Florida Sheriff: ‘You Should Expect to be Shot’

Last week, I wrote about a couple of Texas teens who discovered the concept of FAFO–F*** Around and Find Out–was all too real. It was a story that made me happy. Not so much because people were shot but because every person who gets shot like that serves as an object lesson that if one were to “F” around, they’re likely to find out.

The FAFO principle, however, isn’t exactly unique to Texas.

That’s the hard lesson a couple of home invaders discovered in Florida, recently.

A Florida sheriff said intruders should “expect to be shot” after releasing information about a homeowner who opened fire at two masked men trying to break into his house, killing one.

…

“He knew something bad was about to happen and he didn’t stall,” MCSO Sheriff Rick Wells said during a press conference Friday. “He grabbed his firearm [and] told his wife to get into a safe spot.”

The homeowner fired multiple rounds, hitting Flores-Toledo “several times,” while Soto-Mella fled the scene, according to the sheriff’s office. 

…

Authorities said Flores-Toledo was initially reported to be in critical condition before being transported to Sarasota Memorial Hospital, where he died Friday morning.

“This is the state of Florida,” Wells said. “If you want to break into someone’s home, you should expect to be shot.”

The deceased bad guy was from Mexico while the injured (alleged) bad guy is an illegal immigrant from Chile. My guess is the dead one was illegal, too, though that’s not explicitly spelled out in the above report.

For what it’s worth, Sheriff Wells is absolutely right. If you try this stuff at all, you should expect to be shot.

In fact, if bad guys got that memo, they’d probably start looking for alternative revenue streams that were less likely to result in a fatal overdose of lead and copper being introduced into their bloodstreams at a high velocity.

Look, these people don’t intend good things for the people living in these homes. Far too many of them figure they have some kind of right to take what they want, to hurt who they want, and no one should do anything about it. They think the world owes them.

That’s not how it works, though. I earned everything I have. So did most other people in this country. If we opt to give it up for someone else’s betterment, that’s our decision. No one has a right to help themselves, though, and they damn sure don’t have a right to threaten people in order to get it.

Those who think otherwise and seek to…facilitate the relocation of people’s belongings without their permission, especially via the threat of force kind of deserve whatever happens to them. They should, as the good sheriff said, expect to be shot.

If more expected it, more would stop trying this kind of thing. Then we’d see these kinds of acts plummet as people have a tendency to not enjoy being shot very much. They also tend to enjoy being killed even less. I see this as an absolute win and I despite any jurisdiction that thinks people should have to seek the opportunity to get away.

That’s just encouraging people like this.

Meanwhile, at least one of these two will never invade another home again.