Burglar Finds Out Hard Way He Picked Wrong House

Police in Mobile, Alabama, said Tuesday an attempted burglary turned fatal for the prowler when the homeowner turned out to be present and armed.

Officers responded to a call about a shooting shortly after 9:00 p.m. local time Monday, according to a Tuesday release by the Mobile Police Department. Upon arrival, they found 37-year-old David Lee, Jr. dead on the scene from a fatal gunshot wound.

Police said that Lee forced his way into the home by breaking a window and “unlawfully entering” the domicile, where the fatal confrontation with a male homeowner took place, according to the release. Police did not identify the homeowner involved in the incident.

Neighbors who spoke to reporters about the incident regretted the fatality, but agreed the homeowner had to protect himself, Fox10TV.com, a Mobile-area TV station, reported. Reporters from the outlet who saw police vehicles parked in a business’ lot were told to go to the scene for more information, according to Fox10TV.com.

Witnesses later told the station that a vehicle with a biohazard cleanup crew was seen in the home’s driveway. The Mobile County District Attorney is investigating the incident in light of Alabama’s “Stand Your Ground” law.

As a stand-your-ground state, Alabama’s law declares that if someone is somewhere they have a legal right to be and isn’t breaking the law, they generally do not have to run away before using force to defend themselves, according to the National Rifle Association. The same statutes cover the castle doctrine: If someone unlawfully and forcibly breaks into a home, occupied vehicle, or business, the law often presumes the resident or business owner reasonably feared serious harm.

Under Alabama law, a person can use a reasonable amount of force—including deadly force—if he or she reasonably believes someone is about to use unlawful deadly force against them or another person or is committing or about to commit certain violent crimes like robbery, burglary, kidnapping or forcible rape.