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By Brandon Curtis

A homeowner was getting into his car in his driveway around 6:15 a.m. Tuesday when police say he was approached by a man armed with a knife. The attempted armed robbery escalated quickly when the homeowner produced a firearm.

“Upon their arrival they located a male Hispanic adult, in his 30s, suffering from several gunshot wounds to the upper torso,” a sheriff’s statement said. “Investigators learned that the homeowner exited his residence and was getting into his vehicle in the driveway. The homeowner was confronted by the male Hispanic adult who was holding a knife in an apparent attempted robbery.”

The suspect, who has not been identified pending notification of family, was pronounced dead at the scene. There was no mention if the homeowner was injured, but that doesn’t seem to be the case.

A knife and firearm were recovered from the scene.

It is not known if the homeowner has a concealed carry permit, but it doesn’t look like any charges have been filed yet.

If you carry a firearm, carry as often as possible. Even at home. Never tell yourself that you’re just making a quick trip to the store, or simply going outside to take out the trash, so you don’t need to bring your gun.

I’ve covered enough stories to know that crime can find you when you least expect it.

 

This article originally appeared at Concealed Nation and is reprinted here with permission. 

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32 COMMENTS

  1. You don’t need a CCW permit in CA to carry a gun in your own driveway. Your actual house is considered your “residence”, and the surroundings on the same property up to the property line is considered the “curtilege”. As long as you’re not brandishing, you may certainly possess and carry a gun in your driveway, so the existence or absence of a permit is completely useless to this investigation. At least, according to the scant information provided within this article.

    Sounds like a person trespassed on a personal property, presented a deadly weapon against a resident of that property, and was shot. As long as the invader was on that private property and facing the resident with the knife in his hand at the moment the resident pulled the trigger, then it was likely a legal defensive shooting.

    • They have a tendency to mention the permit status over at concealed nation no matter the event or status when a gun owner shoots a bad guy. Its just something they do. So “It is not known if the homeowner has a concealed carry permit” is not involving the investigation, its just that concealed nation doesn’t know or not.

    • That’s all well and good but if it’s politically convenient, the DA will ignore details like that.

    • Not true. California appellate courts have held that areas of your real property that are open and accessible to the public are public spaces where the CCW laws apply. You are only allowed to bear arms in your curtilage when it is fenced off from public access. Therefore your unfenced driveway is a public space. Ridiculous but true. Also, one may not have a loaded firearm in a vehicle that is accessible to any occupant unless one has a CCW. For transport in a vehicle, the firearm must be unloaded and in a locked container. (The trunk qualifies as a locked container. The back of a SUV does not.

      In summary, unless our homeowner had a CCW, he could be charged with several crimes. I am not saying he will, only that he may. There was a case in Marin County where a road rager followed an elderly gentleman all the way to his house, and drove his car far enough into the garage to keep the door from closing. The elderly gentleman, a retired doctor in his 70s, fetched a .357, then shot and killed his attacker. The virulently antigun Marin DA charged him with murder, not giving up until the third jury (after two hung juries, one of which was 11-1 in favor of acquittal) acquitted. And no, you really cannot get a CCW in Marin.

      • I recall you and I having this very same conversation (curtilege, property, access, fencing) at some point in the past. I have full fencing around my property, as do nearly all my neighbors, though no reasonable person would look at any of our homes and say our driveways (which extend not to the front of our homes, but all the way up along the entire length of the side) do not provide expected privacy.

        To the point of trespassing, you may already know (as you’re a fellow Californian) that our state permits “implied access” only to customary access points, such as the most direct and obvious path a “reasonable person” would take from the public sidewalk or street to your front door. This path may or may not include the driveway, depending upon the particular property. In my neighborhood, it definitely does not.

        As to the point of curtilege, if you’re attempting to say I cannot claim my driveway as my own, separate from the public byway and defensible from unwanted persons, and that access may be permissible to any and all simply due to the absence of a physical barrier, I strongly disagree. Regardless, in the case of an attacker wielding a knife against a homeowner on the homeowner’s property, any “reasonable person” (the bar to which most charges are held for scrutiny) would see the homeowner as being within his right to have a gun on his person.

        I often carry while out in my yard.

        • I don’t say that, several court of appeal decisions have. I was reviewing a couple just the other day…I instead agree with you. Simply because my driveway is unfenced doesn’t mean that it is not private property and that I do not have the right to exclude trespassers, a point that the Courts of Appeal have ignored.

        • BTW, I do appreciate our back-and-forths, and your knowledge of CA’s political and legal environment. Whether we agree 100% on a particular issue or not, I welcome your input. At times, your comments challenge me to clarify (or re-think) mine, so keep them coming.

        • I agree with Mark N. and the gentleman Charles Nichols that has a case waiting before the 9th Circuit. He is suing for Open Carry outside the home.

          Concealed Carry outside the home was considered illegal without a permit see Pertua v Sheriff Gore. Peruta lost the cast at the 9th Circuit En Banc hearing and SOCUTS denied Cert. So if the homeowner was concealed carrying without a permit, he has broken the law.

          I would say anywhere outside your physical dwelling but on your property is a gray area and I would not leave that to a DA to decide.

    • I don’t believe your analysis is correct. In California, without a CCW, you can only carry inside your house. You can’t carry in the garage if the door is open. You can only carry in outdoor areas of your property that aren’t visible to the public.

      This may be less of a problem in more rural areas, but Compton is in Los Angeles County. They don’t fool around.

    • ’cause “disproportionately stigmatizing’ towards the bad guy to imply that he had a knife and not a gun, think what it would do to his reputation among his ‘peers’. After all, in California each and every crime is a gun crime and criminals are “special” frail creatures.

      😉

  5. The latest FBI data shows Legally Armed Citizens shoot and kill more Criminals than Law Enforcement. When seconds determine if You or a Loved One lives or dies. Law Enforcement is minutes away. You Are Your Own First Responder. Get training. Find a firearm that works for You. Practice Practice Practice. Get Your mind Right. Remember it’s You or the Criminal. Be the 1 who Survives.

  6. “The latest FBI data shows Legally Armed Citizens shoot and kill more Criminals than Law Enforcement.”

    American english is a sloppy language (look at the wide range information that can be transmitted with a single F-word). Is your sentence quoted above intended to tell us that armed citizens shoot and kill more criminals than armed citizens shoot and kill Law Enforcement agents? Or that armed citizens shoot and kill more criminals than does Law Enforcement?

    • you’re really just saying that americans are lazy.
      there’s lotsa ways to say stuff in english, like real descriptive like. and stuff.
      tincture, balm, ointment, polstice, spooge, cream, lotion, salve, goo.

      • “there’s lotsa ways to say stuff in english, like real descriptive like. and stuff.
        tincture, balm, ointment, polstice, spooge, cream, lotion, salve, goo.”

        You left out “slime”.

  8. I guess those California criminals have more get-up-and-go than those around here. Our’s don’t tend to stir until the sun is warm. Maybe there’s just more competition among them. Early bird and worms kind of thing.

  9. A robbery and shooting in Compton? That never happens. Not in Compton. After all, it’s one of the most consistently Democratic cities in all of California, so it has to be good. Right?

  11. PISTOL BETTER THAN A FIST FIGHT OR A KNIFE FIGHT .. NOT SURE HOW PEPPER GEL WOULD PLAY OUT , ANYWAY HAVE 38 N LTC , AND 22RL NAA PUG OR WMR . LATER MAY BE SMALL
    BUT STILL BETTER THAN FIST OR KNIFE FIGHT .
    YES DEPENDS WHER YA PUT THE ROUNG .
    GLAD HOME OWNER OK . NEVER KNOW WHEN OR WHERE .
    STAY SAFE AND AERT BEST Y’ALL CAN.

  12. Doesn’t seem like Compton is an area you want to rob someone with a knife. I imagine a lot of people there pack guns and aren’t too worried about permits.

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