Not to be 'that guy but... Victim of three previous break-ins, gun accidentally discharged and shot her in the face...  It kind of leads me to believe that he was pointing it at her face and not practicing proper trigger safety. While I'm not assuming that the woman wasn't up to no good, what if she was just totally innocent (as appears to be the case)?  I understand that you can never be too careful where blacks are concerned but even I wouldn't be waving a gun around in a woman's face just because she was black and knocking on my door in the middle of the night and he definitely should have called the police before even going to the door just for sake of his own protection. Yes take the gun, yes be ready to use it... But why was it pointed at her face? I think your comment is a prime example of the problem with being on the outside, looking in. It's easy in a calm manner at your leisure, to ponder what should of or could of happened.     With such a long police response time, you're essentially in the woods surrounded by wolves.     from his height, the gun being pointed at her face wouldn't be unreasonable. he's a pretty tall man, he was probably holding the gun mid-torso, which could have been face level for the deceased.     when you're in close quarters, the last thing you want to do is point your gun up or down, because you could get yourself shot or overpowered if there is a struggle for the gun. of course, you can also accidentally shoot someone. kind of a catch 22.     there's soo many factors at play. after multiple robberies, I don't blame the guy for being cautious. People don't just rob homes. I had an old neighbor once who had some negro's break in and beat the crap out of him, then rob him, in the middle of the night. He ended up having to move out of his own home for fear. I've lived on streets bordering black neighborhoods, and there was almost no house on the street that hadn't been robbed over a 2 year period. when negro's rob, they often live close by, and often commit multiple robberies in the same area.     Furthermore, you can't know if a door is going to stop someone if they're going to try to break in. They may be banging to see if no ones home, they may be banging to wake up the people to coerce their way in.     Humans are programmed so their higher brain functions are bypassed to some extent when it comes to life and death situations, so that they can react quicker. in a lawless world, this was less detrimental than it is today. combine that with just being woken up, and you've got a recipe for someone to accidentally get shot.     You can see the look on the guys face that it was an accident. Very much like the look on zimmermans face, but more dire. obviously though, zimmermans less dire look was justified since trayvon was beating him up. I know I wouldn't feel too sorry for someone I was forced to shoot after they attacked me.    I personally would have handled it differently, by peeking out the window to see who it was. if I didn't know them, I'd stay quiet with my weapon until they physically forced their way into my home or waiting and watching until they went away to see if they actually left. But when someone wakes you up early in the morning by banging on your door like they're the police, you're definitely not going to be thinking 100% straight, and there are many other circumstances that can make this mans reactions perfectly reasonable or explainable.