 4th Avenue Jail and charged with burglary and aggravated assault.
The police found Rodriguez's vehicle, a 2002 Infiniti, in front of Kallas' house, its engine still running.
The shooting and the attempted burglary is still under investigation.
Kallas, who is a Vietnam veteran, told reporters, "I didn't shoot to take the man's life. I only shot to protect myself," he added, "I hoped I'd never have to use it but I did have it for protection."
According to the Peoria Police Department spokesman, Mike Tellef, "It looks like he thought it was going to be an easy score for him," referring to Rodriguez.
Kallas concluded his statement with, "He picked the wrong house with the wrong fella, I guess. I think his luck ran out today."
This is the second incident this week that a would be burglar has been shot during an attempted burglary.
On Tuesday, a stunt man turned salon owner in Phoenix shot a robber twice during an attempted hold up.
Arizona recently passed a new law called the Castle Doctrine, which automatically presumes homeowners are being threatened when someone breaks into their home.
The Castle Doctrine designates one's place of residence or in some cases place of business and any place legally occupied, as a place in which a person is allowed to protect themselves from illegal trespassing and violent attack.
It then goes on to give a person the legal right to use deadly force to defend that place (his/her "castle"), and/or any other innocent persons legally inside it, from violent attack or an intrusion which may lead to violent attack.
You can see the recent burglary incidents, in Peoria, by looking at the Peoria Police Department Burglary Map just for 3/5/08 to 3/11/08, (1 page PDF file) to get an idea of the problem that burglary is in Peoria Arizona.
One example of why an individuals right to bear arms, to protect and defend themselves, should never be infringed upon.
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