{"id":113104,"date":"2025-11-05T00:03:28","date_gmt":"2025-11-05T06:03:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/?p=113104"},"modified":"2025-11-04T19:04:49","modified_gmt":"2025-11-05T01:04:49","slug":"113104","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/?p=113104","title":{"rendered":""},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/wcbm.com\/local-story\/baltimore-store-owners-fatal-shooting-of-burglar-ruled-self-defense\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Baltimore store owner\u2019s fatal shooting of burglar ruled self-defense<\/a><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"dateline\">(WBFF) \u2014\u00a0<\/span>The Baltimore City State\u2019s Attorney\u2019s Office ruled that the fatal shooting of a suspected burglar by a jewelry store owner was an act of self-defense.<\/p>\n<p>The decision, announced Monday by City State\u2019s Attorney Ivan Bates, follows a review by the office\u2019s homicide unit.<\/p>\n<p>The incident happened on Oct. 16, just after 2 a.m., when the store owner, who lives above the business on Fleet Street in Canton, opened fire on 39-year-old Richard Rolfe, killing him.<\/p>\n<p>Christine Wilson, a neighbor, recalled the early morning gunfire. \u201cI heard it right outside my window. And so, kind of nervous about, called 911,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>Under Maryland law, self-defense or defense of habitation can be claimed by meeting several factors, including:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>If a suspect attempts to enter a property<\/li>\n<li>The owner believes the suspect intends to commit a crime leading to death or serious injury<\/li>\n<li>The owner reasonably believes force is necessary.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The investigation revealed that the store owner believed Rolfe was armed, although it was later found that Rolfe did not have a gun. \u201cBased on the facts of this case, we believe that this shooting meets the requirements of self-defense in the state of Maryland,\u201d Bates said.<\/p>\n<p>Wilson expressed relief at the decision, saying, \u201cThat is fantastic news. That is great news for all of us in this neighborhood.\u201d She added, \u201cIt\u2019s sad that a life had to be lost at all and there are people grieving for that person. So, it\u2019s not really a celebration but it\u2019s just like, ok, great, the system works.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The store owner, who declined an on-camera interview, did say he was relieved and satisfied with the ruling.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Baltimore store owner\u2019s fatal shooting of burglar ruled self-defense (WBFF) \u2014\u00a0The Baltimore City State\u2019s Attorney\u2019s Office ruled that the fatal shooting of a suspected burglar by a jewelry store owner was an act of self-defense. The decision, announced Monday by City State\u2019s Attorney Ivan Bates, follows a review by the office\u2019s homicide unit. The incident &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/?p=113104\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17,2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-113104","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-self-defense","category-slugs-for-thugs"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113104","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=113104"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113104\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":113105,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113104\/revisions\/113105"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=113104"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=113104"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=113104"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}