Would you kill to protect your neighbour's property?

Excerpts from CNN.


Ever since [Joe Horn] saw two burglars crawling out his neighbor's window on November 14 and gunned them down, Horn has been in legal limbo, unsure if he was going to have to defend himself and his actions or go free.

Monday, a Texas grand jury chose not to indict Horn in the deaths of Hernando Riascos Torres and Diego Ortiz, meaning he can live his life without having to explain before a jury of his peers why he chose to be judge, jury and executioner of the two.

Horn did what any of us would do in that situation: He called 911 to report the crime, and was told officers were being dispatched. But he was so incensed with what was taking place he told the dispatcher he was going to kill the men. No amount of pleading could get him to stop. On the audiotape of the incident, we can hear Horn racking his gun, firing two shots and killing Torres and Ortiz.

...Two men (both illegal immigrants and one of them with a conviction for selling drugs) are dead for stealing some personal effects, and we are supposed to welcome this vigilante justice?

Yes, the law was on Horn's side, whether he knew that or not when he fired. But when does our core decency come in when we make such life-altering decisions in a snap? Don't you think making the choice to kill someone should be based on something more dire, such as if your life is in danger?

At no point was Horn's life in danger. We also know that his neighbor was out of town and no one was at home. So don't try to bring up the various hypothetical situations that could alter the basic facts of the story.

Two sorry men who already broke the law by coming in the country illegally chose to hasten their fate by robbing the wrong house with the wrong neighbor watching.

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Is he, by any chance, related to Tom Horn?