Michigan Self-Defense: His life was in danger, son says of man who shot, injured intruder :: 07/19/2016

JACKSON, MI – The last time someone broke into Richard Snyder's Jackson home, the perpetrator beat him, leaving him with fractured cheek bones and bruised ribs.

This time, Snyder shot at the intruders who broke down his front door early Sunday, July 17.

"His life was in danger," said Snyder's son, Joseph Snyder, 34, as he stood in the yard outside the house they share on N. Waterloo Street, south of Ganson Street.

Richard Snyder, who was not hurt, was too "nerved up" to speak to a reporter Sunday morning about the shooting, reported about 2 a.m. "He's shaken up from it, like any person would be," his son said.

Police released few details. The homeowner shot an intruder and the injured man was hospitalized, undergoing surgery and expected to survive, Sgt. Tom Tinklepaugh said.

Homeowner shoots, injures man who broke into house, police say

The man allegedly broke into the house in the 500 block, near E. Ganson Street, Jackson police Sgt. Tom Tinklepaugh said. He was hospitalized, undergoing surgery and expected to survive.

Joseph Snyder was not home at the time of the break-in, but his father told him three people kicked in the front door.

Two of them escaped, said Joseph Snyder, who woke at his girlfriend's house to find multiple messages. "I broke down in tears, thought something bad had happened to my father."

The older Snyder was "very freaked out" by what happened, said his neighbor and friend, Steve Spranger, who lives in the same block and reported a break-in at his house less than two weeks ago. "He said, 'I can't believe I shot the damn guy.'"

Richard Snyder, who has a bad back from work in a shop, is a card-carrying medical marijuana caregiver. He legally grows plants and the family's home has been targeted in the past.

In October, there was what police reported to be an armed home invasion in the same block. Joseph Snyder said his father was "beat up pretty bad," but he had heard nothing of the subsequent police investigation.

A gun clip fell out during the earlier confrontation, the younger Snyder said, and the incident inspired Richard Snyder to install a surveillance system, which is visible from the street. A black sign warning trespassers hangs on a rear fence.

Joseph Snyder did not know whether those at the house on Sunday were armed.

He said his father has only hunting rifles in the house.

"For him to do something like that, I totally understand," Spranger said of his friend's actions. He called Richard Snyder a "fantastic individual" who is soft-spoken and helpful.

Before dawn on July 6, Spranger's wife Linda saw a man in their living room. He had taken Steve Spranger's medication – he too is a medical marijuana user and caregiver – and a TV, and was working on disconnecting another TV.

She hid behind the bed and called 911 while the man left out a back door, she said.

Spranger, a veteran who served in the U.S. Army for eight years, decided it was time to acquire a gun, which he said he has been openly carrying. His wife too plans to purchase one. Such weapons frighten her. "But an intruder scares me even more."

Her husband told the neighbors they would "lock the block down." Steve Spranger has been talking to others on his street, a stretch of modest, older homes, and is starting a neighborhood watch group.

He and Richard Snyder seem to have support.

"I think we should be able to do whatever we want to protect our homes and our families," said Diane Brown, who lives in a house just north of the Sprangers. She has four children and spoke with concern about recent violence in Jackson.

"And people want to ban guns, huh?" Joseph Snyder said. "My father would be dead right now."

http://www.mlive.com/news/jackson/index.ssf/2016/07/his_life_was_in_danger_son_say.html