I heard about this at, of all things, the local library.
A Johns Hopkins University medical student armed with a samurai sword killed a man who allegedly broke into his garage early Tuesday, Baltimore police said.
[snip]
…the student said that he heard a commotion in the house and went downstairs with the samurai sword. The student said he told the man to leave, but the suspected burglar lunged at him instead. That’s when, according to [Batlimore police spokesman Anthony] Guglielmi, the student defended himself, cutting off the man’s hand and causing a severe laceration to the man’s upper body.
The librarian seemed mostly confused about the fact that somebody had a sword lying around in the first place; this was bemusing to me, seeing as most of my friends have a wide range of melee weapons (medieval re-enactor, remember?). At any rate, important safety tip: when you’re robbing a place and are confronted with a guy carrying two feet of razor-sharp, high-carbon steel… don’t be this guy.
Moe Lane
The story says “The police are also talking to prosecutors about whether to file charges.” I hope that they don’t. To me it seems a simple case of a man defending his home.
And in the Unintended Pun category:
That’s when they found the suspected burglar, 49-year-old Ronald Rice, who was unarmed.
Of course the only reason the news put that in was to paint a picture of some young thug butchering an innocent man with a sword. But that’s still funny.
What the heck would they file charges for, the only party guilty of a crime was lying dead in his own blood less a hand… Unless Baltimore now does not allow self-defense, a-la England, or ownership of swords… What’s that? Just call the police and let them handle the criminals? Sure, ’cause that worked sooo well with this Rice character the previous 29 times.
well, Baltimore is home to Baltimore Knife and Sword, so swords are legal, and the student could easily be proven within the case-law of Maryland’s right of self defense. He ought to get off without charges. It’s not like he just decided to get robbed and figured he could kill a guy in the process. He probably had the katana for martial arts training or just because he likes swords, and took it with him for exactly what he used it for, self defense.