Drunk college grad shot after wandering into a stranger's house.

[Liberal_in_LA]

A 21-year Colorado woman was shot after drunkenly wandering into a stranger's multi-million home Wednesday — and could wind up in jail after she leaves the hospital.

Zoe Ripple, a recent graduate of Colorado University, could face one to three years in prison if prosecuted, The Denver Post reported.

But Ripple’s friends and attorney say she isn't a criminal, and the act was out of character.

It’s still unclear why Ripple entered the house, ABC News reported. She went in through a screen door that was unlocked around 3:30 a.m. Wednesday.

Homeowners Timothy Justice and Doreen Orion told police they saw someone heading toward the bedroom and began shouting at her to stop. Justice warned he had a shotgun. Ripple continued to approach the room and he fired, the couple told police. Then they called 911.

"We were screaming at her and she kept coming in the bedroom. And we shot her," Orion told the 911 dispatcher. "She's in this house now. She's awake. She's fine. But she's shot."

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/drunk-college-grad-shot-wandering-a-stranger-house-article-1.1085126#ixzz1w1Zg6WtS

[Initech]

1. Forget background checks for guns - we need IQ checks.

[TheWraith]

2. Why? Someone's in your house at 3:30 in the morning, coming at you after you've said you're armed...

How exactly are you expected to know that they're harmless? If they even are?

[mythology]

4. In this case the IQ check should have been given to the woman who got drunk

I wonder how much you have to drink to be so unaware, or if the woman has a medical condition that mixes poorly with alcohol. Even when I've been well past drunk, I've never been so out of it that I didn't know where I was.

[Initech]

11. True - kind of hard to argue there.

[unreadierLizard]

5. I guess because the couple are "rich"

they must have shot her out of some anger at proletarian oppression or something.

Seriously, I would have done the same. I don't care who you are. If you come in, refuse to stop after I've fired warning shots and yelled at you to, I will shoot you to protect my family.

[obamanut2012]

13. I would have done the same thing

They had no idea if she was armed, methed out, whatever. She was directed to stop.

[MrSlayer]

3. Hard to blame them.

You come wandering into my house in the middle of the night and you can reasonably expect me to fuck you up. They actually gave her the benefit of yelling at her to stop. You won't get that from me.

[obamanut2012]

15. I thought that, too

I would barricade myself in my bedroom if I had the time, and call 911. If the person was able to get in, I would shoot them.

This is a shame, and I'm glad she wasn't killed, but it's 100% her fault.

[TheWraith]

16. That's exactly the right response.

Trying to "clear" a house or investigate on your own is potentially dangerous if you don't have to do it.

[obamanut2012]

25. We were taught this in my CCW permit class

Even though this issue didn't deal with concealed carry. The attorney would taught this part said to not be a hero or be stupid. Retreat, call the police, and protect if necessary.

[Fumesucker]

6. What does "college grad" have to do with the story?

That seems like a really strange thing to put in as part of the description..

[TheWraith]

8. Probably to convey that she was a young woman of college age.

Which I suppose might help explain how she ended up drunk enough to do something like that.

[LeftyMom]

10. I think it's supposed to explain why she was THAT drunk.

[aikoaiko]

7. Hopefully she'll recover well and not make stupid mistakes like that again.

Based on the facts in the article, the homeowners acted reasonably.

[muriel_volestrangler]

9. Who needs to lock your doors when you've got firearms?

Incredible that they'd consider charges, especially ones that could result in a prison sentence, for this.

[GreatCaesarsGhost]

12. And WE shot her.

Odd way of saying it.

[Peregrine Took]

14. We had a drunken yuppie break into our condo (row of identical buildings)

and fall asleep on our sofa.

Our dog woke us up (we were upstairs with the door closed) when he went to the bathroom. When we called the cops about 15 showed up (middle of the night) and he (intruder) was so drunk he was unable to speak.

We didn't press charges - he was simply in the wrong building. Glad we didn't shoot him.

[ellisonz]

23. +1000

[baldguy]

24. The idea that some people think it's perfectly OK to shoot someone who's incapacitated is appalling.

Even in a suppedly liberal bastion as DU.

[aikoaiko]

26. Except no one has actually said that.

People are saying that its ok to use lethal force when someone of unknown mental capacity is illegally in your house in the middle of the night and advancing toward you and your family after being warned to stop.

[obamanut2012]

27. No one said that, did they?

Just that it is okay to protect yourself from an unknown home invader who does not respond to demands to quit advancing on the homeowners.

[baldguy]

28. Let's look at #2, #4, #11, #13,

And #3, #15, #16... All the usual suspects, too.

[ZombieHorde]

17. I could see how that could be very scary for the homeowners.

Hopefully, this will be viewed as just a drunken mistake, and the homeowners won't file any charges against her (or will drop any charges already made).

[Kaleva]

18. "She's fine. But she's shot."

[Cali_Democrat]

20. That also caught my attention

[1620rock]

19. Odd way of putting that also.

[Odin2005]

21. This is why I never drink enough to get that drunk.

You do idiotic things when you are drunk. Idiotic things that can put you in danger.

[proud2BlibKansan]

22. They left their door unlocked

Seems like they're at least partly to blame here.

[lynne]

30. You're kidding, right?

The minute she stepped foot on their private property she was trespassing and that's before she got to the unlocked door. Not to mention that - unless someone funneled the liquor down her throat - she allowed herself to get so drunk that she'd do such a thing.

I doubt there's anyone here that can honestly say that they've never accidentally failed to lock a door at night.

Sure . . . the homeowner is partly to blame.

[TheWraith]

33. And the rape victim was dressed sexy, too.

[MrScorpio]

29. Her lawyer is probably going to plea for the drunken coed discount nt

[Mz Pip]

31. That happened to my cousin's husband

He was working late at a colleague's trailer and when he drove away he realized he'd forgotten something. He returned and inadvertantly walked into the wrong trailer.It was dark. The owner thought he was a burgler and shot and killed him.

No charges were filed. A deadly mistake if there ever was one.

I hope this young woman isn't prosecuted. It isn't likely she'll make the same mistake again.

[Nye Bevan]

32. When people get that helplessly drunk

bad things tend to happen.