An Oregon man has had rifle confiscated and is facing criminal charges after he attempted to stop a wanted felon from breaking into his home by firing a warning shot.
Police in Medford, Ore., say the incident occurred at around 11:30 p.m. on Sunday. Officers responded to an apartment complex in the area after receiving a disturbance call. During their investigation, cops heard a gun shot and a man running away toward the complex’s parking lot.
Authorities say 40-year-old Jonathon Kinsella, a wanted felon, was attempting to flee the scene when he was arrested on outstanding warrants, including for burglary and assault.
Military veteran Corey Thompson, 36, told KDRV-TV that the wanted felon was trying to beak into his home via the back door. Defending his property, Thompson said he warned the criminal that he was armed and he was giving him his one and only warning shot.
“This is the end result. You break into someone’s house, there’s consequences,” Thompson said.
Wielding his AR-15 semi-automatic rifle, the veteran made good on his threat and fired one warning shot. The bullet did not strike the suspect or anyone else.
“When I’m dealt with a stressful situation, being a veteran from Iraq and the Afghanistan war, it’s natural. I just jump into combat mode. I told him I’m going to give you a warning shot,” Thompson explained.
However, police later determined he wasn’t justified in firing his weapon. Medford Police Lt. Mike Budreau said “there was nothing that the suspect was doing that was aggressive enough to justify the shooting.”
Apparently, for police in Medford, a wanted felon trying to break into a law-abiding citizen’s home isn’t enough to justify a warning shot.
Thompson was charged with unlawful use of a weapon, menacing and reckless endangering. The veteran’s AR-15 was seized by police because they claim it was used in the commission of a crime.Thompson said he doesn’t agree with the police’s decision in this case.
“I can see where they’re coming from, with those kinds of ordinances and stuff. I understand yes, I did discharge my weapon but I was careful not to fire it at any body’s residence. It was at the ground specifically,” he added.
Well, no one ever accused the police of being competent or capable of doing their jobs.
exactly, no one able to make a living making good wages does not consider law enforcement. An aptitude test and an I.Q. test should be administered to all police enforcement applicants and judges but they are not. Enlistment in our millitary requires a test, they know they have to have intelligent people doing the important jobs, funny that this is not a requirement in the civillian world when it is OUR people in harms way when it comes to the law here in the states.
There was an article a while back about a man suing NYPD because he tested too high on the IQ test actually.Screwed up eh?
I know this sound’s bad but he probably should have let him break in and then shot him.
Hindsight’s always 20-20.
Years ago I had to call the police for a crazy guy with a gun in my yard. The state cop who responded told me (off the record) that if I ever had to shoot anybody at my house, make sure they were inside, and that they were dead when the police got there. You only want one version of what happened.
why the hell would you tell the cops or the crook anything? Shoot the crook then if the cops ask you anything, “Damn that asshole crook spooked and himself ha ha ha”. Let them search for the crooks non-existent if he does not have one, gun while you pick up your brass (note, always have a revolver if possible, not to leave any brass about) and clean your gun.
The cops are on a power trip and they don’t want anyone protecting themselves… they want everybody to be dependent on them for their protection. Most cops are social misfits who are in severe rejection and are always looking for ways to relieve the pain of rejection and the feeling of powerlessness they feel from being severely rejected (usually by one or both parents). One way they do it is to apply their autocratic power to those who they see as unable to defend themselves against their power (which makes them feel powerful). And if anyone tries to usurp that power they will be punished (by the autocratic system) which is what is happening to Corey Thompson.
Oh man, typical of our government.
ONLY the police can discharge their weapons because, even though they can’t shoot someone four feet away from them, (NYPD for those of you who don’t remember) they are more intelligent, more trained and are paid by the government to handle these situations. (sarcasm)
The military veteran who has had ZERO police experience, although combat experience, he is still not being paid by the government and probably doesn’t know how the police do things in his own neighborhood, so therefore it was not good for him, the people or society in general and makes the police look bad and prevents them from creating and enforcing their Big Brother society. (more sarcasm)
Any questions? GOOD! Move along now, like a good little sheep and let us wolves handle the work here at home for you. No need for that AR-15 and don’t expect it to be given back because we will dismantle it and you will never see it again.
OH! You said that we said it was evidence and you would be given it back later. HAHA!!! That’s funny. Oh wait. You thought we were telling you the truth. Aww….that’s so sweet. (Ending sarcasm)
I just have to say, Thompson better have another one hidden somewhere for a rainy day because he definitely ain’t gonna get that AR-15 back, at least not until the end of the year at minimum, if that.
It took me a year and a half to get mine back and all I did was have a false police report filed against me. No proof of anything illegal and no charges filed against me.
Those cops are WORTHLESS. This guy was doing THEIR job. What a bunch of pinko-pussy-whipped wimps. Time to fire the police dept. and create a local self-defense league. Wonder what limp-dik Budreau would do in that situation. Suck his thumb and make tea?
And so goes the stalinista brainwashing…
And they wonder why no one wants to pass a levy to have more cops on the street…
“However, police later determined he wasn’t justified in firing his weapon. Medford Police Lt. Mike Budreau said “there was nothing that the suspect was doing that was aggressive enough to justify the shooting.”
WASN’T JUSTIFIED?
Why, because it was determined AFTER THE FACT that the perp was unarmed?
And the intended victim is supposed to know this HOW???
If you don’t have anything more intelligent to say to the ‘press’, you need to keep your piehole shut, @sswipe!
In other words the police want you to do as they do, namely give no warning, shoot wildly around the general direction of the perp. and hope that you hit something or someone (preferably an innocent bystander) instead of being a responsible gun owner. The police have become more criminal than the criminals.
To the reporter. Just because an AR 15 (semi automatic rifle) looks like a M -16 (semi automatic/automatic assault weapon) dose not magically turn it into an assault weapon!
I’d be wary of some kind of set-up in your new totalitarian society. The law are so dishonest they are no longer above criminal suspicion, and I suspect many more vet’s with weapons will find themselves the target of house-breakers.
Burglars are so many and so expendable they can be suckered for a long time before they eventually learn not to enter any house as a “favor” to police intel, on the promise of getting a few violent offenses scrubbed. It is the burglars who will get shot at not the cops, and they cannot be held to their promises, either.
Ask the cops if someone was breaking down their backdoor, if they would make the assumption the perp was armed and dangerous. They’ll lie of course, but the instinctive reaction is that EVERYONE in this day and age would make exactly that assessment and then act accordingly. The burglar should thank the guy for not killing him.
Then these ‘cops’ get mad when someone calls them pigs…..
Wow! If you, me or any “citizen” even coughs on a “law enforcement officer” that is assault on them, and that is seen as aggressive toward them and they would be justified beating, taseing, or shooting a “citizen”
I wonder if someone broke into this Lt. Mike Budreau house if he would have even fired a warning shot?
I doubt it.
Justified.
Justice= just us.
This is the same crap they use in California, you have to wait until they actually come through the threshold, or window. (ya don’t want gravity to have them fall out either)
The system get’s away with this cause they have already passed “no gunfire in city limits” crap. One of the first few comments on this thread was exactly on it. This kind of law got passed through problem reaction solution.
Problem: Gunfire on 4th July, puts holes in roofs, wound’s people
Reaction: Public outrage
Solution: New law no gunfire in city limits.
For all anyone really knows the gun fire could have came from the ones who wanted the law enacted.
Well now that’s just plain racist. How are the illegals going to celebrate New Year’s if they cannot discharge their Fast & Furious Firearms in the air at midnight?
Warning shots should be fired directly into the head.
“However, police later determined he wasn’t justified in firing his weapon. Medford Police Lt. Mike Budreau said “there was nothing that the suspect was doing that was aggressive enough to justify the shooting.””
I cannot believe the police spewed these words out. WTH
I am officially in bizarro world.