When you violate rule #4, bad things happen
When the man, identified as Mr. Albrecht, didn't stop, the homeowner who was armed with a handgun "shot one time at the top of the door," the report said. "He was trying to shoot over his head to scare him away," but Mr. Albrecht "is rather tall," said Sgt. Larry Lewis, a homicide supervisor, estimating the musician's height to be 6-foot-5. Mr. Albrecht was shot once time in the head and died at the scene.
When the man, identified as Mr. Albrecht, didn't stop, the homeowner who was armed with a handgun "shot one time at the top of the door," the report said.
"He was trying to shoot over his head to scare him away," but Mr. Albrecht "is rather tall," said Sgt. Larry Lewis, a homicide supervisor, estimating the musician's height to be 6-foot-5.
Mr. Albrecht was shot once time in the head and died at the scene.
Let's go over rule #4, shall we? Be sure of your target and what lies behind it.
I don't know about you, but I don't keep bulletproof materials sitting around so that, in case I need to let someone know I have a firearm I can light off a round and have it safely stop.
Warning shots ignore rule #4 in spades since they generally are not aimed. Firing up in the air ignores the fact that that bullet is going to be sucked back to Earth by gravity. Firing in a random direction ignores that the bullet is subject to the laws of inertia and will continue on its path until acted upon by another force, such as the friction from your neighbor's rib cage. If yelling "I have a gun", the sound of a round chambering, or the sight of the gun does not work, then you must decide if your life is truly in danger.
In this case, I think the shooter here is guilty of manslaughter based on the information given in this article. There may be more information that I'm not aware of that would make me change my mind and if there is, I hope the jury is given it completely and accurately so that they may decide. The door was effectively preventing Mr. Albrecht from being a threat to life and limb to the shooter. Once the door was breached, then he would have had the right to defend himself, but until that point he was not in mortal danger.
We as firearms owners have a large responsibility. Part of that responsibility is where our bullets end up. I personally feel that the 4 rules should be considered as part of law when handling shooting cases. If you've found to have violated those rules, then woe be to you.
This is a classic case of mishandling a firearm. A warning shot ignores your target and puts the bullet in an unexpected place. This time, it cost someone their life.
The actor's belief that the force was immediately necessary as described by this subsection is presumed to be reasonable if the actor:(1) knew or had reason to believe that the person against whom the force was used:A) unlawfully and with force entered, or was attempting to enter unlawfully and with force, the actor's occupied habitation...
The husband told police that "he yelled several warnings -- 'I'll shoot! I'll shoot!'" Dallas police Sgt. Larry Lewis said Tuesday. "From what we gather, he fired near the top of the door, hoping he would scare the person away."[...]The homeowner, whose identity has not been released, was not arrested and police are not pursuing a case against him, Lewis said. The shooting appears to fall under the state's "castle doctrine," a law permitting people to use deadly force in self-defense, he said.