Police say there was an altercation that led to a shooting at 7:10 a.m. Friday in east Kansas City. Allegedly, a homeowner noticed a thief was breaking into his truck and attempting to drive away with it. The thief was stopped after being shot and taken to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
"I might not be so lenient, to shoot him in the leg," said neighbor Tesell Haynes.
Haynes has lived across the street for eight years. He was surprised to see his neighbor's truck on his lawn Friday morning following the incident. He also referred to his neighbor has a "best friend" who was protecting his property.
"Leonard is an easy going, nice guy ... I've borrowed money from him. Several times. He helped me on car repair ... never charged me anything."
KCPD took the truck owner in for questioning for several hours Friday. Police said there have been no charges filed at all in the case as of yet.
"It's all about the facts of the case. Every case is different," said Pat McInerny, a local attorney.
He says unless the alleged thief threatened the truck owner with a weapon, the truck owner may be facing problems.
"In Missouri, you're allowed to use deadly force to protect your dwelling and protect yourself and protect the lives of others ... if someone is stealing a car, And the owner of the car uses deadly force to prevent that stealing and just prevent that loss of property, then that's a problem," he said.
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Josh Helmuth can be reached at josh.helmuth@kshb.com.
