Homeowner talks about fighting, shooting alleged intruder :: 11/14/2014

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. (Nov. 13, 2014) – A homeowner fought back against an alleged intruder and ended up shooting the suspect during an attempted break-in on the city’s near northwest side.

Police responded to a burglary in progress in the 900 block of West 34th Street just before 3:00 a.m. Officers say the homeowner shot the suspect during a confrontation.

Howard Murphy said he was in his kitchen when he heard someone kick in his backdoor.

“He reached for something and was getting ready to strike me,” Murphy told FOX59 about the moments before he fired his gun. “I wasn’t intending to kill him or anything like that, but I had to get him up off me and I wanted him out of my house.”

Murphy said that his house had been broken into one day earlier and it seems that the suspect was returning to his targeted home.

A defense attorney told FOX59 Indiana’s Self Defense Law gives homeowners like Murphy the right to protect themselves.

“We recognize in Indiana you have the right to protect yourself and your property and that goes so long as it’s reasonable, that can even be deadly force and they go as far as to say that it’s reasonable so long as you have a belief that someone is going to commit serious bodily injury against you,” said attorney Adam Brower.

Police identified the suspect as Kocho Long, 39, of Indianapolis. Investigators believe he forced his way into the home thinking it was empty.

“Hopefully this is a lesson to him. Unfortunately, it had to happen like this,” said Murphy. “But I guess he’ll have plenty of time to think about breaking into other people’s houses before he comes back on 34th and do that again.”

Long, who was hit in the lower torso, ran from the scene but was caught about a block away and taken to Eskenazi Hospital. He remains in stable condition.

http://fox59.com/2014/11/13/homeowner-talks-about-fighting-shooting-alleged-intruder/