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Stand your ground? Sanford, FL homeowner shoots & kills 17 yr old unarmed black teen attempting to break in car

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Adrein Green Sanford Stand your Ground
Adrein Green Sanford Stand your Ground
Adrein Green Sanford Stand your Ground
Adrein Green Sanford Stand your Ground case. Pictured, 17 year old Florida teen gunned down during purported car burglary.

Adrein Green Sanford Stand your Ground case: Was a Florida homeowner justified to use lethal force at an unarmed black teen car burglar? 

Florida man has shot and killed a 17-year-old burglary suspect in a case that authorities say will likely be investigated under the state’s stand your ground statute.  

Adrein Green was found collapsed in the street with a gunshot wound at around 1.15am on Tuesday, minutes after a man called 911 to say he’d shot someone outside his home in Sanford

Investigators said Green was burglarizing cars parked outside the gated home when the owner, who has not been identified, opened fire from his front door. 

In audio from the 911 call, the homeowner is heard explaining how his wife woke him up when she heard noises outside while she was up feeding their baby. 

He said that he believed someone was trying to break in to the home, so he grabbed his firearm and went to investigate.  

‘Are there any weapons,’ the dispatcher asked.  

‘Yes. I just fired a shot, he came by. Help me out, please help,’ the caller said. 

Asked whether the teen was armed, the caller said he wasn’t sure.

‘I don’t know he just ran, he just ran, he faced me and I got super scared and my wife was behind me with the baby cause we kept hearing like a big bump, we kept hearing something,’ he said, later adding he wanted to scare the unknown person off.  

Unclear is whether the homeowner would have used lethal force had the teen been white or whether he justified the shooting simply on the merits of his cars being burgled as opposed to immediate fears for his and his family’s lives?

Shot in the back as he was fleeing: 

Sanford Police Chief Cecil Smith played the audio at a press conference on Tuesday afternoon and told reporters that preliminary evidence shows the homeowner was about 20 feet from the victim when he opened fire.   

Green took off on foot after he was shot, and police officers found him lying in the road nearby minutes later.  

Smith said the officers performed life-saving measures before first responders arrived and transported him to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead on arrival.  

Sanford police said the boy incurred mortal bullet wounds to the back.

The investigation has now been turned over to the state attorney’s office, Smith said.  

Seminole County Assistant State Attorney Dan Faggard said the case will likely be investigated under Florida’s controversial stand your ground law, which allows victims to use deadly force in self-defense when they fear their life is in danger.  

‘[The] man indicated that he was in fear of his life but mostly for his newborn child and his wife who were in the home,’ Faggard told Click Orlando

‘We have to find there is probable cause to believe that the individual did not act in self-defense or justifiably. That’s a very high standard. 

‘Currently, we’re not able to make that determination and therefore he was not arrested this morning.’

Adrein Green Stand your Ground
Green’s great aunt, Lillian Wright, told Click Orlando his family will fight for justice in his death

‘We want right done, justice done’

Green’s great aunt, Lillian Wright, condemned the homeowner’s actions, saying they ‘went too far regardless of the circumstances’.  

‘We just want right done, justice done, and we will see that justice will be done,’ Wright told via Click Orlando.

‘We need justice on this case because we feel it. Our family was in an uproar this morning – 17 years old.’ 

Smith said evidence at the scene led officers to believe Green had been trying to break into the homeowner’s car. 

A large rock and a car battery were found next to the vehicle, which had marks on the windows and the sides that were indicative of an attempted break-in.  

‘What we want our community to understand is that at the time it’s a unique situation, it’s a tragic situation, one that we hope never happens again within our community or any community around,’ Smith told reporters. 

‘No one wants to see a young person lose their life in such a tragic manner, and for what purpose? We will never know.

‘You have a victim here who is married, who has a young child and bears those scars as well equally for the rest of their lives with regards to the incidents that took place today.’  

And then there were these responses on social media that made this author wonder. See what you think?

‘Maybe it was justified to teach your boy to be home that late and not robbing people. I have children in my home to protect, I wont stop to ask an intruder what’s he doing on my property, I’m going to protect my family. My family comes first. I know where my children are.’

‘Justice was served. What don’t people understand about a homeowners right to defend his home and family? Anyone trying to break into my home will be removed in a bag. They are there to kill whoever’s inside. That was clear when they decide to break into your home.’
‘Why is a 17 year old breaking in someone else’s house? And not at home asleep in his bed?’ 
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