Killing a young burglar seems needless

Amber Wallace’s neighbor in the 3700 block of French Wood Drive in Arlington shot and killed a 17-year-old early Sunday as the youth apparently burglarized the neighbor’s car.

“It’s just sad that a teenager doing something stupid ends up dead,” Wallace told Star-Telegram reporter Susan McFarland. Her summary strikes at our hearts.

Police continued to investigate the shooting Monday.

If the early reports are true, the shooter probably won’t face charges. Texas law says a person can use deadly force to prevent “commission of arson, burglary, robbery, aggravated robbery, theft during the nighttime” or to stop someone from fleeing the scene of such a crime at night.

It falls under the category of “justifiable homicide.” There were 122 Texas killings in that category in 2015, the Department of Public Safety reports.

The DPS says 69 of those were people killed by “private citizens,” significantly more than the 53 killed by police.

The neighbor in this case apparently had every “right” under the law to kill. But killing in the defense of property can never be right.

Shooting someone can only be right when it is to protect a person.

Our police and legal system can deal with burglars without killing them.

This story was originally published February 13, 2017 at 6:02 PM with the headline "Killing a young burglar seems needless."