First of all, I was best friends with the, yes VICTIM. The kid was drunk and had no idea where he was. He never would've hurt a fly. He made no advancement no Linn Stordahl who stole the life of an innocent 16 year old kid because he's a messed up military piece of shit. I think its bullshit that you write something as insulting as this. You guys get a big fuck you

Bob,

Assuming the events are accurate as depicted in the article, your libelous assertion that Linn Stordahl "stole the life" of this kid is patently ridiculous. A 16 year old drunk intruder, setting fire to someone's property is not a victim of anything but his own stupidity.

First of all, drunkenness cannot excuse any crime. When a person makes a conscious decision to abuse alcohol, they do not cease to bear responsibility for their actions. If that were true, we would have to excuse everyone who is guilty of drunken driving.

Second, your contention that "he never would've hurt a fly" seems to be off base. He was allegedly setting fire to a person's garage. That not only endangers the resident, but any firemen and police that show up on the scene. It also puts anyone in the path of rescue vehicles responding to the scene, at an unnecessary risk. If you don't believe me, go down to your local firehouse and ask a fireman if he thinks arson is dangerous.

Third, his intentions should not even be an issue. If you break into someone's home, you risk being shot. A homeowner has no idea what your intentions are, nor does he have time to assess them. It doesn't matter if you are an axe murderer or the Avon lady, you take your life into your own hands when you enter someone's residence without an invitation.

Fourth, if you are offended by anything I write, that is just too damned bad. I suggest that you exercise your own rights, and simply close your web browser. I suggest you do the same if you have a problem with any of my weblog policies, which are freely posted on my web site.

what about getting out of the garage and calling the cops? why have law enforcement if u can just control intruders yourself?

Law enforcement agencies have no legal responsibility to prevent crime. That has been decided in court.

When your safety is in jeopardy, why rely on the response time of law enforcement agencies? Especially considering most of the time they arrive just in time to investigate a crime, after the fact.

A study cited by the Independent Women's Forum shows that police are only able to arrive in time to prevent 5% of crimes. With an abysmal record like that, you seem better off fending for yourself.

Regarding Sophia's comment about getting out of the garage and calling the cops. The report says that the attached garage was on fire and the bad guy was still in the garage.

Have you ever tried to kick through a door? In most cases it is really pretty easy. Have done it a few times myself. It usually takes about 10 seconds. It is simple to second-guess the situation, particularly from a biased perspective i.e. friend, family, anti-gun, etc.. But even if the firebug intruder was St. Joseph... aside from the glowing halo, there would be no way for the homeowner to know the burglar's intentions.

In the circumstances as published by the DA, a situation created exclusively by the incredibly dumbass choices made by the burglar and his idiot friends, the howeowner was left with a choice between maintaining responsibility for his and his family's lives... or abdicating that responsibility to the kindness of a stranger. A stranger, who just happens to be BURNING DOWN HIS HOUSE. OR cops, who could be 5 - 10 -15 minutes away. How long does it take for a house to burn? How long does it take to kick through a door? What is this freak-show doing with a fire in the garage in the middle of the night? Roasting marshmallows? Maybe. If it was happening in your garage in the middle of the night... what would you do?

I know what I'd do. I'd shoot him too. Unless I didn't have a gun. In which case, I'd beat him with a bat while wishing I had a gun. Sucks for him... but then he didn't have to be there now did he?

Id love to beat you with a bat sam,,, any ways i heard a while back from the person who dropped tony off at that house that the driver new where tony lived but didnt want to take him home and said he needed to drop him off there,, which was right in front of the house he died in. So were all pointing the finger at tony but what about the guy that said he would give him a ride home, then randomly decide to drop him off where he did... whats up with that, tony wasnt there because he wanted to be,,, he was kinda forced into that situation, im not sayin what he did was ok, but im sayin he wasnt there because he wanted to be,, or because he liked being in peoples garages. point the finger at the guy that left him there

fuck you sam I hope you get put in that kind of situation