I understand the frustrations of trying to oust a bad tenant, but this guy sounds like he was in the wrong from beginning to end.
Yep, he was removing their property five days before the eviction notice was set to come due. He should bring sheriff with him when enforcing an eviction and let them handle it. And without some mitigating factors not presented in the article self defense is going to be a hard sell.
Whatever it was that got him so upset, he just screwed the rest of his life over it.
Yep - he was wrong.