Armed self-defense is a subject that’s been in the news a lot the past few years. Starting with the Trayvon Martin shooting in 2012, and extending up to the Kyle Rittenhouse shooting and trial, America has grappled with when self-defense is justified.
In the Martin case, supporters of shooter George Zimmerman argued Zimmerman was defending himself from Martin who was trying to forcefully take his weapon from him. This was found to be correct in a court of law.
In the Rittenhouse case, supporters of Rittenhouse argued he was defending himself from a pursuing crowd of rioters and looters who were trying to take his gun from him and physically assault him.
Opponents say he traveled with the intent to kill and did not need to fire his weapon to defend his life. Rittenhouse was cleared of all wrongdoing late last year in a widely-publicized trial.
What makes self-defense even more complicated is when the one defending him or herself is a police officer. In a case of this out of Fulton County, Georgia, the subject is coming up.
Officer Shoots Burglar
A 59-year-old individual called Bobby Lee Sutton reportedly tried to break into a home over the weekend on Saturday. A deputy had his security system warn him a man was at his residence, trying to kick down the door.
The officer was already wrapping up a day on the job and headed home to deal with this. When the unidentified officer got home, he saw Sutton fleeing the scene with a number of valuable tools and other possessions from his home.
The deputy didn’t want to lose his stuff and started slowly tailing the suspect as he headed off the property.
At this point, Sutton reportedly noticed he was being followed and ran into the nearby forest. The officer pursued, drew his weapon and the two argued, after which the officer shot him.
Sutton went down and the officer tried to do CPR and save him, but by the time ambulances came and he was transported to the ER, it was already too late and he died at the hospital.
The intruder forgot that this is Nevada. People are armed for home defense…and they will defend. Oops!
— MW (@mikewangse) January 24, 2022
Family Speaks Out After Tragedy
Sutton’s family is devastated after what happened, as any family would be. Now, they are saying the officer had no right to follow him into the woods or shoot him “like he’s nobody.” According to the family, this is “not justice.”
They say Sutton was basically a good guy and everyone loved him. They have set up a GoFundMe page which so far has barely any donations. It’s unclear if the officer is going to be cleared on this shooting, but one thing is for sure.
Sutton didn’t have a right to break into someone’s home and steal from them. The officer observed him with stolen property and followed him, which is clearly justified.
As for the shooting itself, it remains to be seen exactly what happened, but if you don’t want to end up facing someone down in the woods, it’s better not to steal in the first place.
From our perspective, the fight for being pro-#2A is not just about "muh rights", we also want to save lives. We want people who get attacked with deadly force to be able to defend themselves.
Here is a man who shot a guy in self defense (hostile had a gun) pic.twitter.com/wobigV3T5y
— 𝓛𝓲𝓫𝓮𝓻𝓽𝔂336 (@Liberty_336) January 30, 2022
