After a thief burglarized his Minneapolis business and left with one of his vehicles, 45-year-old Christopher Nicholas Kilburn of Brooklyn Park, Minn., didn’t waste time trying to find the culprit.
He quickly tracked the man to the intersection of North Lowry and Dupont avenues in Minneapolis Tuesday and pulled him out of a vehicle at gunpoint, said WCCO TV. Kilburn then struck the man with his gun and chased him when he tried to run away.
During the chase, Kilburn yelled at the man to stop and fired a shot at him, hitting him in the hand. He then held him down and called 911.
When police arrived at the scene to find the alleged theif with a gash on his head in addition to the gunshot wound, Kilburn admitted to firing at the man. Officers arrested Kilburn and charged him with second degree assault with a deadly weapon.
According to criminal defense attorney Joe Tamburino – who isn’t connected the case – Kilburn was within his rights to retrieve stolen property, but not by using excessive force.
“A person in Minnesota is allowed to use force to get their property back, but it has to be reasonable force,” Tamburino said. “You can’t use deadly force. So, for instance, you couldn’t kill someone because they stole your car.”
Minnesota residents are also allowed to make what is called a “citizen’s arrest” if they have reasonable evidence a felony has occurred, Tamburino explained. He said that Kilburn seemed to have enough evidence to take that course.
“If [Kilburn] had the evidence, which it seems he does, that this alleged victim burglarized his business, yes, he can go and try to do a citizen’s arrest,” said the criminal defense attorney. “But he has to only use reasonable force,” Tamburino added.
Kilburn bonded out of jail after a court appearance Thursday.
That afternoon, locksmiths were at his Brooklyn Park office to repair what appeared to be a broken lock on the office door and neighboring tenants said two businesses were broken into earlier this week.
“You should always call 911 before you react, and the reason for that is you don’t want to get into a situation where even though you’re using reasonable force right now, maybe it spirals out of control and you use force that could be excessive,” Tamburino said.
It’s unclear if the man who was shot was arrested or is facing any charges, said WCCO TV.
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