Dealing with possible intruder is dicey
About 40 years ago, an employee at my work was fired. There were threats made, and it was worrying to me because I was a foreman---did not fire the guy but had to fill in his job until a replacement was hired. In the summer we always locked the screen door, and when we retired for the night, closed the door and locked it. One night shortly after falling asleep, I woke up and somebody was trying to open the screen door--our bedroom window was open and I heard that sound of the door being tried. I immediately got up and got my pistol, and went directly to the living room where that door was located. My wife was yelling at me to watch for the kids, and evidently that scared the person, or they gave up on trying to get in our house.
It turned out that the person got into a neighbor's house down the street from us, that did not have their doors locked. The neighbor heard somebody in the house, got his gun and found the intruder in the bathroom. The neighbor cold cocked the intruder and called the police.
If the intruder had successfully gotten into my living room, things may have gone really bad, as I was about half thinking that ex-employee was the one trying my door. At that time, IIRC, we did not have the "Make My Day Law" in Colorado yet. If I had shot the intruder, that could have been more than ugly.
There are so many variables when things happen like this, that the outcome is difficult to judge. My opinion of the incident related in the link in the OP is, the resident was entirely justified in his actions. How this plays out will be interesting, and the autopsy results will possibly reveal why the trespasser was seemingly off his rocker. Sad story, to say the least.
