Bike shop burglar. (Exercising the Right).(Brief Article)

Jack Tant, 74, owns Bicycles 'N Things, a bicycle and lawn mower repair shop in Columbus, Georgia. In the wake of numerous burglaries, he began using guard dogs to deter interlopers, but to no avail, since the animals were not only futile as a deterrent, but were themselves occasionally beaten by intruders. So Tant began patrolling his property every couple of hours until around 11:00 p.m. each night, and was able to frighten a number of trespassers away with that strategy. But on June 11, 2001, burglars once again broke into the shop and made off with more than $1,500 worth of merchandise.

A few days later, on the evening of June 16th, Tant -- this time armed with a single-shot 12-gauge shotgun -- was sauntering about his property when he heard voices on the other side of his wooden fence. As he began walking toward his shop on a path lined with discarded bicycle parts, three persons suddenly climbed the fence and began coming down the same path toward him. Tant later recalled that he could see that each was carrying an implement of some sort, but he could not tell what the possible weapons were. He thought that two of the trespassers, Kelvin Kelly, 16, and Tyree Jones, 16, may have picked up lawn mower blades from the side of the path. It was later confirmed that the other youth, 15-year-old Jermaine L. Long, had a claw hammer. A fourth youngster, 17-year-old Curtis Walters, remained outside the fence as a lookout.

When Kelly and Jones saw Tant, they turned and ran. But Long kept coming toward the elderly man. Fearing that his life was in jeopardy, Tant fired once, quickly reloaded, and fired a second shot from the hip. At least one ...