South Carolina Man Shoots Two Burglars

Lamont Dawkins of Spartanburg, South Carolina was sleeping peacefully in his home early Tuesday morning when he heard noise coming from the backdoor. It did not take long for Dawkins to realize that his home was being invaded.

Arising from bed, Dawkins instinctively went to his closet and reached for his gun.

As Dawkins made his way through his dark home he found himself face-to-face with two men dressed in black. Dawkins fired his gun at the burglars, wounding both.

The two men fled.

As police investigators were searching the Dawkins home for evidence, a local hospital was treating two men with gunshot wounds in its emergency department. The medical staff at Mary Black Memorial Hospital in Spartanburg became suspicious concerning the nature of the wounds and the story the two men told concerning how they sustained those wounds.

The hospital called police. The officers who were dispatched to the hospital ER discovered that the nature of the gunshot wounds on the two men fit the description that Dawkins gave police concerning the shots he fired.

The two men were placed under arrest and charged with burglary.

As for Dawkins, the homeowner states that he did not intend to hurt anyone but that he was placed in a position where it was the only course of action he could take.

Police state that no charges will be filed against Dawkins. In fact, South Carolina law is very clear about these kinds of incidents. According to SC law, citizens have the right to use deadly force if they feel their lives are threatened at home, at work, or in their vehicles. The law further states that citizens who use deadly force in these circumstances are protected against lawsuits filed by perpetrators or their families.

Thus, South Carolina has one of the strongest Castle Doctrine-self defense laws in the nation, similar to measures recently approved in Texas.

Every state in the nation should have such laws.