Violent crime has surged in America under President Trump during the start of the pandemic. Now, crime levels continue to remain high, and people are looking for ways to defend themselves and their families. Home security systems have grown more popular, including doorbell cameras that can keep tabs on who comes up to the door and tries to get inside and steal what doesn’t belong to them.
Because of the economic problems, people are turning to crime to make ends meet. Others are simply following the crime trend and doing it because it is cool to be on the outside of the law. During a burglary in Wagoner County, Oklahoma, three teenagers targeted a home that they did not know was amply defended. Now, one teen is dead, and his grandfather believes his death should never have happened.
Jacob Redfearn, 17, joined forces with fellow suspects 19-year-old Maxwell Cook and 16-year-old Jake Woodruff to break into an Oklahoma home. Little did the would-be criminals know, but the homeowner kept the property amply defended against crooks who wanted to steal what didn’t belong to them.
When the burglary was underway, the homeowner’s son used one of the guns on the property, an AR-15 assault rifle, to mow down the suspects, killing Redfearn and the other two boys.
Now, Leroy Schumacher, the grandfather of Redfearn, believes that the deaths were not necessary.
The grandfather said: “What these three boys did was stupid. They knew they could be punished for it, but they did not deserve to die.”
Schumacher never thought his grandson would get in trouble with the law. But when the underage teen teamed up with the other two teenagers, they hatched a half-baked plan to rob a house that was heavily armed and defended by the home owner’s Constitutional right to bear arms in self-defense.
However, Schumacher believes that the homeowner’s son used too much force, given that the three teen boys were armed with handheld weapons and not firearms.
“Brass knuckles against an AR-15, come on, who was afraid for their life,” the grandfather said.
After the three teens were shot dead, police went on the hunt for the getaway driver. They caught up with 21-year-old Elizabeth Rodriguez very quickly.
Schumacher believes that Rodriguez planned the heist, and she confessed to the police that she did plan it.
Deputies believe the homeowner’s son acted in self-defense since the shooting happened on their property while the three teens were breaking and entering.
“There’s got to be a limit to that law. I mean, he shot all three of them; there was no need for that,” Schumacher said.
Schumacher supports the second amendment, but he doesn’t believe that all intruders should be shot to death.
“These boys’ families are going to suffer from this the rest of their lives; we have to live with this the rest of our lives,” he said.
He hopes his grandson’s poor example will teach other children not to fall into crime.
“You can’t change history, but you can damn sure learn from it, and maybe some kids will learn from this,” he said.
