Nunavut man who fired a semi-automatic rifle at five home intruders, killing three, has murder convictions overturned

Taken From: National Post

Date Published: January 31st, 2013

Mr. Bishop being led to the Iqaluit courthouse before the
the start of his trial. 

Summary: A Nunavut man who fired a semi-automatic rifle at five home intruders breaking into his house, has his murder convictions overturned. Out of the five the man killed three and wounded two. The court believes it was self-defense as the evidence shows all the bullet wounds were from the back. It all started at 3 a.m when Mr. Bishop heard people kicked his front door, he called the RCMP seeking help. Taking matters into his own hands, he retreated to his bedroom and readied his SKS-D. It was a semi-automatic rifle, that Mr. Bishop owned legally. It was only supposed to hold five bullets, but Mr. Bishop illegally attached a "banana clip", allowed the gun to hold 25 bullets. The first intruder had a samurai sword and the second had a broken golf club. When they finally broke down Mr. Bishop's door, he opened fire. Once, the shooting started, the invaders immediately starting running. Mr. Bishop followed shooting again in the hallway and in the entrance way. Mr. Bishop spotted a wounded invader fall in the snow, struggling to get up. Mr. Bishop raised his gun and fired at him, killing him. He fired off the rest of his clip, shooting at the intruders as they ran, scattering away. All three dead, were found outside, one of them 42 meters from the front door. He was guilty of three counts of second-degree murder and two of attempted murder. He was sentenced to life in prison. He later had his case overturned and was granted another trial.

Opinion: In my opinion, I don't think Mr. Bishop should have had his case overturned. I think Mr. Bishop went to the point, where it was no longer self defense. Yes, they were house intruders, but when Mr. Bishop fired the first shot, all of them started running and screaming. But instead of waiting for police to arrive, he continued to chase the intruders and shoot them. One of the intruders was struggling to get up in the snow and was clearly no longer a threat, but Mr. Bishop shot him, killing him. One of the intruders died 42 meters from his house. This shows that Mr. Bishop still shot at them, when they were blatantly running. After they started running, I firmly believe, Mr. Bishop should have stopped. The force that Mr. Bishop used was no longer for means of protecting himself.