Not my child syndrome or justified shooting?
Sedric Joplin, a guard at Toledo Correctional Institute came back to his home on Galena Street on Saturday night and reportedly found three men inside his home. Joplin is reported to have a concealed carry license, and fired shots directed at least two of the three intruders. Two of which various media reports state were shot in the back, which suggests they were fleeing. One of the men who was shot, Chris Childress died after being taken to Mercy St. Vincent Medical Center; the other man, Michael Brown, Jr. was reportedly also shot in the back and was taken to Toledo Hospital.
Brown has a prior criminal record that includes past break ins, Childress has no record as an adult and is stated to have no record as a juvenile. In checking Lucas County Common Pleas Court records, it appears that Brown was charged with a community control violation related to a 2008 felony in the fifth degree breaking and entering charge and was supposed to appear in Court on February 19, the day before the break in/shooting. A warrant was issued for his arrest for non-appearance in Court on February 19.
Childress’ mother does not believe her son was involved in the break in and was “in the wrong place at the wrong time” according to the Toledo Blade. NBC24 has a quote from one of Childress’ friends:
Eric Jones says “What he was doing was wrong but yet call the police, don’t kill the guy.”
NBC24 also had a headline that stated “DEA removes evidence from scene of fatal shooting” but that story does not appear to be online anymore.
FOX Toledo reports there have been problems in the neighborhood before.
At this point Joplin has not been charged with the shooting, though it’s being said it’s possible even though police determined he should not be arrested/charged that the shooting could go before a grand jury.
We don’t know all of the facts, it is hard to accept that Childress was merely in the wrong place at the wrong time if he was actually in the home of Sedric Joplin when he was shot as has been described. It is human nature for a parent to not want to accept/believe their child was involved in breaking the law.
Ohio law was changed in 2008 with what is called the Castle Doctrine and the Buckeye Firearms Association has a detailed page on the changes in the law.
This is important to point out because you do not have to be faced with an armed intruder or demonstrate there is a direct threat to your safety, only that the person was in your home or vehicle illegally.
Aside the questions related to why was Childress in the home, valid questions could be raised as to our criminal court system, since it appears that Brown was not rehabilitated from any of his juvenile or adult court sentencing. This is especially relevant since he had a history of breaking and entering and one day after having a warrant requested for his non-appearance, was breaking and entering again.
Personal responsibility, wrong place at the wrong time, give me a break.
February 24th, 2010 at 9:57 amWrong place at the wrong time is when you’re at a bar and a fight breaks out and you get hurt. You were minding your own business doing nothing wrong and then get caught up is something completely out of your control is “wrong place wrong time”. This is most definately not someone being in the wrong place at the wrong time in the sense she is using it.
February 24th, 2010 at 11:21 amI don’t believe the “wrong place, wrong time” theory. He was in a place that he had no business being and hanging out with the wrong type of people if he wanted to stay out of trouble.
February 24th, 2010 at 3:25 pmHe clearly was somewhere he was not supposed to be, regardless of how his mother portrays her child as a “good kid”.
Good kids help out neighbors, not break into their homes to rob them. Your son was shot because he was shoveling a sidewalk, I suppose.
Knowing the neighborhood as I do, I’m not surprised that the homeowner has a gun.
a quote from one of Childress’ friends:
Eric Jones says “What he was doing was wrong but yet call the police, don’t kill the guy.”
Oh yeah, Eric. I call the police then they spend hours investigating and find nothing, then have to deal with you and your thug friends vandalizing my property and harassing me and my family after the police leave.
Eric? I catch you in my house, you can expect the same result. I’ll call the police to deal with your body and let them call your momma. How’s that?
February 24th, 2010 at 5:33 pmBrian-
Quit stealing my thoughts!!!
Amen to your eloquent post.
February 24th, 2010 at 5:40 pmThanks henri. Much appreciated.
And as far as being shot in the back, it clearly does not matter where you are shot while you’re within the confines of my abode. You can expect your life to be extinguished without saying goodbye to family and loved ones, much like Mr Childress had happen to him.
So for you thugs that think it’s cute to play your silly games, I might suggest you listen to your momma when you walk out that door and say “I love you” back to her, cuz odds are if my house is on your mind, those will be the last words your momma has to hold onto.
February 24th, 2010 at 7:19 pmHaving somebody break into your home is a very dangerous situation to be in. You read daily about assaults and often times death due to break ins. Deaths and assaults to the homeowner, now let it be said the roles may be reversed. Breaking into somebody’s home is a dangerous business. If you decide to break into homes you may find yourself looking down the barrel or feeling the blast of a gun. A very dangerous business, not a wrong place at the wrong time.
February 24th, 2010 at 8:01 pmJust a thought you DO NOT need a ccw permit to have a weapon in your home. So it really doesnt matter if he had a CCW license or not.
February 25th, 2010 at 5:26 pmIt sounds harsh but if this would happen to thieves more often, maybe they’d think about another line of “work”.
IMHO, if someone breaks into another persons home, particularly if it’s inhabited, they are probably willing to do whatever is necessary to get away, include kill or harm the occupant.
February 28th, 2010 at 11:49 amPlease explain to me how someone can be shot in the back, go in to their lung and they can run half a block or more before they fall?? If you get shot in the lung you are going down where you stand you are not running anywhere. So was he in the house or not??? Only Mr. Joplin knows and he ain’t talking. The problem is I guess that Mr. Joplin was being exposed for what he was and he skated, no DEA agent takes tomato plants out of a house as evidence. Who grows tomato plants in their basement in the winter time?? HE must make some excellent salsa or something!!
March 24th, 2010 at 7:54 pm