A Washington state homeowner on Thursday shot and killed two people who may have been trying to steal marijuana from a large pot-growing operation at the home, a sheriff’s official said.
The shooting happened at a house in the Summit area of rural Pierce County, about 10 miles southeast of Tacoma. Pierce County sheriff’s spokesman Ed Troyer said the homeowner and the intruders both had weapons and got into a shootout.
The two intruders were killed; the homeowner and his 9-year-old son, who was also in the home at the time, were not hurt.
“This is not a random residential robbery,” Troyer told reporters at the scene. “This is a cultivating operation that somebody came and tried to take away from the homeowner.”
He described the pot-growing operation as “fairly substantial.”
“It could have went the other way. We could have had a dead 9-year-old and a dead homeowner,” Troyer said.
It was unclear whether the homeowner would face charges.
The shooting happened on the same day that a new law went into effect took effect in Washington decriminalizing the possession of small amounts of marijuana. It is still a federal crime to grow or sell marijuana.
More content from NBCNews.com:


Won the shootout, going down on drug charges. Bummer. Wacky gun nut. Should have been protecting his home with something less lethal - like a butter knife or something. Plastic, of course. Crazy 2nd amendment nutjob.
Why do all you Gun freaks have to spout off on everything, This is about Legalization of Cannabis F**K your Guns. I own a Handgun but I don't ejaculate when I hold it like you Gun Freaks. (Leave it Be)
Nice troll...you got one!
Book the scumbag drug dealer for the marijuana.
And reward the pharmaceutical companies that kill 100,000 Americans a year.
For the home owner....Keep up the good work.
So it's a shootout between two dirtbag drug dealers. They should have taken out each other.
nice guy having a nine year old luve in the middle of his drug operation.
So it looks like legalizing pot IS cutting down on crime then... right? Oh well, guess not. Sigh.
This is exactly what gun ownership is about.
I call B.S.
The timing of this article is too convenient, another example of our government influenced media system.
Nice try though, I think the people are smarter than that. Although I can see that this has baited those who will believe this propaganda.
You wanted legalized marijuana and you got the consequences. Be happy you all got your wish and now enjoy the consequences.
Just forget that the 20 year scientific study that was published confirms that smoking pot reduces intelligence, affects the brain and causes changes in the DNA that can be passed down to future generations.
It has been proved that other highly intelligent civilizations like the Romans and Egyptians were dumbed down by chemicals in their environment. Lead used to glaze drinking vessels or lead in food storage vessels.
At least they didn't have the technology to understand what was happening to them. For all the pot users, the information is readily available on the net and with the dire consequences. If the non smokers didn't have to take care of the pot smokers and their dumbed down progeny, I wouldn't mind the miscreants getting high and dumbing themselves down.
I am sure that all pot smokers want to get the first car off the new assembly line made up of the super dumbed down factory workers or want to fly on airplanes that have their pilots high. (pun intended)
Glad the homeowner and his son are ok 8) I am glad this American was smart and had a firearm to defend himself and his son.
2 less evil douche bags on our planet who thought home invasion was a good choice NOT
Jay & Scalzo Pot is now Legal in Washington & Home Invasion Robbery is NOT
I am just wondering how many of the people who are saying go for it shoot them would say the same if it were not a pot grower doing the shooting. Seriously I am a pro-gun person but I read through the responses below and saw names who were usually on the other side of the issue. I guess for them other forms of crime are ok as long as nobody messes with their stash.
Knowledge about the pot cultivation led to the shootout, not legalization.
The intruders were the criminals, and they lost the battle and their lives as well.
Home security is the main issue. The criminals assumed there was not enough.
Washington state should go one step further, and assure pot cultivators that they will get equal protection under the law.
@FireBlade.....You took the words out of my mouth....Such convenient timing on this story. Seriously! These news sites are getting so rediculous!!
Good Riddance
This is all the anti-weed folks need right out of the gate of legalization some jonesing Meth freaks broke into this guys home after electronics to pawn for more Meth money and discovered this guys grow and decided to help themselves. But to these simple minded idiots "See I told you folks hasn't even been a week since legalization and already two dead. Won't even examine the facts it will automatically get blamed on the cannabis. (SAD)
Yea... because home invasions and robberies never occur in homes without weed growing in them...
Why? This is exactly what prohibition gives us. In the next year the state will start licensing growers and sellers and be taxing growers and sellers. Get the trafficking out of the hands of the criminals. The people that hate legalization either knowingly or not are supporting the criminal element. Do you realize that with only 5% of the worlds population we have 25% of the worlds jail population. I am not a smoker anymore as I am in my 50s now but I am tired of my taxes paying for enforcement of this stupid drug war. You trailer trash christian taliban a$$holes keep your morality to your selves.
exactly ranknfile, the timing is just too hilarious. this is a bait article, that is all. I would even venture to say that I bet the author dug up some home invasion in Washington state and puked all of this anti pot crap all over the headline. very pathetic attempt, but some will buy into the B.S.
That worked out well. Thieves are dead.
I hope the plants are OK.
Who knows with those wacky west coast states, they may charge the guy with man slaughter for protecting himself and his kid. At least in Texas the only thing he would be facing is a possession of illegal drugs charge.
I hate to tell you, but us who live in the "wacky west coast states" feel the exact same way about Texas.
Mr. Young1, I figured as much, and I am very glad you feel that way , so maybe you and most of the others that feel that way will stay there and we will all be happier for it.
Yeah Texas is so great, is that why you Texans hold your booze higher than you hold an education degree? Is that why you have those sex kid ranches for your Texan men, what about your weight class there? I was just in Texas passing through the pan handle and most the Texan people are larger than the cattle!
Terry trust me not all of California is completely lost it's marbles we actually have well over 8 million gun owners 8) 2nd highest in the nation and were proud of it 8) and to each his own be it smoke or drink.
I often think of a great cypress hill song when the @!$%# goes down you better be ready
No freeman shall ever be debarred the use of arms.
Thomas Jefferson.
@chris-2252558:
way to talk down others just to make yourself feel better man lol by posting that comment you just made yourself look like a complete @!$%#ing ignorant moron to everyone else on here. congratu@!$%#inglations hahahahahaha
The law that was passed was for decriminalizing the use of pot, NOT the growing. And since this guy's area of growth was classified as rather large, it was more than likely not for his personal use! He should be charged with the illegal grow and sell of a restricted drug.
Laws are laws, apparently some think that because use/smoking of pot passed, that he had the right to grow too.
I suspect Glock vs. shotgun. 15 shots trumps 2 shots. Don't mess with a man's maryjane crib and you won't have any problems. You gots Glocked which is great.
No charges, Stand you Weed Ground Law............
He smoked the intruders and then smoked a bowl....
I'm just glad shooting and killing a couple of intruders is not a Federaloffense. No reason to have feds there...no reason to get them involved. No reason to have is grow operation confiscated or him arrested.
I'm willing to bet that the grow operation runs afoul of Washington's new laws, so he'll likely be arrested anyway.
Guess you never bothered to read that part. These drug deals will be leaving bodies all over the place now. They should have taken out each other.
where is anything mentioned about selling ?
lol FireBlade
hopefully dad and son will make it through this traumatic moment in their lives.
These Thieves got what they deserved.
why was the 9 year old kid at home? isnt is a school day?
I was gonna go to class before I got high
I coulda cheated and I coulda passed, but I got hiiiiiiigh
Now I'm takin' it next semester, and I know whhhhhy
Because I got high, because I got high, because I got hiiiigh
That's something I have always wondered - why do they rob houses at night when everyone works in the daytime?
Stupid criminals - what are they teaching in schools nowadays?
It was the boys day to water........
Seven2Seven
I'd laugh but the truth is it might have been and it makes me want to cry. Say what you will pot heads do not make the best of parents as a general rule.
Yeah, much better to have the kid home with an alcoholic instead...
How about a parent who is a responsible adult? Oddly enough you can actually function in the real world if you try.
At least the pot head parents are at home to be a PARENT! From my experience the parents who hold two full time jobs are the ones who have the trouble children. How do they know what their child is doing when they are at work? THEY DON'T!!!
Yep chris I agree parents who are busy working miss out so much and the kids well they suffer and since nobody is watching they are dropping hits of acid maybe do a little coke or @!$%# it xtasy with a dab of heroin.
Drugs are in every city in the USofA and this so called Drug War is an abysmal epic 40 year failure.
It's too early for this. Come on People. Grow it yourself now.
Shoot first, smoke later. good job.
"It could've GONE the other way" not "It could've went the other way".
Who is this person they call the "sheriff's spokesman"? Is he high?
Really a very bad deal for everyone, even the nine year old headed for Foster Care.
Why would the 9 year old be going to foster care? Assume much?
Because he should be.
Why? Because the parent was defending his home, child, and business.... Now if you have a problem with this, then you might want to start protesting against all valuable things that make people go into someones home to steal!
As for the man, good job for doing what you needed to do. Let these people who are against gun control have this happen to them and see what they say when they face to face with an intruder possible there to kill them.
Damn Chris you are on a roll my thoughts exactly
I would be damned if I didn't protect my family from Home Invasion piece of @!$%#'s.
Dad won't get charged with anything. If they wre going toarrest him for the pot they would have done it last night. Under state law it's a legal medical grow. There are no Feds involved. The kid won't be going to a foster home.
All I've got to add is "Good shooting Tex!" :-). The robbers got what they deserved!
Wouldn't it have been just as easy to dispose of the intruders and never report it?
ugh, no
Gee, marijuana plants must grow really fast!
Not saying that you aren't right here, but they didn't mention plants, just a cultivating system.
why was anything in the house even mentioned ?
no plants mentioned, nothing else. just a "cultivation system" which people were targeting ? B.S.
they were intruders, period.
would this get as much attention if he had a home brew setup in his house ?
would everyone still be crying about the beer ?
the author's agenda is not obvious or anything...
Wow, what English...................
I don't think growing weed in your home is a good idea, but having a 9 year old there too is really bad.
I'm glad the robbers were gunned down however and hope he does not get charged for that. I doubt he will as they all had firearms and they were attacking home invasion style.
If someone breaks in your home, shoot to kill, they mean you harm, ok? There is no time to be a bleeding heart when your loved ones are at stake.
agreed
The guilt of letting your loved ones die by the hands of scum would be devastating.
I don't really see the difference between growing pot and home brewing. I foresee, in time, that private citizens could legally have a "craft" to grow their own pot. As long as it's available down at the local liquor store, thieves don't need to invade your property any more than they do for craftbrewers.
It is prohibition that has created the huge criminal enterprise.
As far as concerns over public health or safety to, that's pretty hypocritical considering the dangers of alcohol and tobacco. Alcohol and tobacco killed my mother, father and sister. Some of them might be alive if they'd chosen pot, instead. The country is already saturated with pot. Anyone who wants it, can already get it. So, I don't expect any drastic increase in use.
All this hysterical handwringing is pretty funny. People, look around you. It's not like your neighbors, employees, students, and fellow drivers aren't already smoking the stuff. Get real!!!
A New Headline from Texas or Laugh of the Day:
A Parker County woman called 911 early Tuesday, saying that her husband was outside, holding a burglar at gunpoint.
"Hurry up now, because my husband's fixing to shoot him," the woman said after giving directions to their house near Springtown.
The man with the gun pointed at him had the same idea.
He, too, called 911. "He's going to shoot me," he told the operator.
The dual 911 calls were made about 12:30 a.m. from the house in the 100 block of Lelon Lane, a spokeswoman for the Parker County Sheriff's Department said Wednesday.
When deputies and Springtown police arrived, they found a man, identified only as a 38-year-old resident of the house, holding a gun on a man in a pickup.
The resident told officers that he and his wife had awakened earlier to find an intruder wearing dark clothing and a hooded jacket standing in their bedroom.
When the resident asked what the intruder was doing, he answered, "Just unlucky, I guess," the officers reported.
The intruder ran from the house and got into his pickup, followed by the armed resident, who ordered the man to drop his keys, which he did.
The first 911 call came from the wife, Parker County sheriff's Deputy Danie Huffman said Wednesday.
The next one came from the man in the pickup.
The operator asked his name, and he responded, "Philip Tanner."
"Why have they threatened to shoot you?" the operator asked.
"Because I'm on his property," he said.
"Were you trying to break into his house?"
"No."
"What were you doing?"
"I was ... I was walking."
"Do you live out there?"
"No."
"OK, I'm going to stay on the phone with you until we get a deputy there. He's not that far off, OK?"
"Are you sure?"
"Yes. I'm sure. Just don't move. Tell the gentleman you're on the phone with 911 and I know what's going on and we have a deputy coming. OK?"
"He's going to shoot me."
"No, he's not going to shoot you. Just don't move. Just don't move."
She stayed on the line and kept the man talking.
And in a few minutes, officers arrived just as she had said.
They arrested the man in the pickup, identified not as Philip Tanner, but as Christopher Lance Moore, 41, of Bedford.
Moore remained in the Parker County Jail in Weatherford Wednesday night with bail set at $35,000.
He faces a charge of burglary of a habitation.
The armed resident of the house was not arrested.
Another account added this:
The home owners son was also holding the thief at bay with a shot gun. His father told him, "If he tries to run, shoot him in the legs, no need to kill him." A responsible gun owner!
The problem was the thief couldn't find his own car amongst the ten junked ones on the front lawn.
I am anti pot to be honest but I am pro states rights. If I didn't have to pay for lazy slovenly potheads to get stoned instead of working I would be ok with the whole legalize it movement. I am not saying that there are not reasonably clean cut looking people who use drugs but they are not my problem. My concern is the idiots the rest of us have to pay to support. I am tired of paying to have them arrested. I am tired of paying for their food stamps. I am tired of listening to them whine. As a matter of fact I would be all for letting them have anything they wanted but there would be conditions:
1. If you are shot in the commission of a crime and you test positive for anything the shooter gets off free.
2. No welfare, food stamps, state funded health care or unemployment if you test positive for anything.
3. No driver's license if you test positive for anything.
4. Your employer can fire you at any time if you test positive for drugs.
5. Your landlord can kick you out for testing positive.
6. Your spouse can divorce you and take the kids if you test positive.
7. You cannot hold any job where your habit can injure others such as teacher, doctor, electrician etc.
8. There be drug free zones and if you are caught high in one of them you are barred from the for life so that the rest of us to not have to look at you.
Well you get the idea... give them the right to waste their lives but don't make the rest of us pay for it. Seems fair to me.
what an idiot
Which part is idiotic giving them the right to choose that lifestyle or giving us the right not to have to support their problem. BTW I am fine with doing the same for people who drink. Why should drunk drivers get to keep driving?
With rights should come responsibilities. If your habit isn't causing the rest of us a problem go for it but don't expect the rest of us to pay for it or watch you self destruct.
I second that Michael, it is people with attitudes like this that try to push their beliefs and OPINIONS on the rest of us. Mr. PJ your drug free zone is your HOUSE, stay there and stay the hell away from everyone else, PLEASE. Go back and hide under your rock.
Or better yet move to China, that sounds like a better place for you, maybe Russia.
in this state, if you test positive at work, company must first pay for your drug/alchohol treatment and if it happens again--only then can they fire you. agree with all of your list
PJ is right on - this is only fair way to do things. But government is not paying attention. I know here in my home city, the homeless shelter houses lots of drug addicts who spend their social security checks on drugs and prostitutes and then sleep at the mission. Their permanent address is the mission and they get their checks there. These people are getting up to $2400+ a month free money, plus all their health care and dental care free. I had to quit working there because I just don't get it. Although I support the efforts of rescue missions, if they are not really making a difference in people's lives and forcing them to change their ways, those people should be thrown out on the streets.
Screw you..who are you to judge everybody just because they choose to smoke instead of drink...?
Ever heard the "People in Glass Houses" story ?..remember it next time you have a glass of beer, wine, cigarette or whatever your pathetic vice is...
Get a life and change the channel away from FOX News for awhile...your very bigoted person !
You are right... we are just the poor fools footing the bills for the lazy useless takers who want a free ride. How dare we have an opinion or resent taking care of useless POCs who do not want to change or take care of themselves. I am glad to help people truely in need but really if some self indulgent loser has a habit which he chose to acquire and it is his responsibility to get rid of why is keeping him supplied with money the rest of our problem? Personal responsibility folks it is a wonderful thing.
Oh and BTW it is Mrs PJ not Mr shocking though it may be Fireblade there are women who are conteptious of these morons too. Don't assume. We hate pot heads more than men do because we have to constantly watch out for leaches.
PJ,
No one is footing the bill for me. I work hard. I do a good job, according to my boss, who just gave me a 4% raise. I pay taxes. I smoke pot. It's none of your damned business. Pot has nothing to do with your affinty for leaches. Women are attracted to men who are like their fathers.
I'd say the same thing for anyone testing positive for alcohol too !! What are your feelings on that ? People die everyday from Alcohol and tobacco are you going to make sure that those who use those two deadly drugs are treated the same way as those dangerous "potheads" !?? I'll bet not ...douchebag !
612920, There getting their SS checks thats money THEY already paid in @!$%# !! It's their damned money ..not yours they can do with it what they want !! And if you feel slighted than why not join them and sleep in the mission too ...
PJ must work for Obummer...that's mighty socialistic of you PJ....I'll tell you what ...you be first to be tested by everyone....then come back and tell us how happy you are that you gave up your rights!.....pull my finger!
posted in the wrong place oops
Nice try NCBNews !
find something else to skew
Good for the Homeowner !!.....He was protecting his property !
The home owner should have a right to protect their family and their property even the intruder(s) have no weapon. They (the intruders) should be shoot to dead so it will be less problems in the future. I personally support the home owner 100% to do the best for the bad.
congradulations to the homeowner for a job well done....i'd shake his hand......commendable work sir.
This shouldn't mean anything more than it would if the guy was known to have a large amount of cash in his house. The fact that it was a large amount of pot instead is irrelevant to the fact of the shooting. He defended his home from intruders.
For those who are saying it's just another shoot out between drug dealers; This wouldn't have made national news next door in Idaho, or last year in Washington. Timing is everything.