Ididar Tzan wrote:

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And if its your brother, friend, relative ... that had a key and was picking stuff up from your place ... and your neighbor didn't know this person? A dead friend ... but your stuff is safe. After all, all the guy would see is some person he hasn't met taking stuff from the house of his neighbor. He doesn't necessarily know how they got in, just that stuff is leaving the house and he doesn't know who these people are.

This is the risk of vigilante justice. That hot-blooded people with guns won't react based on training and rules, but on raw emotion and a partial view of the events. The risk is much higher that innocent people die because the guy didn't have a clue what he was doing when he took aim and shot. A cop would go through all the standard procedures when confronting a thief.

Since the law doesn't protect the shooter in that case, it's immaterial. There's all kinds of tragic scenarios that one can manufacture--but they don't change the basic facts. A person should not be punished for defending life and property, whether their own or under their care.