They left their door unlocked, anyone could walk in, including a Monk or 10 year old who thinks he’s entering his own house. Yes, you have the right to shoot either of them, and the right to regret it for the rest of your days.
Read my posts. A childhood in a major city coupled with 2+ decades of military service conditioned me to ensure my home is secure before sleeping.
We haven’t locked our doors for years.
If you don’t want to be shot, don’t come in unannounced in the the middle of the night.
Having practiced the steps we would go through to make sure you don’t leave our house alive, I seriously doubt I’d have the slightest regret. I might even try and figure out some angle from which to sue your surviving family for what you did.
You’re right. When you go to bed at night and regularly leave you’re doors open, you’re inviting visitors. Why else would you consciously leave you’re doors open at night??? To prove that you live in a safe neighborhood and anyone or anything that enters would mean you no harm???
And then someone comes in and without knowing who it is or why they are there or whether it might be some confused elderly neighbor with dementia, you just shoot them in the dark??? and then pat yourself on the back???
If you were fearful enough of nighttime visitors to just shoot them in the dark, then why weren’t you fearful enough to lock your doors before going to bed.
This homeowner is lucky. If Zoey had a good lawyer, she might be able to show that the homeowner, having left his door open, never warned her before shooting her, and that he turned on the lights and saw her just before he shot her. And having seen who it was, an unarmed diminutive drunken coed who couldn’t possibly have threatened him, he just shot her maliciously not defensively. Then talk about regrets for the homeowner.