To catch a thief.(Exercising The Right)

Ernest Galloway, 77, owns the Oak View Auto Service in High Point, North Carolina. At about 11:20 p.m. on December 29, 2003, someone broke into the business and stole some cash and a few snacks. An employee's son later drove by and noticed that the bay doors of the garage were open. He called his father and Galloway.

When the shop owner and employee arrived with police, they discovered the burglar alarm torn down, all but one phone line cut, filing cabinets destroyed, some windows broken, and a few doors smashed. The crowbar used by the intruder was found under a counter.

Due to the broken windows and damaged doors, Galloway decided to guard the store overnight. First, however, he went home to fetch his .22-caliber rifle, since he thought that there was a remote chance the thief might return.

After police left, Galloway turned off the lights and settled into a front-office chair. He recalled for the January 12 Greensboro News-Record, "I was completely relaxed," figuring that the chance of the thief returning "was 1 in 100." But around 4 a.m., Galloway heard a glass door slide open and saw the silhouette of the returning thief.

Galloway shined a flashlight on the intruder's face and ordered him to raise his hands and not move. At first the man, later identified as Terry Wayne Combs, complied with the shop owner's command. But then Combs lowered his hands and began moving toward Galloway. Galloway told the News-Record, "When I was sitting in the dark, before the guy showed up, I would have said I would have shot him. When I was facing him, looking at him, it was totally different. I couldn't bring myself to shoot." Instead, he fired a warning shot into the floor.

Combs stopped, backed up momentarily, then lunged for the rifle. During the struggle for control of the weapon, the two combatants ...