Colorado Man Allegedly Shoots Son Dead After Mistaking Him For Intruder

[TomCADem]

Source: Huffington Post

A man in Colorado allegedly shot his adult son dead over the weekend after mistaking him for an intruder, authorities say.

Frank Leo Huner Jr., 58, faces a second-degree murder charge over the death of his 33-year-old son Nicholas Huner at his Sedalia home on Saturday night.

Douglas County Sheriff’s Office said via a statement on its website that Huner Jr. called dispatchers shortly after 10:15 p.m. to say “he had just fatally shot what he believed to be an intruder breaking into his home.”

“During the call, Frank Huner identified the intruder as his adult son,” the statement added. On Sunday, Douglas County Coroner Jill Romain confirmed Nicholas Huner as being the fatal victim of a gunshot wound.

Read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/father-shoots-son-intruder_us_595b37a1e4b05c37bb7fe263?emy&ncid=inblnkushpmg00000009

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Suicides count for the most gun deaths. In 2010, the gun suicide rate was 6.3 per 100,000 people, compared with 3.6 per 100,000 for gun homicides. Also, many accidental deaths are actually classified as homicides where the person accidentally shoots another.

[djg21]

1. It is sad . . .

that my first reaction to these stories, which appear on DU regularly, is that there are now two less Republican gun nuts who will be voting in upcoming elections.

[bucolic_frolic]

2. Hair Trigger Safety

is drummed into our consciousness

Plan your safety and execute your plan

Stand your ground and there is no looking back

[FarPoint]

24. Yes...that is the current social norm message....

The sad part of this is....families remain in denial even after such a tragic event...

[EL34x4]

3. The son had a long criminal history including drug offenses.

Looks like dad closed down his auto repair business and retired comfortably. I'm just going to speculate that the son had a history of sneaking into his dad's house looking for valuables to pawn, an all too familiar scenario for parents with drug-addicted adult children.

[Honeycombe8]

4. Or needed some fast cash (son was currently wanted). Crime is a dangerous business.

Breaking into your dad's house, when you know he's armed, is double dangerous.

[EL34x4]

7. And I'm guessing he broke into dad's house...

...because asking dad to borrow money stopped working a long time ago.

[KeepItReal]

5. Here we go...

Which of the son's past or present infractions merit the death penalty?

[EL34x4]

6. When you break into homes at night, sometimes bad things happen.

It doesn't matter if past or present decisions "merit" the death penalty. Choices we make in life have consequences.

Do people who play in traffic deserve the death penalty? Nope, but it can happen regardless.

If being a drug addict was free from negative consequences, we'd all be doing it.

[KeepItReal]

11. You don't know if the victim had a housekey or not.

None of that detail is in this article and police statement.

Only that the shooter "thought" it was an intruder.

[EL34x4]

12. Nope, but here's what we do know:

The son burned down their previous family home a few months ago.

The son threatened to kill his dad and slit his mother's throat.

The son lead officers in Utah on a high-speed chase and was arrested with a loaded gun in his possession and a felony warrant.

The son had a protection order issued against him that barred him from his parents' home.

I'm guessing the son wasn't using house key.

[KeepItReal]

19. None of which is in the OP or the police statement.

You could post your source, BTW.

[EL34x4]

20. Sure.

On most computers, you can highlight highlight a word with your mouse and then select "search in Google" to pull up other articles. It's pretty cool.

http://denver.cbslocal.com/2017/07/03/sedalia-dad-shoots-son/

[KeepItReal]

21. Lead with your sources and not the snark

eom

[snooper2]

49. that was pretty damn good snark though LOL, you have to admit

[Bengus81]

23. Why the hell did they arrest the dad?

Break in and by his son who had a protection order to stay away from that home. Guess maybe it's routine.

[EL34x4]

27. Apparently, it's routine to bring murder charges for self-defense homicides.

In Colorado, it's up to the person claiming self-defense to prove it. The DA has the opportunity to amend charges at a later date.

I'm guessing that they will take into consideration the son's criminal history as well as the restraining order and drop the charges after their investigation determines what took place was a sad and tragic, but justifiable case of self defense.

[LanternWaste]

50. We also know the father has been indicted for second-degree murder charge.

We also know the father has been indicted for second-degree murder charge.

I'm guessing that's easy to forget when there are scared cows needing defending... since we're merely guessing and all.

[EL34x4]

52. A routine procedure in Colorado

"Colorado police say that a murder charge for the man who allegedly mistook his adult son for an intruder and killed him does not mean that investigators doubt the father's story.

A spokeswoman for the Douglas County Sheriff's Office says that murder charges are routine in cases of fatal shootings of suspected intruders. That's despite a Colorado law allowing deadly force against intruders."

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/colorado-man-mistakes-son-intruder-shoots-kills-48407375

In Colorado, self-defense murders require the defendant to prove self-defense in the court process (which is how permissive "castle doctrine" paws get passed in other states).

[Honeycombe8]

14. "Intruder" means someone "intruded,"...meaning not entering a house with a key. nt

[Honeycombe8]

17. Someone who breaks and enters people's homes assumes the risk, I would say.

There is a risk with everything. If you embark on a life of crime, including stealing from others, that involves a risk that the owner of the property will kill you in defense of his person or property. Yet, the criminal figures it's worth the risk. Or that it won't happen to them.

This happened to a supervisor at my employer once. He shot and killed a burglar who was crawling across his floor in the middle of the night. The burglar wasn't armed, but the guy who was sleeping didn't know that. And maybe didn't care (who wants to get into hand to hand combat with a criminal?). When you try to harm others, either physically or by stealing what's theirs, you assume a big risk that they will defend themselves. Risky business.

[FarPoint]

25. Neither...

Folks are just trying to analyze the situation...hope it can prevent another such tragic event.

[hunter]

9. Is this an argument for or against keeping guns for self defense?

Please, I want to know...

[EL34x4]

13. No, it's the sad, tragic ending...

...of a family dealing with their drug addicted criminal son.

[hunter]

29. No, it's a bloody fearful idiot with a gun.

He should have gone fucked himself with a cholla cactus, that would have been far less painful than this little hell he's made for himself.

I've not shot complete strangers I've stumbled upon in my house. I figure if Spot and the dogs are okay with them, so am I. Go back to bed. Especially important when my kids were living at home and there might be some big unknown Mexican guy peering into my refrigerator or sleeping on my sofa at two o'clock in the morning.

Spot

The house I grew up in was even worse. My parents are artists. You'd meet some of the people they'd brought home walking out of the bathroom naked at two o'clock in the morning.

I refuse to let any imaginary "bad guys" live in my head, none that I'd care to shoot.

It's possibly a consideration that I don't consider any of my inanimate possessions important and most of them are unpawnable.

The most expensive thing I've ever had stolen out of my house was a VCR back when those things were still $300 expensive ($1000 in today's money.) I bought my current VCR for ten bucks. My computers are all $0 discards. Nothing here. Even our cars are crap.

[EL34x4]

31. Have you even bothered to read the other posts on this thread?

The details about the son burning down their other home? Threatening to kill dad, slit moms throat? Long criminal record?

That you live in a house full of worthless junk has absolutely no bearing on this story.

[hunter]

32. I'm proud of my worthless junk...

... and this story reflects badly on gun fetishes and the "war on drugs."

Anyone fucked up by addiction ought to be able to land in a safe place. It's a medical problem. Bad roll of the genetic dice.

It should never have come to this.

Guns made it FUBAR.

[christx30]

37. There are ways of landing in a safe place

and getting help. Breaking into a house late at night is not one of them. Calling first, knocking on the door, yes. Breaking into a place containing people you have threatened to kill, no.
This is why there is a drug war. It's because drugs take over people's lives and can make them do stupid, violent, and self destructive things. When my brother was doing his hard drugs, he threatened my parents when they were trying to get him into treatment. There was a 2-3 year period where we didn't talk to him at all because he was too violent to be around.
I hate the thought of anything like this happenening to him, but I wouldn't have been surprised if it did. He went to jail a few times, but cleaned himself up a bit. Makes a living doing promotional videos on YouTube for band and boxers.

[hunter]

41. And would a gun have helped anyone?

[christx30]

43. If my brother was going to harm someone

to feed his addiction, sure. It would have helped his victim.
Again, I wouldn't have been happy if something like that would have happened, but I wouldn't have been shocked. He's very lucky he's not dead.
It sucks that the kid is dead. It really does. But he made those decisions. The one I feel bad for is the dad. I hope he's able to move past this without any undue legal problems. He did NOTHING wrong. It was all on the violent druggy son.

[snooper2]

51. I was watching Intervention the other night

34 year old guy and his 29 year old wife-

Have three kids, the oldest is an eleven year old girl who was on camera and at the "intervention" for both of them

The guy loved his "wife" but she was living with his best friend and screwing him and he still brought them heroin and heroin for himself

Kids lived with Grandma-

Both went to get help, little eleven year old girl wasn't crying for once and was really happy she would be getting her parents back.



End of show they give you the update-

Father had a good job and had been clean now for like three years. Mother, re-lapsed after 2 months and was still a junky. Some people don't give a fuck and are beyond help.

[Honeycombe8]

15. Neither, I think. This is sad situation where the intruder turned out to be a family member.

So the dad did protect his home, as any of us is entitled to, and the intruder got a result he probably wasn't counting on.

[hunter]

30. Once the guns come out everything is FUBAR.

Pulling the trigger cements it all down for eternity.

I'd rather be shot than shoot, and I'll do my damned best most to avoid both.

Sadly, poor, poor pitiful me, I'm not a gun violence novice.

[Honeycombe8]

34. If there's an intruder in my house at night, he knows the risk he's taking.

And he has chosen to take it.

Just like a sky diver takes the risk he'll die from that, or a mountain climber might die from a fall.

There are bad people in the world. Since the beginning of mankind, I guess, it has always been necessary to protect oneself and one's possessions from bad people. If you don't, you'll find that everything you own might be taken from you, including your life.

The animal world is even worse.

[hunter]

35. You won't feel so righteous afterwards.

If you are a decent human.

I've lived in animal human world and I pray you never will.

[Honeycombe8]

36. Sure, I would. I wouldn't have any qualms about protecting myself & my pets. nt

[hunter]

39. Been there, done that. Have the PTSD and scars to show for it.

The Berserker genes I've inherited are strong.

[Honeycombe8]

40. You got PTSD from protecting yourself and your loved ones from an intruder? nt

[hunter]

42. No. Gun PTSD.

Brains splattered on the floor and walls and stuff.

I've never required a gun to feel safe.

[Honeycombe8]

45. The reality is that a sleeping woman in a home where she lives alone...

has little else for protection.

I have NO problem shooting someone who means me harm. That's required in order to remain alive. It's not as if I went looking for trouble.

I sleep better knowing I have my .38 and two dogs who bark at the slightest sound. And a back door.

[Kaleva]

44. NRA training manuals say that there can be long term, negative impacts from a shooting

In the last class I took, it was stressed that the best option is to retreat to a designated safe room in the home and call 911 from there. Use of a gun is an absolute last resort.

[Honeycombe8]

48. I see you've never had an attempted break in. It's naiive to think that 911 can help.

We're talking seconds or minutes until the guy gets to you. It's a jungle out there. 911 should be called, but don't expect the criminal to wait the 20 minutes it takes for the police to get there.

I had an attempted break-in a couple of times. Once I called 911 WHILE I simultaneously pulled back the curtain and pointed my gun at the perp while he tried to break in. He dropped his tools, put his hands up,and said "Don't shoot." I had the phone crooked between my ear and shoulder while talking to police. Eventually the guy ran off. I called police back to see where they were. They had no record of the call. So they took the info a second time. They eventually came and took a report. It was far too late to help in any way, or even find the guy. He was long gone.

Thank goodness I had a gun, since there was no back door. Once he got in, it would have been him vs. me, skinny street male criminal vs young woman with no way out. But I had a "little friend" who stopped him from gaining entrance. Whenever you point a gun at someone, you better be prepared to use it.

Another time I'm sleeping and was awakened by a noise. I sit up in the dark and listened. I gradually realize it's someone slitting the window screen to the window that is directly across from my bed in my small room. Or is it my imagination? I freeze. I am very young and very scared. I live alone in a tiny apartment set back behind houses, with no immediate neighbors. I get the phone next to my bed and call a friend who is awake, to talk, telling him I thought I heard something but it might be my imagination. The sound stops. I get off the phone and go to sleep, thinking that I must have imagined the sound. The next morning I examine the screen outside and see that it has indeed been cut. I figured when the perp heard voices, he thought I might have company. He was looking to hit a girl alone, so he moved on.

Another time I was walking into my apartment, when I see some men coming around the corner not far from my door. They are walking fast. Something about them alarms me, I enter my ground floor apartment, turn around and lock the door quickly at the same moment as one of the men grabs the door knob & tries to open it. It's locked. He then starts banging on the door and shouting obscenities at me. He is very angry that I got the door locked in time. I call the police. The man (who is very large and rough looking) bangs and shouts for a while, then leaves. I call the police to tell them the men are gone. They make an appt with me to take a report the next day. When taking the report, they wanted to know how I was dressed (I guess in case those men innocently thought I might be a prostitute so wanted to innocently hire my services. Just so you know, I was dressed in normal fitting jeans, tennis shoes, and a thigh length baggy full coverup t-shirt...nothing prostitute-y about it.)

Another time, I pull into a grocery store parking lot. There is a car behind me with a lone male driver. I park and think it's odd he parked right next to me, when there were a lot of other spaces. I get out and realize that I had been targeted, since by then he had hopped into his passenger seat, pulled down his pants, and was masturbating. He could just as easily as been prepared to hop out and kidnap me. The point being that I had been targeted while I was elsewhere. He followed me to the grocery store. I got his license tag info and called the police, who arrived in 15 or 20 minutes to take a report. They went to his house.

Another time, I'm waiting for the bus at night after work, downtown, alone. I hadn't known my boss would want me to work late (new job), so had taken the bus to work. I'm alone and scared. Downtown is deserted at this time of night, with only ne'er do wells around...and me. (I live alone and am new in the city, with no family to pick me up or call.) Here comes a street dude with a hoodie walking down my side of the street. He walks slowly past me and looks at me the whole time. He passes me, turns around and comes back, again walking slowly by me and looking at me the whole time. I know what he's doing. He's the predator scoping out the prey. He then turns around and comes back again, but this time he stops and says, "Hey...." But the bus pulls up right at that moment. I breathe a sigh of relief and quickly get on the bus.

This is the life of many women. We are targeted. We don't have to go looking for trouble. Trouble is looking for us. They look for us because we're easier hits....we're physically weaker and not as prone to fight back as men are. And we are almost never armed.

[Kaleva]

53. After your window screen was cut, did you invest in security window screens or bars?

Your bedroom door and any doors leading to the outside ought to be solid, equiped with a peephole and the door frame should be reinforced with secrity hardware along with a deadbolt. A deadbolt that is bump proof. A security camera is relatively inexpensive and can be linked to your laptop, tablet or smart phone.

[Honeycombe8]

54. Like most people of that age, I was too poor to do something like that.

But didn't even know about such things. I also didn't own the rental.

Security cameras are expensive. And almost useless. I've seen countless pics of perps from security cameras. And...we just see someone stealing something off a porch, and they are never caught.

I have all the security I need. I also have a gun and two dogs who bark at the slightest noise, so in most cases will get alerted before anyone can actually get in. Better than a camera. Dogs are expensive, too, but at least they're lovable.

I don't live in fear at all. I am just aware of the world around me and the need to DO something, in the event of an intruder. You can't hope for the best or just call 911 and expect to be saved. It's necessary to deal with it yourself.

Men don't have to be as concerned, unless they're elderly and/or infirm. Men are not targeted the way women are. Men also don't get asked how they were dressed or behaving, which may have enticed the intruder. (This is similar to the Middle East practice of blaming women for men's actions.)

[Kaleva]

55. Defense is multi-layered.

Reinforced doors, window security scrrens or bars, security cameras (good ones can be had for less then $100), outdoor lighting with battery backup, peepholes in doors, bump proof deadbolts and other steps are just common sense measures recommended by experts in the field.

IMHO, I think you are kind of fooling youself when you say that a gun and two dogs is adequete and you must have some fear if you acquired the ultimate self defense item. A person who has no fear wouldn't bother with any safety security measures.

[forgotmylogin]

8. I predict this was the quickest mental turnaround ever:

"Fuck yeah, glad I had this gun, OH GOD WHY DID I HAVE THIS GUN?"

[Honeycombe8]

18. Maybe not. Sounds like the son had been lost to the family for some years.

He might take the attitude of well, that's what comes of a life of a crime and breaking into my home, esp knowing that I'm likely armed.

The son was a career criminal.

[ileus]

10. One reason why I like a light on my Home Defense pistol.

[Aristus]

16. Tragic.

On the plus side, though, he finally got to live out his life-long fantasy of righteously blasting a home intruder with his 2nd Amendment-protected, patriotic, man-card-punching, snowflake-enraging, lovely, sexy, curvy GUN!

So, there's that...

[EL34x4]

28. I'm guessing dad's fantasy was that his son would stop using drugs...

...get his life together and become a productive member of society.

[hunter]

33. Thank the gods maybe I've never lived in that fantasy world.

I survived a very rough and tumble young adulthood, heroin addict friends meaning to kill themselves in my bathtub, pimps beaten bloody handcuffed to urinals, people stealing my stuff, brains splattered on wall and carpet, physical assaults... nope, I've never been in a situation where me holding a gun would have improved the outcomes.

And nope, it's not that I don't have some natural talent with guns or some cold blooded autistic spectrum ability to use them.

I choose not to live in that world.

[Aristus]

38. Well, he robbed his son of that chance.

Now he'll never know...

[RhodeIslandOne]

22. The "mistaking" part seems to be the hitch here

I mean, if there's any truth that the son threatened to slit the family's throat and burned the previous house down.....

[Javaman]

46. live by the gun...nt

[Sunlei]

47. 2nd degree murder charge. Must have known the intruder was his son?