Florida Sheriff Praises Homeowner Who Shot And Killed Masked Man Breaking Into His Home

What's that ancient proverb, f*ck around and find out? Everybody should know better than to try stuff like this in Florida. Those people have guns, and not only are they not afraid to use them, but the police down there encourage citizens to use their weapons to protect themselves - and that's just what one homeowner did recently when two men tried breaking into his home. According to Fox 13 News, a Manatee County, Florida man was home when he spotted two masked men outside his house on his surveillance camera. So he did what any normal guy would do, and told his wife to hide while grabbing his gun. When the men tried breaking into the house, the man ended up shooting one of them inside his home as the other fled the scene. The man who was killed has been identified as 27-year old Jorge Nestevan Flores-Toledo, a native of Mexico who had an active warrant for a parole violation after being arrested in Illinois in 2023. The man was considered armed and dangerous (not as dangerous as the Florida homeowner apparently) and had served four months in jail for residential burglary before being released last month. The other man who fled the scene was arrested a few blocks away thanks to some help from the K9, and was identified by police as 39-year old Michel Soto-Mella, a native of Chile who was in the country illegally after his visa expired in September. He has been charged with armed burglary, but further charges could be coming, including a felony murder charge since his partner died in the commission of a crime. As for the homeowner, he's not facing any charges. Far from it, actually, because at a press conference on the incident, Manatee County Sheriff Rick Wells praised the man for protecting his home: "The bottom line is, this is the state of Florida. You want to break into someone's home, you should expect to be shot... I praise this husband for doing what he needed to do to protect his home and protect his family. If you're going to be that brazen to come into my home, once again, you should expect that you're going to be shot... I give him a lot of credit. He knew that something bad was about to happen, and he didn't stall...He reacted the way that you would hope all of us would react when you have someone that's threatening your home." And when asked how citizens should keep themselves safe in their home, the sheriff didn't mince words: "If it's me, I'm going to have a firearm. Everyone's different, but I'm going to exercise my Second Amendment right." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=saLDPTKtWa4 Obviously if this had happened in a different state, we might be having a different conversation right now, but luckily the state of Florida recognizes and protects homeowners who defend themselves and their homes. A couple of years ago, Santa Rosa County Sheriff Bob Johnson gave an epic press conference after a homeowner shot someone breaking into his home, inviting the homeowner to take one of their shooting classes so that they have better aim the next time: "We don't know which homeowner shot at him. I guess they think that they did something wrong, which they did not. If somebody's breaking into your house, you're more than welcome to shoot them in Santa Rosa County. We prefer that you do actually. So whoever that was, you're not in trouble. Come see us. We have a gun safety class we put on every other Saturday. And if you take that, you'll shoot a lot better and hopefully you'll save the taxpayers money." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qDKCDgjOkg8 And of course everybody's familiar with Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd, who has similarly encouraged his citizens to protect their homes and once famously commented that the only reason a suspected cop killer was shot 68 times during a gunfight was because the police ran out of bullets. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EbqWsOfbStg Seems like these people would know better by now than to try this in Florida, but you know what they say: You can't fix stupid.