Michigan Homeowner Kills 1 of 7 Breaking Into Garage, But There’s an Issue

In a Castle Doctrine state, is your garage part of your home?

I’d say it is. 

But what if it’s a detached garage? Because it’s part of the curtilage, and it’s unlikely a would-be thief would have absolute assurance that the building is unoccupied, I’d imagine that it would count as well.

However, a Michigan homeowner’s defensive gun use involving his detached garage has some people asking questions.

One teenager is dead, and another is injured after a homeowner shot at a group of seven people who allegedly broke into his garage Tuesday morning in White Lake Township, Michigan.

The shooting now raises questions as to whether the homeowner had the right to use his firearm in this situation. 

…

Thomas Guynes, a CPL instructor and deputy with the Washtenaw County Sheriff’s Office, says it’s important for every gun owner to understand the laws about when you can and cannot legally use your firearm in the state. 

“There’s only four times in the state of Michigan in which you can legally shoot someone, and that’s great bodily harm or death to self, and the defense of another trying to prevent great bodily harm or death to another, criminal sexual conduct, and kidnapping. That’s it.”

In Michigan, gun owners are allowed to use force to defend themselves or others if they feel threatened. Guynes says it creates a grey area for situations like the one in White Lake Township.

Now, Guynes notes that the state is both a Castle Doctrine state and a Stand Your Ground state, which means you do not have a duty to retreat and can defend your home.

However, there seems to be at least some nuance missing from the discussion. Does state law explicitly state it’s just the house itself, or is the curtilage included? Further, you’ve got seven people breaking into a detached garage and just one homeowner. Was that a factor? Did they appear threatening to him?

The original news story on the incident doesn’t seem to say one way or another. They make it look like he just started shooting at them because they were trying to get into his garage, but is that accurate? I’m not sure the media would even recognize the nuances involved in such an incident, even if they wanted to.

And I see no reason to assume they did.

So what specifically happened? Why are people up in arms about it exactly?

Damned if I know, but there are some telling points to consider.

For one thing, police are looking for the rest of the crew that was trying to break into the garage. What they haven’t done is charge the homeowner with anything. Considering that he had surveillance cameras, if he were out of line, there’s evidence of that and he likely would have been arrested right then and there.

He wasn’t.

That doesn’t mean charges aren’t warranted or forthcoming, of course, but it does suggest that it wasn’t nearly as obvious as some of the people who are apparently screaming bloody murder about a couple of criminals getting shot. In fact, it’s funny how many people seem more concerned about the well-being of criminals than regular, law-abiding people, ain’t it?