Vigilante, hero, or killer?

[Diehard]

http://freep.com/article/20091229/NE...ruder-cops-say

[buildingsofdetroit]

“What are you going to do,” Herbert Silas, of Detroit, reportedly asked, his hands still in the air, “shoot me?”
“Absolutely,” the home owner told investigators he’d replied before pulling the trigger, the source said. He hit Silas once in the chest, killing him."

Right. Whatever. This guy watches too many Arnold Schwarzenegger movies.

[Bigb23]

The law says "reasonable" force. I'd be mad as hell too, but you can't chase and shoot them away from you're domicile.

Just wait inside, and have at it.

[EastSider]

Either that, or he's watched enough of life around this dump of a city and just got sick and tired of being a victim.

I think the jury should find him not guilty to send a message to the criminal underclass running the streets and those professional criminals in elected office that Detroit residents aren't going to sit around waiting for someone else to ride to their rescue anymore.

If I were selected, I'd never vote to convict.

[gnome]

Not enough info from that article, but a knee jerk opinion would be to convict on a lesser charge. Involuntary manslaughter or some such thing.

I wonder what ever happened to that Asian Fish Market guy who shot and killed the man who was urinating on his building?

[gazhekwe]

He shot an unarmed man point blank. I vote killer.

[LodgeDodger]

He should have shot the punk in the nuts. That would have made him a hero in my book--would have wiped the smirk off the little b*st*rd's face now, wouldn't it have?

[eastland]

Hero. Nuff said.

[Crumbled_pavement]

Either that, or he's watched enough of life around this dump of a city and just got sick and tired of being a victim.

I think the jury should find him not guilty to send a message to the criminal underclass running the streets and those professional criminals in elected office that Detroit residents aren't going to sit around waiting for someone else to ride to their rescue anymore.

If I were selected, I'd never vote to convict.

Exactly. It's a huge waste of tax money going to trial and all this other nonsense. The police need to be able to dispense justice on the spot. Person gets caught breaking in someone's house then the burglar should be executed on the spot. Think of how much time, energy, and money could be saved without having to worry about criminal's rights. Criminals are not people and do not deserve the protection of the law. EastSider, I'm glad you're man enough to say it. We need more like you!

[Ragtoplover59]

After being broke into 3 times within the last week, I'd bet he was harassed to the point of losing control, He most likely wasn't planning to kill any one prior to these 3 situations.

Keep messing with anyone long enough and they will snap!

I guess if he had kept his cool, when he had the perp at gun point, He could have just ordered a pizza and had dinner while waiting for the police to respond.

....and of course, everyone knows...
It was his own fault for having anything on his property that someone may want to help themselves to?

Sounds like the movie, "Grand Torino", and like the movie, this too will not have a very good ending!

[Crumbled_pavement]

I would LOVE to be picked for this jury. This man would either be home in 10 minutes or I would deadlock the jury into a mis-trial. LET HIM GO!!!!!

The penalty for robbery should be death anyway. And death should come swift with no chance of probation or beating the charges. Theft is undermining society anyway. If you're not willing to work for what you want then you simply don't deserve what you want. If society wasn't full of so many weak and compassionate people who feel sorry for common thugs we could have eradicated this problem many generations ago. Think of how many less police, lawyers, prosecutors, judges, and jury members [[i.e. tax dollars) society would need if common sense prevailed.

[Blueidone]

Although I don't think he should have killed the man, I will agree with the shooting him in the nuts...or the jaw to stop the taunting...of the foot to stop his running.

I agree that if the city government and the police can't handle the crime, only criminals will be left in the city. Maybe a little vigilati-ism is what is required right now.

If nothing else, he should be let go by reason of temporary insanity. I'd like to sit next to Ms. G on the jury!

[gazhekwe]

I am sorry, I do not see lawlessness as a solution to anything, especially not lawlessness.

[Crumbled_pavement]

I am sorry, I do not see lawlessness as a solution to anything, especially not lawlessness.

Oh I forgot to mention all the prisons we could get rid of. Aren't we facing a budget crisis in this state? If we weren't so wrapped up in giving the criminal rights these scum could already be buried six feet deep and we wouldn't be giving them three hots and a cot - out of our already strained budget.

Tigh Croff, you're my hero. If no one else tells you this then I'll tell you: GOOD JOB!

[MichMatters]

This sh%t may work down in Texas, but that's not how we do things, up here. The robbers were scumbags, but this is pretty clear-cut: you shoot an unarmed man that's not only given up and is now facing you, but has his hands up, to boot, and you're going to jail. Just that simple. Dude was probably the biggest dick in the world to taunt a guy with a gun, but simply being a dick isn't a justification to murder someone. Not even sure why this is posed as a question.

Mr. Tigh now rightfully has to pay the cost for wanting to be the boss, as they say. Oh well. Now, instead of being a rightfully aggrieved property owner, Tigh is little more than a common murderer, and over some damned property, no less. This isn't even one of those cases where he could have a legitimate argument that his life, or the life of those around him, may have been in danger. Now, instead of missing some DVD's and whatever the hell he had stolen from him, he's going to prison. What a dumbf%ck.

[Ray1936]

While I can sympathize with the shooter, he's in a heap of hurt. With luck he'll face a charge lesser than murder, but he's gonna have one helluva civil suit brought by the thug's family.

Once Mr. Silas was off the property and no longer a threat, the homeowner should have called it a day.

[Fury13]

Did Croff know for a certainty that Silas was unarmed? For all Croff knew, Silas might have had a gun concealed somewhere and could have pulled it if Croff turned away.

Yeah, yeah, Croff shouldn't have killed him off his property. Still, he did the city a favor. I applaud him. Good message for criminals: you come on my property, I'll f*ck you up or maybe off you.

I'd never vote to convict if I was a jury member.

Look, if more sh*t like this happened in Detroit, it would be a deterrent to crime. In fact, this kind of thing is the ONLY deterrent to crime in the city. It's not like Detroit has a real police force or anything.

[gnome]

I couldn't find anything new about Leroy Moon, the owner of the Asian Fish Market, who shot and killed a man who was urinating on his doorstep. Nothing in the google news files ...

I wonder if KYm Worthy dropped the chrges of First Degree Murder? Or did Mr. Moon already g to trial ...I mean it happened last Feb...

[GLHA-Contractor]

There is enough misinformation going around twisting facts and trying to make them something they are not to push a position.

The guy is not a vigilante as he did not go looking for the man who broke into his home to execute him after the event took place.

This homeowner told the man to leave according to what has been stated and the guy says what are you going to do shoot me? That was clearly a daunt. He was mocking the man whose home he had broken into. He was calling his armed bluff. He may have well said ok, go ahead and shoot me.

As far as I am concerned, he made all the guys dreams come true and sent him up to God and let God deal with him, because this fool clearly had no desire or intention of respecting this mans home or his property that he had worked for and the fool had not but decided was wrongfully his for the taking.

This is not some responsible homeowner that chased some fool down the street popping caps in his ass, although that would have worked too. This was a man who finds some disrespectful fool in his home and told him to leave and now nobody likes the consequences.

What is seriously wrong here is all the people who think that the guy who broke into the mans home has rights that must be defended. The fool did not wake up in another mans house after clicking his heels together three times and got the wrong address because he missed Oz by a few blocks. If the fool was still alive he would still be lying about what happend. He doesnt need our help to try to justify his wrong. It cost him his life and I'm sure God is already tired of discussing his lame rational of how he ended up before the judgement seat early and has already slammed the history book shut and tossed his retched soul down the coal shoot to live out eternity.

Maybe if we start putting our efforts into promoting doing the right thing more, instead of trying to justify the early death of some fool, society will be a better place.It would certainly help if we take this story and start teaching our children when they are young that if they want to be gang bangers and thugs, this could be them.

Go ahead now and try to justify the fool being in someone elses home.He is dead because he is a fool.

[buildingsofdetroit]

I'm dismayed that everyone is calling this guy a hero or said he did the right thing. We don't know that the dead guy was breaking into his home. It could be an excuse to kill. Innocent until proved guilty. Is it likely that a bad man got "got"? Sure. But until we know for sure, maybe we can reserve judgment on the hero status of this gun-toting badass.

[tallboy66]

Any body remember Bernard Getz?
Not saying that killing an unarmed man who has "given up" is right but I bet if he had gotten his hands on that gun the homeowner would have been the one killed.

[Crumbled_pavement]

Amen GLHA-Contractor. God is not one to pussyfoot around and be sweet talked by some vermin. There will be no defense attorney on judgment day. Either you committed the crime or you didn't, and if you did then you pay the price. That is how our society should work. Enough of the criminal rights. You break into someone's home then you take your life into your own hands and hard working citizens will not cry for you if you take a bullet to the head.

[FlyingJ]

Based on the "Broken Window" theory, you guys are brainwashed, what is judged to be normal in the D would not fly anywhere else. "Schwarzenegger movie"? Give a public defender a jury pool of 12 ragtoplover59's, sadly probably pretty easy in Detroit, & Mr. Croff is just fine. If an intruder's cocky enough to taunt him to his face at gunpoint, it's not so hard a jump for such a character to do this to Mr. Croff's family on their next visit;
http://www.freep.com/article/2009122...1228074/?imw=Y

[FlyingJ]

Remember that Arab market owner in the summer of 1980 who followed the African-American shoplifter with the Pepsi & a Twinkie, cocked his gun, the shoplifter turned around holding up the Pepsi & Twinkie & said "hey man, it ain't worth this" then he was shot in the chest? THAT was extreme, the shopowner didn't help by citing the Qu'aran, as I recall, before the boycott kicked in. This is a guy who got caught up in a situation not of his doing

[menckensghost]

Exactly. It's a huge waste of tax money going to trial and all this other nonsense. The police need to be able to dispense justice on the spot. Person gets caught breaking in someone's house then the burglar should be executed on the spot. Think of how much time, energy, and money could be saved without having to worry about criminal's rights. Criminals are not people and do not deserve the protection of the law. EastSider, I'm glad you're man enough to say it. We need more like you! . . . The penalty for robbery should be death anyway. And death should come swift with no chance of probation or beating the charges. Theft is undermining society anyway. If you're not willing to work for what you want then you simply don't deserve what you want. If society wasn't full of so many weak and compassionate people who feel sorry for common thugs we could have eradicated this problem many generations ago. Think of how many less police, lawyers, prosecutors, judges, and jury members [[i.e. tax dollars) society would need if common sense prevailed. . . . Oh I forgot to mention all the prisons we could get rid of. Aren't we facing a budget crisis in this state? If we weren't so wrapped up in giving the criminal rights these scum could already be buried six feet deep and we wouldn't be giving them three hots and a cot - out of our already strained budget.

Tigh Croff, you're my hero. If no one else tells you this then I'll tell you: GOOD JOB!

I thought at first, that this was a sarcastic and ironic comment on the lunacy expressed in a few of the posts, but no, it seems this jack-booted fascist is sincere. I, for one, am thankful that we live in the USA and not in this lunatic's fantasy. Even in war we don't kill the enemy once they have surrendered.