UK: Farmer on mobility scooter shot trespassers by accident while aiming at fox
17th December 2010
A farmer unwittingly shot two suspected burglars who were allegedly targeting a cannabis factory, which he didn’t know existed, on his property.
Mr Tibbs, who suffers from multiple sclerosis and neuralgia, told detectives he had been awoken by the sound of geese and, after going outside on his mobility scooter, had shot three times into the dark, believing he was firing at a fox.
Police later discovered that a cannabis factory had been set up in a rented outbuilding on Mr Tibbs’s farm and it was thought that the two men were attempting to burgle it when they were shot.
British news is always more interesting than American news.
December 18th, 2010 at 00:07
If Mr. Tibbs lived in Texas, shooting the burglars would be legal. (Hell, we encourage it!) I’m not so sure the cops would buy the story that he didn’t know anything about the cannabis.
In Kalifornia, he’d be scorned (and probably prosecuted) for trying to shoot the fox. His attorney would immediately claim the cannabis was for medical purposes, forcing the state to back off on prosecuting him, and all three would end up on Jerry Springer as celebrities.
December 18th, 2010 at 09:31
Link URL: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/8209877/Farmer-on-mobility-scooter-shot-trespassers-by-accident-while-aiming-at-fox.html
Cannabis factory? How’s that work?