Legal gun owner in jail for fatally shooting burglar through his window

PONTIAC, Mich. (WJBK) - A legal gun owner opens fire on a would be burglar at a home in Pontiac. That suspect died from his injuries and  the shooter is sitting behind bars.

Police get a call that a 23-year-old was trying to break in through a bedroom window. But the resident, a 23-year-old living inside the house, shoots and kills him.

"Somebody tried to get in the house after we had all went to bed," said David, the homeowner who allowed the gun owner to live in his house. "And evidently, and I don't know what his purpose was."

The intruder was wearing dark colors and didn't know anybody in the house.

"That individual has a criminal history, a number of crimes," said Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard.  "I believe he had some outstanding warrants."

There's some controversy. The shooter shot through the window and the intruder was found by police lying dead on the front lawn.

"Preliminarily it looks like he was defending himself," Bouchard said. "The hitch is, the person wasn't in the house."

"Home invasion, was it something else -  it is hard to say," said David. 

A homeowner has a right to use deadly force, but if that intruder is inside the house. If the intruder is outside of the house, it could be a problem.

And it is a problem for the shooter who is in jail at this time waiting to see if there will be charges against him.

People who live in the area say you might need a gun in this neighborhood.

At least two neighbors of David had bullet holes in their houses from random incidents.

So was this shooting self-defense or murder?

"The totality of the circumstances is being investigated and then we'll present the whole totality to the prosecutor's office," Bouchard said.