Police said they are investigating the shooting death of a home intruder by a homeowner in Baltimore on Saturday.
Baltimore County police said they were called to the 1000 block of Middlesex Road in the unincorporated community of Essex over reports of a shooting at about 9:45 p.m.
When they arrived, they found a man with multiple gunshot wounds and he was pronounced dead on the scene.
Investigators said that the man was trying to break into the home when the homeowner shot him.
The homeowner is not facing charges yet, but the shooting is under investigation.
Maryland trial attorney Randolph Rice told WBAL-TV that the state doesn’t have a “Castle Doctrine” but that homeowners have a legal right to self-defense if they feel threatened.
“What the courts have established and what the legislature has established is that there is a self-defense with deadly force defense when it comes to your home,” Rice explained.
“If the homeowner believed that somebody was coming in the house and posing that threat, maybe with another weapon or some other device, or maybe just knowing that this person was a dangerous individual that could or has caused harm in the past, then yes, the homeowner could use that deadly force to protect themselves.”
One resident in the neighborhood, who wished to remain anonymous, said she heard the gunshots but thought they were firecrackers.
“I have been living here for 56 years, and it has changed within five years. It’s gone straight down the hill,” she said. “The problems that’s going on is chasing everybody away. And i think it’s time somebody does something to help us older people, because I don’t feel safe at all, nowhere.”
Essex is located in the central part of the state with a population of about 40,000 people.
Here’s the news report about the incident:
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