Michael Dunn, Florida Man, Invokes 'Stand Your Ground' Law After Shooting Black Teen

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

83. Here in Minnesota a guy just shot and killed two teenagers,

a boy and a girl (cousins), who were apparently burglarizing his house. This is a disturbing, controversial case: The guy confessed that he heard someone breaking in, so he got a rifle and a handgun and waited in the basement until he could see the boy's lower body coming down the stairs, then he shot him; when the kid fell down the stairs he shot him in the face and dragged his body into his workshop. When he heard the girl coming down the stairs he shot her, too. She fell down the stairs, and he was about to shoot her again but his rifle jammed, which, he says, caused the girl to laugh at him (which seems doubtful, somehow). He told the sheriff, "If you're trying to shoot someone and they laugh at you, you go again," so he used the revolver to fire "more shots than I needed." He then dragged her body into his workshop, and noticed she was still alive, so he fired "a good clean finishing shot" into her head. He left their bodies in his basement for 24 hours before calling the police.

Minnesota does not have a "stand your ground law," though even if it did I doubt it would apply. You can shoot someone who breaks into your home if you reasonably fear for your life or safety or that or that of someone else. This guy just lay in wait and shot the burglars, who were unarmed, then shot the girl in the head when he saw she was still alive. He is being charged with murder. There's no racial issue here - everybody involved is/was white.

http://www.startribune.com/local/180853761.html?page=all&prepage=1&c=y#continue