Update: Police have confirmed that the man shot was 22-year-old Baron Alexander, son of convicted late-term abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell, whose notorious clinic was a few blocks from the break-in. Alexander changed his name from Gosnell in 2012, The Daily News reported. Alexander lived a couple of houses down from the row home where the break-in occurred, according to police.
A college student shot and critically injured an alleged burglar early this morning at a home on the 3700 block of Brandywine in Mantua, according to reports.
Philly.com is reporting that the shooting happened at just before 7 a.m. in a residence shared by several college students a few blocks from the Drexel campus. The 22-year-old man was shot three times and is in stable condition.
June 4th, 2014 at 12:01 pm
the alleged criminal was shot 3 times in the back. wow. looks like drexel has some real cowboys apparently.
June 4th, 2014 at 12:36 pm
Cue the chorus of defenders for someone who was injured after breaking into someone else’s house and trying to rob them …
Why didn’t the student just try to talk to the robber? Ask him politely not to break into his house and rob him? Maybe shouted to scare him off once he discovered him inside his house robbing him?
June 4th, 2014 at 1:24 pm
I’m not defending the perp, but wouldn’t a single shot in the back serve as, you know, sufficient deterrent?
June 4th, 2014 at 2:00 pm
If the burglar was unarmed it would be excessive.
June 4th, 2014 at 2:37 pm
It may well be that a single shot would have been sufficient, but I’m going to assume he was pretty frightened and acting quickly, not calmly and deliberately. I realize that when dealing with guns, having a level-head is very important, but this kid didn’t ask for the situation where he felt he needed to use a gun to protect himself.
Even if the burglar was unarmed, he very likely had a good reason to fear for his personal safety and, based on the very few facts we know, I think most if not all courts would find this a reasonable use of force in self-defense.
Not necessarily singling either of the other commenters here out, but, as a general rule, I find there to be an excessive amount of sympathy for criminals on WPL. While it’s tragic that issues such as concentrated poverty and a barely functioning public school system lead individuals to resort to things like breaking into someone’s house to rob them, I have trouble mustering much sympathy at the individual level for someone who gets hurt as a direct result of trying to hurt others.
June 4th, 2014 at 2:57 pm
Another account I read mentioned that the intruder was struggling with the resident’s roommate. The roommate called for help, and the resident entered with the gun.
June 4th, 2014 at 3:41 pm
re: “tragic social issues” . . . just like purse snatchers and iPhone robbers, very few home intruders steal for food. hell even someone who’s in for a fix doesn’t have the energy per se to commit an active crime like a break-in or a mugging
it’s a lifestyle and professional ‘job’ for most
June 4th, 2014 at 4:11 pm
What a very small and strange world this is. KYW news is reporting that the injured burglar is the son of jailed abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell.
June 4th, 2014 at 4:46 pm
http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/dncrime/Gosnells-son-shot-during-robbery.html
June 4th, 2014 at 5:22 pm
I blame income inequality.
June 4th, 2014 at 7:11 pm
Sounds like Kermit shoulda practiced his craft a little closer to home.
Aim higher next time, cowboys.
June 4th, 2014 at 7:37 pm
so……how many shots actually fired. pretty good aim to hit a guy three times in rapid succession.
June 5th, 2014 at 10:47 am
Turns out the burglar armed himself with a common household bayonet so I do agree three shots were completely justified.
“Alexander faces several charges, including robbery, burglary and receiving stolen property.
The three men who live in the house will not face any charges.”
June 9th, 2014 at 12:58 pm
I am also dismayed that poster’s express more sympathy for hardened criminals than for the victims of these crimes. I suppose we should expect no less from a society that glorifies thug culture.
June 18th, 2014 at 2:00 pm
Seriously, I’m a liberal, but if someone gets hurt after 1) robbing sleeping people 2)fighting with them 3)brandishing a weapon I have zero sympathy about the homeowners use of force. He made several bad choices, like committing burglary of his very own neighbors, and then decided to fight the victims instead of just running off. Good grief, it was clearly home defense and defending their housemates-who cares if he was shot 1 or 4 times?!